by Alex Marshall - articles and essays

A Radio Show Interview Of Me - "To change cities, change the transportation system. Transportation is the "silver bullet" that explains so much about how things work, according to Alex. "The way we get around determines how we live," he said. "The way we move determines how we stand still. To change our places, the most important thing we can do is to change the transportation we use." " Click on link for full article.

Puerto Rico builds a train in the sky - "Traffic is horrible. Residents tell stories of once ten-minute drives that now take several hours. Buses exist, both public and private, but they are trapped in the same traffic jams as the private cars. Enter the Tren Urbano (Urban Train), a 10.7-mile, $2 billion heavy-rail system scheduled for completion in 2003. Its planners are attempting something extremely difficult: altering a landscape produced by one type of transportation, the highway, by introducing a different type of transportation, an elevated train line. The risk in this type of urban surgery is that the patient will reject the alien transplant. Parts of the line travel through older streetcar suburbs, which have remnants of a traditional urban fabric. But the bulk of the project goes through postwar highway-oriented development, which is the most difficult to adapt to mass transit." Click on link for full article.

Making Elections Matter - "No, each presidential race has been like a distant battle, watched with interest but not something I was a part of. Why is this the case, given the populous, wealthy states I have lived in? Because our nation has something called the Electoral College, an antiquated system designed in the 18th century for reasons immaterial to our goals now. During the last election, we heard the machinery of this system grind and spark for more than a month, before it crankily spat out a "winner." Just days ago, we saw this "winner" -- George W. Bush -- put his hand on a bible and take the oath of office even though he lost the national election by more than a half million votes. That's a good reason to scrap the Electoral College and replace it with a direct election." Click on link for full article.

Seaside At 20 - "I was halfway through Seaside before I realized I was in it. The main state road coming from Panama City, 31A, is lined with condominium towers, resort subdivisions, roadside shops and other detritus. Seaside at first appeared to be just one more cluster of development, done in some vaguely historical style. "Damn, they really got their money out of Steven Brooke," I thought, gazing out from my rental car. Brooke, a photographer, had taken many of the archetypal images of Seaside that had flashed all over the world, via books and magazines. Often set against a skyline at twilight, his photos had turned Seaside into a latter day Acropolis, a remote outpost of civilization on the Florida coast. The more humdr um reality of the place was disorienting. I would see a beachfront home, and then on my brain plate would flash the archetypal photo I had seen of the same structure." Click on link for full article.

Searching For The Heart Of Darkness - "I smiled appreciatively at the waitress. I had never heard of the wine she steered me toward: Madiran. I was in a small, French restaurant in Manhattan, Chez Bernard on West Broadway. It had classic French food at reasonable prices – and a wine list worthy of a three-star restaurant in Paris. The waitress had steered me away from the $2,000 bottles of old Bordeauxs, and to this wine I had never heard of, Madiran, for $30." Click on link for full article.

Why We Shoot Each Other - "The California kid who last month picked up a gun after being teased was a manifestation of this society where every man, woman and kid is on his own. I can almost hear that kid telling that to himself, as he grabbed his father's gun. We Americans like to think of ourselves as valuing family and community. But France and Germany have far greater protection for families, and far greater respect for the rights of a community. It's telling that Europe has strong limits on how corporations can use information acquired over the Internet. We do not." Click on link for full article.

How Urban Should Your City Be? - "The words “urban” and “suburban” are irritatingly vague, and used as both pejorative and praise. To some, “urban” is still a code word for minorities and crime. To others, it means sophistication and a willingness to embrace rather than avoid, public rather than private, a street-based life. “Suburban” can mean narrow, isolating and sexless, or it can mean families, space and nature." Click on link for full article.

The Pavilion of Fun - "The Pavilion of Fun was just one of the many glories that Coney Island, that strip of land on the outer reaches of Brooklyn, has housed in its 150 years of fame. Like some citadel city that has been sacked and burned repeatedly, the sands of Coney Island hold the traces or at least the memories of castles, ancient empires that have rose and fell, rose and fell. I imagine some future archeologist digging in its soil in centuries hence, finding the remnants of the Elephant Hotel, or Lilliputia, the city of midgets." Click on link for full article.