The Cheapest Generation

Here’s another look at the dramatically changing demographics taking place in America. Raleigh leaders, take note.

In 2009, Ford brought its new supermini, the Fiesta, over from Europe in a brave attempt to attract the attention of young Americans. It passed out 100 of the cars to influential bloggers for a free six-month test-drive, with just one condition: document your experience online, whether you love the Fiesta or hate it.

Young bloggers loved the car. Young drivers? Not so much. After a brief burst of excitement, in which Ford sold more than 90,000 units over 18 months, Fiesta sales plummeted. As of April 2012, they were down 30 percent from 2011.

Don’t blame Ford. The company is trying to solve a puzzle that’s bewildering every automaker in America: How do you sell cars to Millennials (a?k?a Generation Y)? The fact is, today’s young people simply don’t drive like their predecessors did. In 2010, adults between the ages of 21 and 34 bought just 27 percent of all new vehicles sold in America, down from the peak of 38 percent in 1985. Miles driven are down, too. Even the proportion of teenagers with a license fell, by 28 percent, between 1998 and 2008.

via The Cheapest Generation – Derek Thompson and Jordan Weissmann – The Atlantic.

Update 1:38 PM: The authors cite the same thing I did back in March: that technology is making travel less necessary than it was before.

Smartphones compete against cars for young people’s big-ticket dollars, since the cost of a good phone and data plan can exceed $1,000 a year. But they also provide some of the same psychic benefits—opening new vistas and carrying us far from the physical space in which we reside.

“You no longer need to feel connected to your friends with a car when you have this technology that’s so ubiquitous, it transcends time and space,” Connelly said.

In other words, mobile technology has empowered more than just car-sharing. It has empowered friendships that can be maintained from a distance. The upshot could be a continuing shift from automobiles to mobile technology, and a big reduction in spending.

Bringing a rooftop garden to East Raleigh

I read this interesting tidbit in yesterday’s N&O about a company that builds rooftop gardens for grocery stores and thought my neighborhood would be perfect for this.

There are relatively few choices for good, healthy food in my area (a.k.a, a food desert).
An often-heard complaint about my local grocery store is the quality of its produce.
Said grocery store has lots of rooftop space and a large, southern-facing, sunlit, vacant outparcel nearby.
The Brooklyn-based owner of my local shopping center has rooftop gardens on the Brooklyn warehouses she owns.
This should be a slam dunk, shouldn’t it? We’ll see!

A New York company has developed a hyper local way to get fresh produce to grocery stores: grow it on the store’s own rooftop – or at least one very close by.

BrightFarms builds hydroponic greenhouses on top of buildings and then sells the lettuce, tomatoes and herbs to local supermarkets. So far, the company’s partners include A&P in Brooklyn, Whole Foods in New Jersey, and Homeland Stores in Oklahoma. Now BrightFarms wants to come to the Triangle.

P.S. The link in the N&O blog entry is broken. The contest URL is http://brightfarms.com/projects/north-carolina-envision-us-here-contest

via .biz – Company seeks roof garden sites | newsobserver.com blogs.

Pussy Riot case shows Russia’s dark path

Last week, Russian authorities handed down a harsh sentance to the three members of the female punk band Pussy Riot, after the band staged an anti-Putin “punk prayer” in a Russian Orthodox Church. It shows the increasingly autocratic ways of Russian prime minister Vladmir Putin, who is apparently leading the country away from its experiments as an open society (while lining his own pockets at the same time).

Below is a statement from one of the band members which was posted to one of the band’s support groups on Facebook. She is absolutely correct when she writes that the country’s heavy-handed response to their stunt shows the Russian leadership’s fear of opposition.

I hope their case will wake other Russians to Putin’s looting of their country and their rights.
Continue reading →

Ecuador to Let Julian Assange Stay in Its Embassy

Julian Assange might be a pain in the ass to governments everywhere, but the British threat to revoke the diplomatic immunity of the Ecuadorian Embassy in order to fetch him – a man charged with no crime – seems wildly inappropriate.

“We remind the public that these extraordinary actions are being taken to detain a man who has not been charged with any crime in any country,” the statement said. It added: “We further urge the U.K. government to show restraint, and to consider the dire ramifications of any violation of the elementary norms of international law.”

via Ecuador to Let Julian Assange Stay in Its Embassy – NYTimes.com.

