Amazon, obviously embarrassed at the way their HQ2 process has been received, leaked the results of the competition the night before Election Day, ensuring coverage will be largely muted. Amazon has reportedly decided to split HQ2 between two locations, New York City (Long Island City, Queens) and Washington (Crystal City, VA). I will have more analysis over the next several days, but this shows that the superstar effect is alive and well. Amazon chose note one but two elite coastal cities for its new headquarters. There's no other way … [Read more...]
Why You Should Think Twice Before Building a Rail Transit System
The Washington Metro system was shut down completely for a day this week to allow crews to inspect all of the power cables in the system. They found 26 cables and connectors in need of immediate repair. This is just the latest in a series of safety problems and breakdowns that have plagued the system. Metro has a large unfunded maintenance liability. This doesn't surprise us because we expect American transit systems to have a backlog. The difference is that unlike NYC, Chicago, Boston, etc., which have systems a century old, the … [Read more...]