When I match Josh Westerhold at the offices ofProject 100 , the Las Vegas urban mobility startup that ’s funded by theDowntown Project , we decide it would plausibly make sense to head out into business district Vegas to tour their project area in person . From the other room , his carbon monoxide - proletarian has an even good theme : “ Take the Tesla . ”
Project 100 is one of a fistful of startup that represent the most exciting prospect of theDowntown Project ’s reach : individual companies stepping up to improve services for business district Vegas occupier in everything from education to health care . In Project 100 ’s case , that mean supplying a comprehensive , rank - based entourage of transportation alternatives for the downtown area . Including 100 lustrous unexampled Teslas .
The Future of Downtown Vegas Is Somewhere in Tony Hsieh ’s Apartment
A Tesla charge station being installed on the flat coat floor of Project 100 ’s building
The Tesla Model S presently parked below Project 100 ’s HQ is the first of 100 vehicles that Project 100 is add to Vegas as part of an ambitious electric fomite sharing programme that establish this spring . Like many motorcar - centrical cities , Vegas is a sprawl urban area with a proficient but not great jitney system . Until transit meliorate , railcar are still the libertine and most efficient means to get to many parts of the city . “ Most U.S. city really do n’t have the public transit capacity to not have cars as part of the commixture , ” aver Westerhold . “ But you ca n’t make it about giving up your car for the surround , it has to be a better organisation . ”
The squad desire to partner with Tesla because it ’s the best electric fomite on the market — and it ’s correct for their interview . It ’s definitely expensive to employ and manage a fleet of Teslas , says Westerhold , but it has something that most electric cars do n’t have : The sexuality appeal that will help upwardly peregrine residents to surrender their own luxury vehicle .
While the Teslas are perfect for business lunches and dinners across town , they also needed a neighborhood - focus casual number one wood , so the second elevator car Project 100 will bring onboard is Renault ’s tinyTwizy — they’ll be the first to import them from France . Both framework of cars will double as mobile advertising : They ’re distinctive and unique enough to change state head on streets .
Bike lanes now spike throughout downtown , creating a upstanding connection
As we purr down towards the Arts District , many of the street were ribboned with bright greenish wheel lanes . The super - flat urban center is starting to see a cycling renaissance , and that ’s why the second component of Project 100 ’s initiative is a sassy cycle sharing system . These bikes will use a new stationless societal system , a solar - powered lockup and locating equipment that does n’t need a kiosk — mean that the bikes can be placed almost anywhere and customer can simply retrieve them using an app . This gives the system of rules ultimate flexibility , especially when congratulate the existing transit infrastructure .
The adult challenge for mobility in Vegas is its lack of walkability , says Westerholt , as we wrap up at a typical Vegas intersection of eight lanes of dealings in both way . In dull cities , it ’s loose to walk a half - international mile or more to a transit check or car sharing place because there ’s deal to look at along the way . “ In a large part of Vegas , it ’s not needfully the most interesting walk , ” he sound out . “ You have to await at what we call psychological proximity : How unaired to I actually feel to something ? ”
Westerhold also make for up something that was n’t right away obvious on this January morning : July ’s 120 - degree warmth does n’t lend itself to walking long distances . They ’re presently collect data from several parts of downtown to adjudicate to image out that magic distance when it comes to propinquity for both elevator car and motorcycle .
Bus table service is skillful , but not great , so far . The metropolis ’s monorail only serve the Strip
When we returned to Project 100 ’s office , we watch a monitor as our route traced light and dark blue lines across a Google mathematical function . The ability to immortalise and crunch trip data is another reason Tesla is the right railroad car for the project ( the Twizys will be outfitted with a similar third - party tracking gadget ) . But it also makes Project 100 very dissimilar from other car - sharing ship’s company .
The lightness - fill waiting room at Turntable , with a full kitchen at the back
Just downstairs from Project 100 is the stain - newTurntable Health , another startup with a similar client - focalize approach to another looming crisis : The city ’s healthcare system .
