Berlin Shopping Center, Berlin, NJ

If I lived in the borough of Berlin, I would run for office in an effort to eliminate this kind of blight:

Curb Cuts to Nowhere is on Pinterest

Feel free to share any curb cuts to nowhere you come across; just send them to me at Twitter, and I'll share them here at the blog and here at Pinterest.

A buncha turkeys in South Jersey

We interrupt the slow news cycle of curb cuts to nowhere to briefly examine another nonsensical attempt to control the sprawling (in the worst sense of the word) landscape. So, let's talk turkey: The government of Hainesport, a community in Burlington County, New Jersey, has decided to ban the feeding of wild turkeys, because a few citizens appear to be frightened of these creatures; indeed, they can be a bit intimidating, though I prefer the term magnificent. Under the terms of the law, people can be fined a couple thousands bucks if they knowingly and willingly feed the wild turkeys in their community. Not only is it senseless, it is probably unenforceable. First, shouldn't the cops be looking out for real crooks? Meanwhile, any soul who just looks up turkeys on the Internet will learn that they eat much more than your garden-variety birdseed. They eat bugs, spiders, slugs and even small snakes, as well as vegetation. So a silly "ban" on feeding will just send the turkeys out on the hunt for other food. A quick look at a map of the Hainesport area shows the real root cause of the problem. It comes in all shapes and sizes, but mostly (as my geography professor would call it) loops and lollipops, aka, housing developments, cul-de-sacs and the like (and probably a few curb cuts to nowhere somewhere on the landscape). It's a little late, I'm sure, to unring that bell, since the greedy community leaders all salivated at the thought of all those property-tax-paying ratables coming in to town. After all, what's the loss of a few patches of woods and fields in exchange for all that tax money. (I plead ignorance about whether there are any 55+ communities there, but given the boom of those places in recent past, I'd bet a buck that there are some in and around Hainesport. They bring a whole other set of problems -- if the 55+ folks have no kids in school, what incentive do they have to support the school budget? -- but that's another story.) But ringing this new bell, sounding this alarm, over (gasp!) wild turkeys on the loose, is merely grasping at (turkeys in the) straw. Besides, maybe they can teach us a thing or two about sustainable living...at least they already know to take public transit.

Boxes Amid Blight

In an homage to one of my favorite sites, Boxes of Blight, I offer the photo of some boxes amid blight, the largely empty Berlin Shopping Center in Berlin, New Jersey. Dear Courier-Post, Auto Finder, Auto Mart, and Homes and Land, these are taking up space in a shopping center that plenty of empty space. And Auto Mart, your box is being used as a trash bin.

From nowhere to really nowhere

I've been meaning to post this for a while, Inquirer writer Inga Saffron's take on the lost allure for the outer suburbs. While she focuses primarily on one Philly-area region, she references Christopher B. Leinberger's death knell for exurbs.
Since I began this blog, I've spent a lot of tongue-in-cheek time pointing out the intersections around South Jersey where I live that have these curb cuts and crosswalks that lead to nowhere. But many of these locations would seem to be prime real estate for future development, so these curb cuts would seem to have the potential to become curb cuts to somewhere.
However, given what both Saffron and Leinberger write, that seems to be becoming less likely. We still have an oversupply of housing; surveys show baby boomers/empty nesters want do downsize and move into more walkable communities, and the younger generations need mobility to move where the jobs are.
I've said on other occasions that the concept of these curb cuts - to allow people with disabilities to move about more freely and without the impediment of curbs - is a noble one. No one wants to see anyone barred from where they need to go. But the blind following of government mandates that every new/reconfigured intersection include curb cuts remains mind-boggling. After all, I cannot imagine anyone, for instance, needing such easy access to get into the GEMS Superfund toxic waste site.
Death to the exurbs? Maybe too soon to tell, but undoubtedly, if it does come to pass, it will mean the birth of even more curb cuts to nowhere.

