A peek at Crimea’s controversial election day, Philly widens freeways by mistake, and does Austin, Texas, have a drinking problem? Plus, the incredible story behind Rio’s most famous monument, and the truth about earthquakes in L.A. Come along with us on this week’s Urban Reads.

96.7 percent of Crimeans can’t be wrong: What a (likely completely staged) election looks like in Ukraine [Atlantic Cities]

Oops, a plan in the Philadelphia area to widen freeways was based on antiquated (and much higher volume) traffic data [Philadelphia Inquirer via Planetizen]

Okay, whales we can understand, but no iguanas or ducks? What pets are illegal in New York City [Untapped Cities]

Watch how the Chicago River gets dyed green in this timelapse [Warholian]

A 1925 law that almost stopped Southern California’s development forever [Curbed LA]

After three people were killed and 20 injured by a single drunk driver, a valid question: Does Austin, Texas have drinking problem… or a driving problem? [The Statesman]

It’s more than just a statue on a hill: The amazing story behind Brazil’s iconic Cristo Redentor [BBC]

“Most of the damage from an earthquake—95 percent—makes a seismologist go, yeah, we knew that. The image out there is that the damage is not predictable—that’s not true. It is known, and we can prevent it.” A walk on an urban fault line with L.A.’s new city seismologist [Gizmodo]

“The future is about old people, in big cities, afraid of the sky.” Science fiction writer Bruce Sterling on predicting our urbanist future, in his SXSW closing keynote [Storrence via 5 Intriguing Things]

Top image by Raskalov, who you should be following on Instagram. Have an image of your city you’d like to share? Tag it#GizmodoCities and we’ll be in touch if we want to publish it.