| Are we prepared for an oil crisis? |
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| Wednesday, 18 June 2008 | |
 How does Jacksonville stack up when compared with the 50 largest U.S. cities in a recent study on areas best able to cope with high oil prices?
50 Best and worst-ranked cities to weather an oil crisis Public transit use, telecommuting, bike and walk rates were most heavily weighted. Overall rankings (from best to worst - cities best able to cope with increasing fuel prices): 1. San Francisco 2. New York 3. Chicago 4. Washington, DC 5. Seattle 6. Portland, OR 7. Boston 8. Philadelphia 9. Oakland, CA 10. Denver 11. Baltimore 12. Los Angeles 13. Minneapolis, MN 14. New Orleans 15. Atlanta 16. Miami 17. Long Beach, CA 18. Honolulu 19. Sacramento, CA 20. Austin, TX 21. Milwaukee, WI 22. San Diego, CA 23. Tucson, AZ 24. Phoenix, AZ 25. Mesa, AZ 26. Houston, TX 27. Cleveland, OH 28. Dallas, TX 29. Detroit, MI 30. Albuquerque, NM 31. Charlotte, NC 32. Fresno, CA 33. Colorado Springs, CO 34. Las Vegas, NV 35. San Jose, CA 36. El Paso, TX 37. San Antonio, TX 38. Kansas City, MO 39. Omaha, NE 40. Columbus, OH 41. Virginia Beach, VA 42. Forth Worth, TX 43. Nashville, TN 44. Arlington, TX 45. Jacksonville, FL 46. Indianapolis, IN 47. Memphis, TN 48. Louisville, KY 49. Tulsa, OK 50. Oklahoma City, OK http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/12/news/economy/cities_oil/index.htm |
June 18, 2008, 2:06 pm
Re: Are we prepared for an oil crisis?
It's a bit of a flawed metric though.
It isolates the impact of an oil crisis on transportation costs - where Jacksonville will obviously rank rock-bottom. However, a true oil crisis would cause huge shocks throughout the entire economy, which this ranking doesn't measure.
Jacksonville's low cost of living, low tax rates, and relatively robust business friendly community can help dampen the shock of how ill-prepared our transit infrastructure is. Conversely, some of the "well prepared" cities on that list might suffer smaller transportation burdens, but their general economic strength is in a more tenuous position.
June 18, 2008, 8:14 pm
Re: Are we prepared for an oil crisis?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25246262#25246262
Interesting video and article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25248247/
June 19, 2008, 8:58 am
Re: Are we prepared for an oil crisis?
Hells yeah! My husband and I did the same thing as one of the people interviewed when looking for a house in the DFW area. We put a dot where his office is and drew a 15 mile circle around it and that's where we began our search (we did this after we made the "easy" drive that everyone told us about from Fort Worth to the office
The area that we decided on has off-road bike paths (they run along the side of the road in many areas for a direct route), and is just a few miles from the nearest commuter rail station that connects with the DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit). Unfortunately, the extension of the DART directly into his business center has not begun yet, but with the way the set-up is now it will still allow us to take trips into Dallas without having to use the car. And the way the bike paths are connected, we can ride the 20 miles from where we've settled all the way into downtown Fort Worth by bike.
Our requirements were to have a close-knit community feel, good biking routes, near-by recreation, within walking distance of a coffee shop, grocery store and other retail, as well as night-life like a local bar or club. We're actually setting ourselves up to get rid of one of the cars altogether.
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