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How about an “urban wealth fund”?
21–30 of 43 posts
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#22> Leasing space in subway stations to shops might detract from the “historic” character of the US’s barbarous public transit systems, but the revenues could fund needed improvements, such as ventilation, without the need for debt or higher passenger fares. All the public transit systems I've rode in Europe and Asia have lots of infrastructure (especially stores) built into their train stations. I found them to be a w…
NYC already has shops in some subway entrances, as well as newsstands on a tiny minority of subway platforms.
That said, I believe the shops in the entrances are actually leased from private landlords who constructed those entrances when building new highrises.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are they rare in the US? Every stop I use regularly (in Chicago) has shops in it. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that don't are ones where there isn't space or where businesses have left on their own volition.
NYC has them. They're in some stations in Boston, but many just don't have the space for it. IIRC, they're non-existant in the Bay Area.
There are a couple shops on the mezzanine levels of the BART stations on Market Street.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are they rare in the US? Every stop I use regularly (in Chicago) has shops in it. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that don't are ones where there isn't space or where businesses have left on their own volition.
Do they really have shops in them or are they accessible through a building that has shops?
Does that make a difference to the thought about providing rental income? I'd think that in order to maximize the value of the space you'd want to make it as appealing to renters as possible, which would mean making it more available.
To answer the question of the 5 stops I use most 4 of them have shops. None of them are on the platforms, but the platforms are very small. All 4 of those that have shops have been completely remodeled in the last 15 years to make the shops more appealing or to add shops that didn't exist.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#25> Leasing space in subway stations to shops might detract from the “historic” character of the US’s barbarous public transit systems, but the revenues could fund needed improvements, such as ventilation, without the need for debt or higher passenger fares. All the public transit systems I've rode in Europe and Asia have lots of infrastructure (especially stores) built into their train stations. I found them to be a w…
Are they rare in the US? Every stop I use regularly (in Chicago) has shops in it. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that don't are ones where there isn't space or where businesses have left on their own volition.
The majority of the L stops I use in Chicago don't have shops (mostly blue line, some red line and brown line).
Which ones do you use that has shops?
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are they rare in the US? Every stop I use regularly (in Chicago) has shops in it. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that don't are ones where there isn't space or where businesses have left on their own volition.
The majority of the L stops I use in Chicago don't have shops (mostly blue line, some red line and brown line). Which ones do you use that has shops?
The 5 stops I use most are (in order of use):
- 53rd Street Metra (bicycle/coffee shop)
- Randolph Street Metra Station (~8 or 9 shops of various kinds)
- Merchandise Mart Brown Line (attached to a mall)
- Clark & Lake CTA in the Loop (entered via 2 different shopping centers or the street)
- Randolph/Wabash CTA in the Loop. No shopping at this one as it is an old, small elevated stop. That said, in the little space it does have available there is vending so it has been commercialized.
The red/blue lines are good examples of what I mean by not having space. Where would you put shops that would generate enough revenue for the work of putting them in to be valuable? The 95th street station used to have a newstand in it but doesn't anymore, I assume because they couldn't find tenants.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are they rare in the US? Every stop I use regularly (in Chicago) has shops in it. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that don't are ones where there isn't space or where businesses have left on their own volition.
The majority of the L stops I use in Chicago don't have shops (mostly blue line, some red line and brown line). Which ones do you use that has shops?
There are many shops in the red line. They are only open during the day/rush hour. Some of them used to be good (like a mini c-store or a Dunkin donuts) but often they replace them with something stupid like a popcorn stand, or closed them all together.
Obviously there is also the pedway at Lake St, and merchmart, etc but that's not really what we're talking about.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#28The part that's missing is that much of the market value of property in the city comes from having these public buildings in place. Libraries, hospitals, transit stations and so on could be funded entirely out of the value they add to nearby homes and business land - it's just that value can't be captured so easily, because ownership is diversified.
A land/property value tax that was applied equally to public and private land would achieve the article's goals but also ensure that government was properly incentivised to produce value for those in the city, by rewarding them for property value increases with increased tax revenue.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#29In London, Transport For London (TFL) is the largest land holder, and operates all public transport (trains, underground, buses, taxis) and only 23% of its funding comes from Government, the rest are from things like tickets, licenses, fees, rents etc. The government is pushing for them to become self-funded by 2018. So there is an example of how something like this could work - if you have the assets to leverage. I…
I think public transportation agencies owning land is a model that actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it.
A large portion of the land's value comes from its proximity to public transportation service, so it makes sense that the public transportation service would be directly funded by collecting rent on the land value that it created.
Re: How about an “urban wealth fund”?
#30> Leasing space in subway stations to shops might detract from the “historic” character of the US’s barbarous public transit systems, but the revenues could fund needed improvements, such as ventilation, without the need for debt or higher passenger fares. All the public transit systems I've rode in Europe and Asia have lots of infrastructure (especially stores) built into their train stations. I found them to be a w…
Are they rare in the US? Every stop I use regularly (in Chicago) has shops in it. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that don't are ones where there isn't space or where businesses have left on their own volition.
I'm sure someone will show up with a counterexample, but DC doesn't have any that I've ever seen. I feel like they'd make a killing if they just stepped up their vending machine game to be more like Japan, though eating and drinking on the metro is supposed to be banned in DC, so I guess that would send mixed messages.