First off I enjoyed this reading by Altshuler I thought it was really interesting that the city could be used like a business even though I knew that most politics involve businesses. Regarding the Introduction to the book, one of the only thing I could think of when he mentioned mega projects was Hydraulic Fracturing Also known as Fracking. Furthermore, I also liked the Format used in the Introduction.
Hydraulic Fracking is the process by which natural gas is taken from the ground by use of a water source. In order to do this, first one must drill through the ground and using a pressurized liquid break shale and then gas is released from this pressure. This gas leads to many economic advantages, such as decreased gas prices and a boost in the general economy. However, there is a detrimental effect which is the effect it has on the water supply of the residents in the area, sometimes the chemicals leak into the water and the water can become hazardous to drink and at times even have the ability to catch fire.
Fracking falls into both of the topics discussed in the introduction as a reason for wanting to study public investments. Regarding the first reason that says that the project often has effects on the political development of the area and Fracking definitely has an effect in this regard. In fact many people try and get the government to end Fracking in their neighborhoods, however many times their pleas fall on deaf ears since there are many benefits to Fracking that a lot of people aren’t willing to let it go so easily. The second reason discussed was that the city gives monetary or regulatory inducements to attract investors. Well in my opinion this qualification is also met because the government is not really doing much to hinder the fracking companies, they haven’t even enacted much laws to it’s prevention when it is hurting their citizens. Therefore, since there is mainly positive reinforcement for the natural gas companies, they will take advantage of this leeway and use the land for money while hurting the citizens.
Lastly, I liked the format of the introduction, where I found it entertaining how he said at the end you can skip Chapters 3 and Eight and not miss much. To me it seemed like he was really confident about his writing style, where he was sure that after getting that immersed in the book the reader would choose to read them out of his own free will. Well if he kept the writing style like that where it was almost entertaining to read and he adds this kind of humor I don’t see why the reader would choose to skip out on the chapters.
Altshuler, in my opinion wrote one of the greatest introductions to a book that I have read because it was humorous at points and structured really well. However, throughout the introduction he says that most of the mega-projects he will discuss are railways and bridges and it makes me wonder if he’s going to discuss some negative mega-projects such as Hydrofracking. All in all I was actually really interested in the reading and might dread the book a bit further because maybe he mentions Fracking somewhere, or maybe he mentions why it doesn’t count as a mega-project.
