Out of Town

With "Reality TV" producers plumbing the depths for every conceivable confrontational scenario, it's a wonder it took so long to strike the rich vein that is the put-upon motoring public. But thanks to "Parking Wars," the wait is over.

The world's first car-free, zero-carbon city is slated to rise near the Persian Gulf by 2013.

In 2004, after John Kerry and John Edwards conceded a second term in the White House to George W. Bush, the editors of Seattle's liberal-tarian weekly The Stranger published an essay entitled "The Urban Archipelago," calling on urban Democrats and their political candidates to unite on issues relevant to cities, where the majority of Americans live. Though an enjoyable read, most of the essay isn't suitable for print on a family blog, but here's a representative passage:

The whole hour is well worth watching, but here are some highlights:

Cyclists queue up on Brunswick Street in Melbourne.

The much-hyped and much-criticized Tata Nano, a car that will hit the Indian market retailing for a mere 100,000 rupees -- the equivalent of $2,500 -- got a perplexing nod of approval from the Economist newsmagazine last week:

Through circumstances too convoluted to go into here, I found myself on a huge cruise ship over the holiday break, bound for the Eastern Caribbean. Our first port of call was San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is much the same as Aaron Naparstek left it two years ago:

Top brass at the NYPD usually (but not always) cast a blind eye toward police officers who show disregard for the city's parking regulations. It's a sharp contrast to the NYPD's "broken windows" school of policing, which promotes aggressive enforcement against minor scofflaws (like my friend Katie who recently spent a night in the box for a supposedly unpaid off-leash dog walking summons).