So annoyed, I have to post.

OK, it's not really news: developer gives big bucks to mayor, reaps rewards. But this case is just so obvious and petty, and the developer is so noxious:

It took nine months for residents of Oakland's North Neville Street to get a few new parking spaces from the city. It took politically connected developer Walnut Capital a week to take some of those spaces away.

[...]

When residents parked in front of The Metropolitan, they found warnings on building letterhead on their windshields saying they had "parked in a reserved parking area. Your license has been recorded. The next violation will result in vehicle tow and impoundment at your expense."

Private landowners can't reserve city streets, said city Public Works Director Guy Costa. "They had no right to do that," he said of the warnings.

[...]

Mr. Costa said state law bars parking within three feet of a driveway, but the city is allowed to increase that distance as needed. He visited the site, and his department created a 42-foot no-parking zone next to the driveway. He said he would have made such an inspection and change for any property owner.

Of course he would. Why, in a city of 300,000, everyone gets that kind of personalized service, especially after they've pulled illegal BS.

Walnut Capital, which was started by a couple of trust fund babies, has been a bad-faith developer for a decade. Their M.O. is to make false promises to current residents (like telling tenants that they can come back after renovations), flout legal requirements (like preservation laws), screw around with important structures, and then pat themselves on the back for investing in the city.

The Midwest Really Is Different

OK, so I wanted to see whether Greenfield, Iowa's town square really is "European Style," as its website proclaims. Google Maps, so. Sadly, the satellite imagery for this area is a joke, so I couldn't answer my question, but I noticed that this little county seat features 240th St. That seemed like an awfully big number, and, indeed, the entire town lies between 230th and 250th. Hmm. So, is there some metropolis 240 blocks to the north, the way nearly all of Dade County is laid out from a point in central Miami?

No.

Turns out that this part of Iowa is laid out with east-west streets that run from 110th up to around 360th or 400th, and then starts again at the next county. Meanwhile, the county lines are demarked by evocatively-named roads such as Adair-Adams St. (between Adair and Adams counties) or Adams-Union Ave.

Good Lord, I just realized that the north-south streets are in alphabetical order, again starting and ending at each county line. So Clover Ave. turns into Orange Ave. because the third north-south road in Union County is the fifteenth in Adair County. Wow.

Now, the rationalist in me - the dork who loves logical systems - thinks this is kind of cool. And it's a million times better than the Utah system, which proves that Mormons really are freaky cultists with their street names like S 100 E St. (and they're all streets! No avenues to distinguish orientation). But when you look at those Iowa roads, those endless, dead-straight lanes leading to and from nothing in particular, it has a chilling feel, as if devised by intellects at a slight remove from our own.

The people, that is, with an outsize say in who our next president will be.

OK, So It Was Over

The post below this one suggested that the annual Parade to Paris could be more exciting if the final gap was below 0:30. Yet there it was, at 0:23, and nothing happened. Why?

Well, first of all, that 30 second figure was a guess. It was surprisingly difficult to determine how many time bonuses were on offer that final day. Turns out to have been something like 28 seconds. So Cadel Evans could only have overtaken Alberto Contador with a near-perfect day.

But why not fight for it anyway? Why not try?

Well, the simple reality was that there was no way for Evans to esacpe from the peloton and take those time bonuses by sheer strength/gall. Among (many) other things, at each intermediate and final sprint, there are time bonuses available for each successive place. So Evans would need not only to beat Contador to the line 3 times, but he would also have to have over a dozen other riders do so. There is no rational reason to think that was possible. So Evans accepted second place, and was, I'm sure, fairly happy with it.

In other wrap-up news, Levi had his best day of the Tour on Saturday, winning the Time Trial by 0:51 over Evans, putting him a tantalizing 8 seconds out of second. Frankly, it's conceivable he could have snuck in a final day time bonus, but, again, unlikely - if he contests one of the intermediates, Evans and his team are on alert, and he doesn't stand a chance; and the final sprint is always a showcase for the sprinters' teams, and it's hard to imagine Levi sneaking into position. More agonizing is that Levi lost 10 seconds in the Alps when he was penalized for being "towed" by his team car during a mechanical check. There was a minor controversy - lost in the doping scandals - in the sudden enforcement of this rule this year. Essentially, riders have long gotten little boosts from their team cars when being handed drinks, or getting a medical check, or a mechanical assist. It's meaningless over the course of 3500 km, and everyone does it, so it's just not a big deal. But officials decided to be dicks about it this year, and it cost Levi.

Nonetheless, it was a big year for Team Discovery, which has no sponsor for next year. Three finishers in the Top Ten, including two on the podium in Paris. Much of the sports world has dismissed the Tour, and pro cycling in general, in the wake of this year's doping scandals (and former star Iban Mayo, who had a poor tour, apparently tested positive for steroids after it was over). But there are signs that the young riders, who began to take over the race this year, have a new attitude about doping. Most notably, after the second rider was caught, a number of teams sat out the day's start, protesting the rider. Ten years ago, when the Tour was similarly racked with scandal, teams protested as well - against enforcement. Of course, the scandals, which even hit teams with commitments to internal testing, aren't a good sign. But you can't clean up a dirty sport without exposing some dirt.