A long , gay earth floor wait elbow room has coloured couches , big communal tables and barren wireless fidelity . At one end is a full kitchen , which Turntable use for classes and workshops on healthy feeding . At the other is a yoga studio apartment , currently occupied by a group of member who get to attend the classes free as part of their monthly subscription admission to all Turntable ’s services . “ Instead of episodic sick visits , here they ’re actually getting well , and they ’re here maintaining that , ” enounce Turntable ’s Dr. Zubin Damania , a former internist at Stanford Medical Center ( who also gained some net ill fame as the rapping doctorZ Dogg MD , which makes him , in a way , the perfect medical drawing card for the Downtown Project ) .
“ Vegas is essentially a third world country for healthcare , ” says Damania . “ The problem in Vegas is not that there are n’t good Dr. , but there ’s no donnish medical nerve center setting the bar , and it ’s a very fragmented , siloed world with a mint of territorialism . But the other issue is that it ’s a book matter — you see a net ton of patients with a low quality of care . ”
Turntable does n’t turn anyone away , pronounce Damania — they have people walk in who are obviously in need of social services , and they ’re return a individual consultation in a modest , comfortable round room just off the waiting area that affords ultimate privacy without ushering citizenry directly into the potentially stressful aesculapian surroundings .
A much more comfy place to con about a diagnosing and talk to your Doctor of the Church about option
In fact , the end of the entire distance is to off that pecking order between doctor and patient role . examination rooms have consultation area , bulwark - mounted desks with reminder where a Dr. can sit with a patient to show laboratory or imaging results instead of verbalize to them on the examination table . Instead of a diploma - strew office , small way with chair and tables allow doctors to explain treatment options to patient role and menage extremity in a more comfortable place setting . Partnerships withSteelcaseand primary care companyIorahelp them stay on top of new pattern and tech advances . It was a whole novel surround .
But the concept that set Turntable apart is that it ’s a medical praxis that is run like a startup . The monthly flat fee acts as an incentive for the company to succeed in keeping its patients healthy : The healthier they are , the more of that flavorless fee Turntable will get to keep , and the groovy their lucre . But it also function as a balance tack for employers and policy companies to demonstrate that this approach is better . “ We ’re paid to keep these patient role healthy , and if we do n’t do that , they have quite a little of data to see how we ’re doing , ” enunciate Damania , as we sit down in an employee breach room where every surface was laden with reinvigorated sliced yield .
Turntable ’s model presently can accommodate 5000 member , with plans to expand into hospital services as well . While it would seem counterintuitive that keeping 5000 members good for you who can yield to pay a monthly subscription could have an impact on public healthcare , it ’s a method acting that he state will facilitate much of the tension put on local hospital and ERs so they can better serve the patient who need their services most , says Damania . Preventative care models like this have been shown to create a 50 pct simplification in pressing care visits .
The 9thBridge school is in a former church right in the ticker of business district
As I left Turntable , I walked across the street to the9thBridge schooling , which was not undecided for the semester during the time of my sojourn . This is perhaps the most significant initiative of the Downtown Project , and the one that will be the most tight watch : A fresh charter shoal . Currently , pre - kindergarten and kindergarten year are enrolled , and the school will add more grade as the classes set ahead , eventually populating a full elementary school .
These projects were the most impressive vista of the Downtown Project I ’d see so far . Whileparks , business , and restaurantsare essential to reconstruct the urban heart , if these startups can crack these societal issues in a way that show real wallop citywide , the Downtown Project will be capable to attest some serious time value for their investment . These are the projects to observe .
https://gizmodo.com/visiting-the-downtown-projects-new-vegas-parks-pretty-1497157644
We ’re reporting live from Las Vegas on theDowntown Project , the $ 350 million urban revival project launched by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh . Read all our coveragehere .
ces 2014CitiesMobilityTESLAtransportationurbanism
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