Parametrix’s Post

For the last several years I've facilitated strategic planning work for the AGC of Kansas during their annual board retreat. The construction industry (trades, crafts and related) continues to face nearly insurmountable hurdles in a number of areas. And yet every year I watch this board gather and work tirelessly to think more broadly, message more intently, recruit more widely, and develop more professionally. It is astounding the passion and tenacity they bring to the table every year. I grew up experiencing the great American road trip every summer. Roads (that someone built) taking me to small towns and big cities (that someone built) to see and do cool things (that someone built) making memories that last a lifetime. Then I'd go back to school (that someone built) and share all about my travels that included quirky hotels with fun kid pools and themed restaurants and miniature golf and fancy museums and massive amusement parks and huge zoos and quaint movie theaters and ice cream parlors and t-shirt stores and knickknack shops (that someone all built). May we never lose sight of what builders build. And may we rise up the next generation of great crafters. M.G. "Mike" Gibson, Dean Youngers, Raymond Dondlinger, Chad Buresh CHC, LEED AP BD+C, John Walker, Tom Saffel #aec #construction #building #strategicplanning #boardofdirectors Associated General Contractors of America

Growth is simple when you base your business around these principles: - Quality work - Honesty and transparency - Genuine partnerships - Reliability If your business partners don’t check these boxes, it’s time to move on 👍 #letsgrowtogether

Proud to have expert faculty like Andrew Whelton here at Purdue University Environmental and Ecological Engineering! Check out the video about Dr. Whelton's work below.

⚠️ Have you or someone you know made one of the comments below? - "Ugh, another roundabout?" - "I think you missed a bump." - "Traffic has become so bad since all of California decided to move to Fort Worth." - "Be sure you leave a few minutes early, the construction on University is brutal." The City of Fort Worth's Master Transportation Plan and Vision Zero Safety Action Plan are simultaneous planning initiatives studying the future of Transportation. I encourage you to be proactive by clicking the link below to learn more. Instead of it being a subject of irritation, take this opportunity to grab a seat at the table where decisions are made. https://lnkd.in/gyMgDc5c

David Zipper wrote this article about a book I'm reading, Killed by a Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies Our Transportation System, by Wes Marshall, himself an engineer. If you are tired of peeling back the layers of our transportation systems, and trying to figure out why the US (especially Florida) has more fatalities and serious injury crashes than our peers, get the book and let's talk! https://lnkd.in/eabgATuC

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where you’ll find my most favorite structure in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge. As a kid, I studied everything about the Bridge: the engineer who built it, the length, height, number of rivets, why it was painted International Orange, the whole deal. I even knew how many strands of small steel wires make up just one of the 3-foot-diameter main cables (27,572), all tightly wrapped together to make an incredibly strong connection. A marvelous piece of engineering genius from the 1930s, that cable supports everything – the roadway, the cars, the people. It took over 6 months for all 27,572 wires to be laid down, one strand at a time. One of my manager friends and I were recently talking about Trust and how important it is to earn it. Key word there, by the way – earn. One of her supervisors was struggling with earning his team’s trust after he broke it. He was new, she said, and it was a learning moment for him, but devastating nonetheless. She asked, “how should he go about rebuilding trust?” I don’t know why, but the first thought that came to me was how the cables that hold up the Golden Gate were made. I replied, “one strand at a time.” I like the metaphor of how building a bridge is akin to building trust. How many times have we enjoyed witnessing someone’s incredible redemption story? The one where we figured their career was over because they broke a trust, but over time, dedicated their time and energy to rebuilding it and became the trusted and respected person they knew in their hearts they already were? Or how many times have we broken a trust, and we were the ones in need of rebuilding the relationship, hoping for patience and forgiveness? And how many times did we discover that it’s never an overnight process? Trust is earned and re-earned one authentic action at a time, one vulnerable conversation at a time, one genuine caring moment at a time, one take-ownership moment at a time. Those moments are the small strands of wire entwined together that support our relationships. If we work hard enough and our culture is patient, respectful and forgiving enough, when the time comes, we may very well write our own redemption story, one strand at a time. Be the Bridge. #culture #trust

Born on this day in 1756, John Loudon McAdam, the father of the modern road. His contribution to engineering, more specifically road building, changed the world forever. Although this process has been refined over time, the basic principle is still in use today. We at RAS are thankful for his contribution to road building. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gk_cesRU

I'm excited to share this new UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies report, published in partnership with the Terner Center, exploring some of the tradeoffs involved in the use of inclusionary zoning (IZ) policies to meet affordable housing goals. There's a lot of pressure to meet affordable housing goals, but limited tools for doing so. IZ is often seen as a solution, but the challenges of studying IZ empirically leave policymakers with very little guidance on how to think about it. This is not an empirical study, but my hope is that the conceptual approach taken here helps identify and clarify the costs and benefits of IZ. It's a starting point for deeper conversations, not the final word. Summarizing the analysis and some findings: 1. I used the Terner Housing Policy Simulator to model market-rate and below-market housing production through the City of LA's Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) program, with inclusionary zoning requirements ranging from 0% to 40%. 2. All else equal, IZ always reduces production, but higher reqs lead to diminishing gains of below market-rate (BMR) units and accelerating losses of market-rate units. There's a point where higher IZ produces fewer of *both*. 3. LA's TOC program is well-calibrated to increase production of both. For example, TOC w/ 11% IZ produces more total housing than 0% without TOC bonuses. 4. Holding TOC bonuses constant, higher inclusionary zoning requirements come at significant cost. At best, every below-market unit produced by IZ reduces market-rate production by more than 4 units. At higher IZ, this "exchange rate" climbs to almost 9-to-1. 5. Inclusionary zoning isn't just an additional cost. The below-market units produced by IZ have value to the public, and specifically to low-income households, as a private subsidy by developers. I estimate the annual value of those subsidies under different IZ scenarios, ranging from $550 million to $1.7 billion. 6. We don't know how much different IZ requirements will increase rents, but we *can* estimate how much rents would need to increase to negate the value of private subsidies invested in affordable IZ units. And I find the required rent increases are quite small. For example, a 16% IZ requirement reduces market-rate production by almost half. If that reduction causes rents to increase at least 4.8% instead of 4% per year, the costs may outweigh the benefits. To me, that's not implausible. My takeaway: Different tools have different strengths, and land use policy may be best suited to improving affordability in the wider housing market, while public subsidies are best for producing below-market homes. IZ seeks to produce affordable homes by substituting land use policy in place of broadly shared taxes and public subsidies. This analysis suggests that the public may be paying either way, and that the costs of IZ are both higher and more regressive than the alternative

Good things are happening

Today’s Linda Hall Library lecture series featured City of Kansas City, MO City Engineer Nicolas Bosonetto. With the program title “Engineering Kansas City: Current Issues and a Look Ahead” I was not expecting a grad school flashback. Lowell, Massachusetts, was an Industrial Age experiment in city planning and social engineering whose lessons are still an important part of any serious urban studies curricula. Nicolas reminded us of the relevance that Lowell has for Kansas City, as we share similar histories and we face similar problems. City growth and infrastructure #construction must not be about newer, bigger, and faster. The reason we build and maintain #infrastructure is to support economic and social development, allowing connections for people and commerce. #KansasCity is fortunate to have leaders in public works who understand the importance of a holistic approach to city building. With so much excitement taking place in Kansas City, now and in the near future, I-Solutions is fortunate to be a community partner on this journey. #urbanplanning #engineering Kansas City Public Library