Jamie Buss's Blog

Venture for America trains would-be entrepreneurs

Jamie Buss — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:14:41 +0000

Venture for America trains would-be entrepreneurs

Venture for America appears to be an inspiring program, launching this year, aiming to place aspiring entrepreneurs to work for 2 years, with lots of support and training. It’s sort of apprenticeship, sort of service learning, definitely hands-on training for business-oriented folks — and they earn a salary all the while! The key goal is to create more jobs, by supporting folks who will eventually create them. Sounds like a winning proposition, and much cheaper than an MBA.

What does YOUR state do to subsidize businesses?

Jamie Buss — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:36:41 +0000

What does YOUR state do to subsidize businesses?

Check out this great resource. The MN report is very interesting to me. Despite being an early leader in transparency, we are now in the middle of the pack (a pack with exceedingly low standards). Three out of five major statewide programs providing subsidies have NO online recipient disclosure.

Job Search Tips

Jamie Buss — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:59:12 +0000

Job Search Tips

These are a great, succinct collection of tips for your job search.

Transportation as a civil rights issue

Jamie Buss — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 02:32:33 +0000

Back of the Bus: Mass transit, race, and inequality is a really interesting story about transportation (especially mass transit, but not exclusively) as a civil rights issue, with two case studies from St Paul. It’s available by reading text at a web site (with all the relevant links for further info) as well as a podcast from American Radioworks, in collaboration with Transportation Nation.

Makes me wonder: What will the biking and walking movement look like once we embrace a multi-cultural vision of these modes of transportation? It won’t involve so much specialized equipment, for one thing. It won’t be much about the equipment at all.

Smart Transportation support for state and county officials

Jamie Buss — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:28:19 +0000

This new initiative is exciting! It’s funded jointly by Rockefeller Foundation and USDOT, administered out of Center on Wisconsin Strategy, aimed at supporting state and local transportation officials to implement smarter transportation policies and practices. Its first meeting happened in September in Minneapolis, despite no Minnesota representation on either of two governing boards. Our combo of “smart transportation” infrastructure must be pretty special — Hiawatha Light Rail, Northstar Commuter Rail, Skyway system (walkways connecting many, many blocks of downtown), Nice Ride bikesharing system, and the relatively new downtown ballpark, Target Field.

State Smart Transportation Initiative

Bike Walk Twin Cities needs volunteers to conduct surveys

Jamie Buss — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:40:34 +0000

TLC Bike Walk Twin Cities will be conducting pedestrian and bicycle counts and surveys as part of the ongoing evaluation of the Non-motorized Pilot Program, known locally as Bike Walk Twin Cities. These will happen on several dates April 27 to May 10, in locations throughout the City of Minneapolis. For more info: BWTC survey information. I’m coordinating the survey, so work with me to find a shift that works well in your schedule.

Making websites fun

Jamie Buss — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 18:01:13 +0000

Now on a totally different topic, about which I’m also passionate: website usability, or more generally user experience design. This article defines “flow”, applies it to use of iPhone applications, and sets a course for designing user experiences that are more fun. Really interesting, as I approach designing a new feature for www.iseek.org (a way to search for apprenticeships).

\“Flow\” – the iPhone (and Web) Experience that Sells

Comment after the article is interesting: ”There’s easy fun, hard fun, people fun, and serious fun. And we better get good at designing all that.”

Transportation For America � New poll shows Americans strongly support public transportation; more walking & biking

Jamie Buss — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:14:47 +0000

Transportation For America � New poll shows Americans strongly support public transportation; more walking & biking.

The understanding that we can’t build our way out of congestion through more lanes of highways is slow, but it is coming.

Progress toward the next federal transportation bill

Jamie Buss — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:00:54 +0000

Federal Transportation policy (and funding) go in six year cycles, and it is time to renew. (Past time actually — but the last bill was extended for another year at the end of 2009.) From Wired magazine, here’s a particularly succinct and readable account of the issues involved, for people who aren’t transportation policy geeks. Fun Times Ahead as Transportation Bill Takes Shape

Biking in Mpls — Some interesting factoids and cultural tidbits

Jamie Buss — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:47:39 +0000

Biking in Minneapolis, historically and culturally

Artfully presented tidbits on how biking works in Minneapolis. Most interesting piece for me — a count of various kinds of bike “sightings”. I can’t tell where or when these sightings take place, but the graphic claims that somebody spotted these numbers of bike types. (The ratio is what’s interesting to me.)

Unicycles — 5

Recumbents — 537 — that’s one in 20!

Mountain bikes (and hybrids?) — 3158

OOOOOOOld bikes — 2. Unbelievable.

Cargo bikes — 85 — that’s almost one in a hundred!

Racers — 6825

Then when you’re done with that graphic, click on the title area to go to this very interesting site — www.good.is.