Here's to a 2008 Tour with just as much testing, but many fewer (no?) positives.

Last Big Day of the Tour - Maybe

So after two days of exciting racing, in which the General Classification was never in doubt - today, Saturday, is the second Time Trial. The last one was won by "Two Bloods Are Better Than One" Vinokourov, with Cadel Evans a strong second. Well, Evans is sitting in second overall, 1:50 behind Contador. Unless Contador has a terrible day, or Evans has an amazing one, Evans shouldn't be able to make up that much time. But - and this is the exciting possibility - he could get to within 30 seconds or so, in which case tomorrow's parade into Paris will not be one: it will be a race. This hasn't happened in almost 2 decades, since Greg LeMond won the Tour by 8 seconds on a Time Trial into Paris. Since then, Paris has always been a mellow route, with some sprinters jumping up on the final laps of the Champs Elysees for points, but otherwise not much happening. But with time bonuses for intermediate sprints and the overall stage win, Evans could make up 30 seconds or less. Probably won't be able to, but it would be a chance enough to make things exciting. Let's root for exciting.

One other note: David Millar, a Scotsman, was booted from racing for 2 years for doping. He returned a year ago with the zeal of the converted, and is now a very vocal member of the peoloton on doping issues. He writes a Tour Diary for Bicycling Magazine, and had a powerful piece in response to Vino's positive test. Give it a read.

But Should Green go Unseen?

Witold Rybczynski, the insightful architect/writer/professor, has another of his slide shows up at Slate, this one called Green Unseen, and subtitled "Environmentally friendly buildings don't need to look like cheese wedges." Well thank goodness for that, I suppose.

There isn't much meat here, which surprised me at first. But I'm pretty sure what we're seeing is yet another manifestation of the Dirty Fucking Hippie syndrome. When Rybczynski was young and idealistic in the early 70s, he designed and built some overly-earnest eco-sensitive buildings that he's now ashamed of. He hasn't abandoned these ideals - he repeatedly lauds them - but he is embarrassed by their obviousness. And certainly, much of the first generation of eco-architecture was flawed, in a variety of ways (Same thing can be said for Modernism, incidentally).

But his conclusion - his takeaway from his own experience - is that buildings shouldn't give any evidence of greenness. Robert AM Stern's yet-again Georgian dorm is praised for energy efficiency without detracting from its up-to-the-minute 18th Century style, and Witold's glad that the banal 7 WTC tower (think "glass box," and you've pretty much got it) betrays no hint of its Gold LEED rating.

I have some sympathy for this viewpoint - I would rather every building be LEED rated and look traditional than only wacky buildings be green, and almost no one builds them. BUT. A lot of green things aren't particularly easily done in traditional forms. If you start a project with a commitment to an aesthetic, and then shoehorn green into it, that's where you get extra costs for going green, because it's not actually organic to the design.

I'm a strong believer that buildings should express their intent. This can be interpreted broadly, but what it really comes down to is that I'm pretty disdainful of generic architecture, whether "green unseen" or neotraditionalist when it needn't be. Maybe only the best architects (Wright, Foster) are really effective at really expressing their function through their form, and so maybe we're better off if the rest of us stick with tried-and-true. But I can't help but think that we're actually better off with all of us designers and builders trying to do more, not less. It's what got us out of the caves, after all.

Oddly Better

I was saying to my wife at dinner tonight that the worst thing was that Rasmussen was on track to win, despite being the first yellow jersey (at least in the last couple of decades) to be presumed guilty without actually failing a test. But now he's gone, and it seems at least possible that the ride tomorrow will be clean.

I suppose I'm just setting myself up for more disappointment, but at least some of these guys must be clean, right? And if the last 3 days haven't put the fear of God/UCI into them, perhaps nothing will.

FWIW, Contador, the Team Disco rider now leading, is having a magnificent Tour. I'd put him at 50/50 clean. Maybe better.

That said, I won't be shocked, or much shaken, if dawn tomorrow sees three more teams out. Just because that's how it's tending.

Furthermore

I've always trusted Lance. I had some underlying doubts, but was able to convince myself that he was clean.

No more.

His denials sound to me like everyone else's denials, and his amazing performances are too much like everyone else's. If he really was clean, and no one around him was (as now seems apparent), then he should have been sounding a clarion call against doping. Instead, all he did was proclaim his own innocence.

Bullshit.

I've got the Tour up on my screen right now (Dutch feed), but I haven't even checked to see what's going on. What difference does it make?

Alright, now I'm down.

Vino, how could you do this to us?