WineDiningFun.com

My multi-talented former boss Rowland Archer and his lovely wife Lana have just launched a resource for wine events around the Triangle. Give it a look!

We are Rowland and Lana from Raleigh, NC. We love wine events and hope you do too. We have found it very hard to find wine dinners, tastings and festivals in time to get reservations or tickets and have missed a lot of them that sounded great — after the fact. There are hundreds of web sites, Facebook pages and mailing lists that seem to get updated inconsistently if at all — and who has time to look at all of them hoping to find that one piece of gold buried in all the out-of-date information?

via About.

Raleigh will soon have its own business startup ‘Hub’

HUB Raleigh

It looks like Raleigh may have a place for startups to get started after all, about a year after I mentioned it here. I’m looking forward to learning more about HUB Raleigh!

Frustrated by lack of respectable, low-cost office space and support of other new and emerging business owners, a team of entrepreneurs in Raleigh is launching an equivalent of Durham’s “American Underground.”

Led by Brooks Bell, owner of her own rapidly growing high-tech integration business, and Christopher Gergen, who launched the Bull City Forward business program in Durham, “HUB Raleigh” is set to open on Sept. 15 at 711 Hillsborough Street.

via Raleigh will soon have its own business startup 'Hub' :: WRAL Tech Wire.

US warns China on South China Sea moves

Interesting. I’m glad America still has a strong Navy!

The Obama administration has warned China against further moves to tighten control over a disputed section of the South China Sea, as tensions rose in the flashpoint region.

In a statement, the US State Department cautioned China about its addition of a military garrison and civilian officials near the contested Scarborough Reef and its use of barriers to deny access to foreign ships.

These moves "run counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region", said the statement, issued early on Friday morning and attributed to Patrick Ventrell, the acting deputy spokesman.

via US warns China on South China Sea moves.

Pullen Park facelift is paying off :: WRAL.com

Yay, Pullen Park!

A $6.3 million renovation at Raleigh’s premier park is paying off for the city. Since reopening in November, Pullen Park has brought in about $725,000 in ticket sales alone.

Before the facelift, the 66-acre park averaged between $500,000 and $600,000 per year in ticket sales, concessions and shelter rentals. Ticket prices have remained the same.

via Pullen Park facelift is paying off :: WRAL.com.

Neighborhood email lists get some love in local paper

The neighborhood list serves I run for East Raleigh neighborhoods got a mention by Matt Garfield in today’s Midtown Raleigh News.

The Belvidere Park & Woodcrest email list has over 300 subscribers and the East Citizens Advisory Council Discussion list has 266 subscribers. The Lockwood neighborhood list has 45 subscribers. I hope these numbers go up as more people discover the power of these communications tools!

Hours after the encounter, an officer called Brooks to thank her for contacting police. He called the arrest “a good catch.”

Contacting police isn’t the only thing Brooks did. After the woman left, Brooks sent an email to the neighborhood list-serv in the East Citizens Advisory Council, alerting dozens of residents to beware of a suspicious person in the area.

The email chain has become a go-to source for many residents. East CAC members discuss everything from dogs running loose on the street to recommendations for plumbers and repairmen.

“It’s a grassroots social network that really does provide a lot of benefit,” said Emrys Treasure, co-chairman of the East CAC. “It’s hard to imagine how the CAC would go without it.”

via Door-to-door act in East Raleigh highlights need for caution – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

Congress examines Amtrak’s food and beverage losses

I’m a fan of Amtrak but I have to admit their food car is a joke. To pay almost 10 bucks for a hamburger to be reheated in a microwave is outrageous. What’s even more outrageous is that it costs Amtrak $16.15 for that same pathetic burger.

Time to require some accountability for Amtrak. Replacing the food car with a car of vending machines would be a good start.

Amtrak loses millions on its food and beverage service, and a congressional committee wants to know why.

The company’s food and beverage cars have lost $833.8 million over the last decade, including $84.5 million in 2011, according to testimony at a congressional hearing Thursday.

The reason: the difference between Amtrak’s costs and what it charges passengers. For example, taking overhead into account, each cheeseburger costs Amtrak $16.15 and each can of soda costs $3.40. But Amtrak charges passengers only $9.50 and $2 for those items.

via Congress examines Amtrak's food and beverage losses – USATODAY.com.