Posts about Russia

From Russia with civic ambivalence : As planners envision a Moscow with wide sidewalks, trams, and neighborhood squares, they also question whether the people of Moscow can cultivate a sense of community to make such changes successful. (Post) (Comment)

And...: Kickstarter funds a handle for carrying a bicycle up stairs. (Atlantic Cities) ... Glen Echo wants the first stop sign traffic camera in Maryland. (Examiner) ... Residents of a Russian city paint the faces of local bureaucrats onto potholes to get repairs more quickly. (thisbigcity) ... The Bike League profiles planner Fionnuala Quinn. (Comment)

Diplomats flout parking laws: Foreign embassies owe DC $500,000 in unpaid parking tickets. Russia owes $27,200 in unpaid fines, while the UK owes just $20. The city confirmed that it does occasionally boot and tow diplomats' cars. (WTOP) (Comment)

Dostoevsky on DC: DC and St. Petersburg, Russia, were both designed as national capitals. A close reading of Dostoevsky and Gogol reveals the cities share a lot in common from calculated street systems to calculating, systematic bureaucrats. (TBD) (Comment)

And...: The dream of a railroad connecting Russia and Alaska lives on. (MSNBC) ... Buy a house in Baltimore for $10,000. (Baltimore Sun) ... A DDOT customer service center will replace an art gallery that's been living rent-free in the Reeves Center. (City Paper) (Comment)

How Moscow handles its escalators: The Russian capital keeps its Metro escalators operating, vital to clearing rush-hour platforms in very deep stations before another full train comes 90 seconds later. However, they do have the money to keep 3,000 mechanics on staff and post dedicated escalator watchers at every station to intervene the moment a problem arises. (Post) (Comment)

DIY subway: One man in Russia is single-handedly building a subway system underneath his neighborhood. He has been working on it since 1984. It even has permits. (English Russia via Planetizen) (Comment)