Automobile related economic development in the 21st Century

Last Sunday, I wrote incredulously about the proposal by Councilmember Brown, chair of the DC City Council Committee on Economic Development, to put multiple car dealerships in the old Hecht's Warehouse in Ivy City (on New York Avenue NE).

I didn't get into how the U.S. automobile industry is failing, I did discuss how cars take up valuable space in the city's land inventory. Nor did I really discuss what's going on with oil prices...

A Nashville station out of gas. Hurricanes knocked offshore production out of service in the Gulf of Mexico, disrupting regional supply. (By Mark Humphrey -- Associated Press)

Economic development in Westminster borough, London, where EDF has installed on-street electricity meters for recharging electric vehicles. Photo by Smart Planet.

Meanwhile, Electricite de France, the company that seems to have been screwed out of buying the company by Chairman Mayo Shattuck of Constellation Energy, the company that owns the local utility (mostly serving Baltimore and its environs, but reaching out into Howard County, maybe even the far reaches of Montgomery County?) Baltimore Gas & Electric, which instead sold out to Warren Buffett for less money, has introduced on-street electricity "juice points" for electric cars in Westminster, London. See "Westminster City Council juices up electric cars" from Smart Planet and "Plug-in hybrid boosts electric motoring" from the BBC.

I guess this is the difference between a City Council (DC) that is backwards looking rather than forward looking (Westminster borough, London).