Gloucester County, NJ: Fries Mill and Clayton-Williamstown Roads

Gloucester County, NJ: Tuckahoe and Clayton-Williamstown Road

Had not been to my eye doctor in three years, so traveling from Winslow Township to Clayton, New Jersey, I found two more intersections with Curb Cuts to Nowhere. Here's one, on Clayton-Williamstown Road at Tuckahoe Road (cater-corner from the veterans cemetery):

Near Sicklerville, NJ

Here are two of the four corners at Williamstown Road and Erial Road, across from Mongan's gas station:

Housing slump = home improvement slump

This link is for Page 2 of an article on the home-improvement slump by the Philadelphia Inquirer's housing writer, Alan Heavens, because it mentions the closing of this hardware/lumber-yard store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Meanwhile, you can get a really good luck at a lot of nowhere at the site with this video, shot in late 2011.

On the edge of "nowhere"

Here are a couple interesting reads from the weekend. @IngaSaffron of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about the losing luster of the exurbs, while the Atlantic Cities writes about the dismantling of some highways in favor of open space and parks.

Charlottesville, VA

Someone named faceless b has shared a curb cut to nowhere in Charlottesville, Virginia

From Michigan Bicyclists' photo stream

No details on where this is, but thanks to whoever posted to the bikers' photo stream.

Kunstler's Eyesore of the Month for November

Playing a little catch-up here, but thanks to a friend who showed me this link for the November Eyesore of the Month.

Real "curb cuts to nowhere" news from Pennsylvania

Some residents in Maidencreek Township, Pennsylvania, are upset at a project that installs curb cuts in the middle of nowhere.
Officials acknowledged that the cuts are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act (a noble cause, if sometimes not practical, such as in these cases), but, said one lawmaker:

We don't have enough money to fix our roads and bridges, so it's crazy to be building sidewalks to nowhere.

Meanwhile, it seems the matter has drawn the attention of the Reading Eagle, which editorialized on the topic.

New report on rural pedestrian deaths

Transportation for America reports that in high-traffic areas without sidewalks, pedestrian deaths are epidemic, about 1,000 a year, especially in resort areas. Which goes back to my original point that if you have curb cuts to nowhere, you can install sidewalks.

Entire roads to nowhere?

Not quite that dramatic, but here's a Yahoo Finance report on cities that are dramatically losing population.

Street signs: Flap, flip-flop, etc.

Again, apologies for the slow chronicles here, but I've been fascinated in recent days with the brouhaha over whether the BIG FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is foisting a new street signs policy on unsuspecting communities.
I'll share a few links, but the short version is that an apparently obscure law that is due to go into effect in January 2012 would require street signs to be replaced with new ones that have better reflecting capabilities in the dark and in the rain, and that would feature upper- and lower-case letters to make it easier for older Americans to read.
This reminds me of curb cuts to nowhere -- installing curb cuts in redesigned/reconfigured intersections were no good pedestrian would dare stroll -- in that the government thinks one size fits all. It might be prudent to replace old, decaying street signs with the newer supposedly snazzier models, but change for change's sake is imprudent in these tight economic times (except maybe for the sign makers; more on that later).
At any rate, among the many links on this brewing controversy (author's note: does "brewing controversy" need to be in quotes) are from CBS News,
Fox News, The Trucker, and The Reason magazine (Pic comes from Reason website, by the way)


By the way, one interesting tidbit that has come out of this is the fact that signmakers, not so surprising, are behind the push for the changes:

The American Traffic Safety Services Association -- which represents companies that make signs and the reflective material used on them -- lobbied hard for the new rules. And at least one key study used to justify the changes was funded by the 3M Corporation, one of the few companies that make the reflective material now required on street signs.

Long time no see ... but here's an interesting map

Still getting reimmersed in this blog. Sorry for the delay. As I continue my GIS class, I may be blogging more. Meanwhile, here's a map that monitors drought conditions across the United States.

NY town ends eye-in-the-sky pool spotting

Officials thought they could keep track of which pools had been built illegally in people's backyards, but thought better of the idea.

New addition to this blog

If you've gotten this far onto the page, then you've already spotted it. I'm not a huge fan of bells and whistles on my pages, but some things are just too big to ignore. In this case, the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Tangentially, it's related to my blog, because, building all of these roads with curb cuts to nowhere is just another way of showing how much we love our cars...and feed the beasts.