The Pirate fan demographic tilts a bit old and nostalgic and the video reflects that in a sort of sweet way.

The high contrast filter turns pretty Pittsburgh into gritty Pittsburgh

And on the metro area level, it’s probably even worse. The average Rhode Islander doesn’t live in Providence, but in a town that’s almost entirely white.

Off-topic, it’s interesting that the whitest metro areas turn out to be Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. I wouldn’t associate either of them with lack of diversity – on the contrary, I’d have expected them to have a large enough black population as they were important industrial powerhouses when the Great Migration was happening, same as Detroit. I would probably have guessed Providence is one of the whitest, since New England outside Boston is very white, but I would have also guessed the same of Minneapolis, Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Portland. Maybe Kansas City and Grand Rapids.

I’m not certain whether the Daley bungalow really fits with this type of low quality neighborhood. Looks from the photo like it was a small house, but one built with some craftsmanship.

Aaron, I am in CR right now and they have private operators running buses with government licenses. I don’t know about all the details about contracting/subsidies with the contracts, and there are problems with bottlenecks on principle roads (probably some form of BRT would be helpful on some central avenues, but they have chosen not to do this for now). That said, I live 3 miles from downtown SJ and we have 3-5 minute headways on bus service one block from my house.
I know it is completely different here, the fact that cities such as Atlanta and Indianapolis do not have at least one or two high frequency routes is astounding. Atlanta does have high frequency on MARTA Rail, but not any of its buses. This kills ridership for anyone not transit dependent.

I don’t know if privatizing transit service would help the US, because there may not be demand, but I do suspect that high density areas lose service in municipal systems that cover large sprawling areas. The transit planners must know at least as much as you do about bus transit, but implementing a larger comprehensive system in a car-oriented city means none of the routes are any good. Of course, part of it is policy being so stilted towards automobile travel, but I won’t go there.

Followup – I am far to the left of the socialists who clamor for the current mass transit plan. Were I king, I’d implement a system of minivans driven by $12-an-hour non-government drivers to pick up poor people at their doorstep and take them to work, the grocery, doctor – anyplace vital – free of charge. This system would be infinitely more convenient for poor people than any mass transit scheme. It would be cheaper than the plan proposed this year. It wouldn’t waste money by rewarding white liberals who think the government owes them a subsidized train ride from Carmel to IUPUI. Yet the socialists think I’m a neanderthal for opposing their plans for centralized government-run transit.

Were I king, I’d imprison anyone who benefited from a public-private partnership or tax incentive in this city, claw back all the money they got, lock up the politicians, and use the money to benefit the poor. So *I* am the neanderthal right-wing nut, clearly.

Charles Hughes Smith published an excellent blog entry about the socialist mindset today: http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2013/05/centralization-and-sociopathology.html

Nuvo and the Star don’t even pretend to present the facts about transit. Instead they have accused opponents of not knowing what we’re talking about. This is classic Alinsky-ite behavior.