More Shakeup

First day in the Pyrenees - which are generally harder climbs than the Alps, although today wasn't too challenging - and while most of the race leaders (with one big exception) were in the chase to the end, it was a tense and exciting finish. Early in the race, Saunier Duval wasted a lot of effort trying to position team leader Iban Mayo for a stage victory - his GC chances vanished in yesterday's poor Time Trial - and then he blew up before the summit of the first of two big climbs. Rabobank, middling quality team of yellow jersey Rasmussen, did the remainder of the early work, but then Discovery picked up the pace on the second big climb, somewhat reminiscent of the Lance Years. For the last 15 km or so the lead group (aside from the remnant of an early breakaway) included contenders Rasmussen, Evans, Sastre, Klöden, Leipheimer, and Contador - the last two being Discovery, along with strong rider but non-contender Popovych. No one else had any teammates, meaning that the situation was perfect for Discovery.

And, indeed, Popo lead the group up the beyond-category climb with its summit finish, dropping off pretenders like Valverde. But Leipheimer, with the kind of tactical position that Lance probably still dreams of, couldn't pull off the stage. He had one attack that looked like it would take, but then faded. You can't win the Tour if you can't make a mountain attack stick. So, at the end, it was Rasmussen and Contador, with Contador having the legs to win easily at the line. He's now in second overall, 2:23 back, :41 ahead of Evans, and 2:06 ahead of nominal team leader Leipheimer. As I said, Levi had a fine ride, coming in fourth on the day, but he utterly failed to do what a yellow jersey wearer must do. Cadel Evans did somewhat worse, up front for awhile, but then blowing up in the last 5 km and finishing almost 2:00 behind. Klöden - riding on a fractured coccyx, mind you - struggled most of the day to stay within sight of the leaders' group, yet managed to finish with Evans, which to my mind makes his day the better one.

But the worst day belonged to my beloved Vino, who was simply tapped out by his magnificent TT performance on Saturday. Vino slipped back and back all day, visibly struggling, even with three teammates up the road. He came in 28:50 behind Contador (81st on the day!), and slipped to 30th place, over 34 minutes back. Alas, poor Vino, we knew you well.

[Much later update: Well, aside from the fact that we now know that Vino was doping, we also know that he was 28 minutes back because some jagoff fan waved his flag at the Astana rider in front of Vino, got the flag caught in the spokes, and sent down both Vino and his teammate. In retrospect, I'm kind of glad that Vino landed on his sutured knees. Fucking cheater.]

Time Trial Shakeup

Well, with one week left to Paris, we know much more about the Tour than we did Friday, before the Time Trial (TT). Vino rode himself back into contention, jumping from something like 22nd up to 9th with a monster effort that took 1:15 out of Cadel Evans, who was second on the day, and 2:00 or more off of everyone else. A couple of nominal GC (General Category) contenders, like Cristophe Moreau and Iban Mayo, were wiped out, and have nothing to work for other than stage wins. Levi Leipheimer didn't do poorly, but he didn't show much either - his teammate, young Alberto Contador, is showing himself to be a better overall contender at this point. Yellow Jersey Michael Rasmussen - currently dogged by doping rumors - is a famously poor time trialer, but actually held on to his race lead with an 11th place finish.

And Cadel Evans - of whom I said last year, I don't know why he's a GC contrender, but everyone says he is - looks right now to be the best positioned rider. He has looked strong every day so far, he obviously will not get hurt in the final TT, and he's up in the standings. Klöden remains ahead of Vino in the overalls, so if Vino falters again (as he is currently doing on Stage 14, but it's early yet), Andreas can take over as team leader and be in a position to go for yellow.

Exciting stuff with 3 Pyrennean days to go.

...And he's back up.

Well, despite that nasty-looking road rash pictured here (courtesy of Bicycling), Vino rode today - gingerly, at the back of the back, but with the peloton all day nonetheless. Same for Klöden, whose coccyx is apparently "fissured," not broken. But I think he has to be treated as a presumptive DNS (Did Not Start) every day until Paris.

A fair amount of commentary was made today that Astana - believed coming in to be one of the stronger teams - looked terrible trying, and failing, to run Vino back up to the peloton. There's no denying that - as I think I said, Vino ended up alone, having blown apart his own team. But I think that people may have inflated expectations from Postal/Discovery's years of domination. The first few years of Lance's wins, USPostal was not the race-ruling express train they later became. Plenty of talent, but a lot of what Lance achieved in those years was from his own strength - chasing down climbers on impossible mountains and leaving them in his wake. It was after his success that Postal, then Discovery, had so much talent, so much experience, and, frankly, such an aura that they could exert their will on the other 180 riders without breaking a sweat. Astana shouldn't be measured against that, especially not on a day when both of their leaders have nasty falls.

All that said, if Klöden's done, then Team Astana is mortally wounded, and only a heroic performance by Vino can win it.