There is something cynical, and certainly calculating in a bottom-line way, about city governments that ask all of us to be more involved with one another, our garbage, our plot of dirt, our newly demolished, formerly blighted communities, and then turn a cold eye to us.
– Timothy Egan discusses the trend of self-service cities, like his hometown of Seattle, over on the New York Times Outposts blog. He also notes that about 4 million homes — or 3 percent of the US housing stock — are now abandoned, and pygmy goats are becoming more commonplace as urban pets/milk providers.