Quote of the Day

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:08:38 -0400

"If every city's subway network had exactly the same features, it'd be obvious the rules were really strong." Read On

News: Reno Rapid Bus, Best Case Fed Transpo Bill, Twin Cities Central Corridor, Subway Evolution, Urban Suburban

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:46:17 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news. The Chatter, commentary and opposition articles will be found towards the bottom.

TRANSPORT

Reno: City to Get Rapid Bus Line

Fox Reno

Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff today announced that the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Washoe County received a $5.1 million grant to purchase new hybrid-electric buses and build a new fueling station...

Read On

Pennsylvania: Rendell - Bill Should 'Do No Harm'

Transportation Nation

Transit backers have given up on a comprehensive highway bill this go-around, hoping instead that whatever passes Congress this year lays the table for 2013. And, they say, whatever comes in 2013 must put public transportation on equal footing with roads...

Read On

San Francisco: Clipper Card Glitch Costs Riders

San Francisco Examiner

An untold number of transit passengers in the East Bay have been hit with extra fees due to a glitch in the Clipper card system that was not noticed by regional officials for a month...

Read On

Twin Cities: Central Corridor 50% Done

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Just as the Metropolitan Council declared construction of the Central Corridor light-rail line to be halfway finished on Monday, significant highway closings connected with the project are just around the bend...

Read On

National: Do Subway Networks Evolve the Same Way?

Scientific American

No two subway systems have the same design. New York City's haphazard rail system differs markedly from the highly organized Moscow Metro (above), or the tangled spaghetti of Tokyo's subway network...

Read On

Missoula: Changes Coming to Local Bus Routes

Missoulian

Buses won't run out to the former Frenchtown pulp mill, but they will roll on a 15-minute schedule from downtown Missoula to Southgate Mall...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Housing Markets Change/Suburban Goes Urban

USA Today

Townhouses and single-family homes are sprouting on old industrial sites in the heart of Southern California cities. In Florida, developers are coveting foreclosed golf courses in urban centers to put up new subdivisions...

Read On

Salt Lake City: $400M Investment in Sugar House

KSL News Radio

The Sugar House business district is on the cusp of major changes, thanks to big development projects either under way or coming soon. The private investment projected for the next five years is big, too: $400 million...

Read On

Eugene: Residents Weigh in on UGB Expansion

Eugene Register Guard

Eugene residents went to bat Monday in support of a proposal to add industrial land to the city, but ideas to expand the city's urban growth boundary for residential homes drew a mixed response...

Read On

Research: Intersection of Place and the Economy

Brookings Institution

Recent and ongoing policy efforts to increase spatial efficiency at the metropolitan, local, and neighborhood level have focused on interventions such as place-based affordable housing, transit-oriented development, and livability programs...

Read On

International: When Sustainability Becomes a Duty

Guardian UK

The head of Schneider Electric's Smart Cities initiative explains why efficiency and technology are key to making cities more liveable...

Read On

Blogosphere: Light Rail & Racial Justice, Car Sharing Impact, Traffic Fatality & Poverty, Complete Streets For All, Bike Share Parking

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:13:48 -0400

Blogosphere - In this section you'll find commentary, opinion and editorials from blogs and newspapers around the country. The opinions expressed in these blogs do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Reconnecting America.

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Light Rail and Racial Justice

Sightline Daily

Anyone familiar with Seattle's Rainier Valley knows it's a place in transition. Long one of the most racially diverse neighborhoods in the Northwest, it has for many decades struggled economically...

Read On

Blogosphere: Car Sharing Could Cut Carbon Emissions

DC Streetsblog

The brilliant thing about car-sharing is that it leads people to drive less by providing access to cars. It allows people to give up their personal vehicles (along with the gas, maintenance, parking, and insurance costs they entail) without giving up the ability to use the car once in a while when necessary...

Read On

Blogosphere: Progressive Urban Policy A City Thing

Radials Blog

The branches on either side of my genealogy snake quite a distance before they reach my brothers and me. My mother's side comes from southern Honshu, diminutive middle-class Japanese folks with a taste for canned sardines and a disdain for low-sodium soy sauce that they've passed onto their American cousins...

Read On

Blogosphere: Poor at Greater Risk of Traffic Fatalities

The Atlantic Cities

It's no secret that being poor is bad for your health. Poor people in the United States run a greater risk of suffering from severe asthma, diabetes, heart disease, and many other illnesses...

Read On

Blogosphere: Realizing Complete Streets for Everyone

Helm of the Public Realm

"Who the heck invited the DOT?" This was John Moore's question to the audience this past week at CNU 20 during the presentation he entitled, "Not Your Grandfather's DOT," as part of the Balanced Roads to Transit-Oriented Development session...

Read On

Blogosphere: How Many Parking Spaces For Bike Share

Gothamist

Last week the city not only released the name and pricing of its ambitious new bike share program, now called CitiBike, it also released a draft map of the locations where it hopes to put the program's initial 420 bike stations and 7,000 bikes in July...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Cities That Read the Most Books

The Atlantic Cities

You can call them the most "well-read" cities, or at least the cities that purchase the most books online. Either way, Amazon has released its 2012 list of the most "well-read" cities in the United States. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Realtors Descend on the State Capital

Curbed SF

Tucked away in yesterday's San Jose Mercury News was a little item about the California Association of Realtors (CAR) 2012 Legislative Day, an annual event where Realtors™ from all over the state descend upon the state capitol to promote their own interests in the guise of consumer protection and speeding transactions...

Read On

Blogosphere: Growing vs Welcoming Talent

Burgh Diaspora

Charlotte has weathered the economic storm. The city has embraced urbanist principles. Yes, I got the memo. Things are looking up. But Charlotte has a long way to go:..

Read On

Blogosphere: Meyers Pushes Back on Kotkin's California

Zocalo Public Square (via Urban Ethics and Theory)

California, you might think, is a terrible place that people are fleeing from. One reason you might think so is that a cottage industry of pundits, business lobbyists, and politicians has been dedicated to convincing the world that California is and will remain a failure until our prevailing cultural and political climate changes...

Read On

Blogosphere: Just How Bad is Noise Pollution to Health

The Atlantic Cities

About two decades ago, my friend Bob - a mover and shaker of sorts in the art world - took me to an artist's studio in a (then, at least) scruffy area of lower Manhattan..

Read On

Blogosphere: Uninhabitable High Rises

Better Cities and Towns

My tweet-cast of Léon Krier's address to the Congress for the New Urbanism Saturday morning created a small firestorm for a while on Twitter characterized by @nlamontagne's "Low-rise fetishism is bad for cities" and @BLAH_CITY's iconic "...my coffin will be "human scale"!..

Read On

Quote of the Day

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:43:11 -0400

"Highways were used as slum clearance. We didn't know we lived in a slum. We didn't live in a slum. It was a three-family house with a lot of people" Read On

News: LA's Changing Boulevards, Houston Supercommuters, Transport Bill Talks, Florida's Outsource City

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:26:13 -0400

TRANSPORT

Los Angeles: Boulevards Are Changing in LA

Los Angeles Times

As Los Angeles' boulevards reassert their place in the public realm, the transformation along Atlantic offers glimpses of a new city identity taking shape...

Read On

Texas: Dallas to Houston Supercommuters Top of Nation

Dallas Morning News

Has that Frisco-to-Dallas commute got you down? Buck up, you could be headed to Houston every day for work. Plenty of your neighbors do, according to a study released earlier this year, and touted in the Dallas Business Journal today...

Read On

San Francisco: Muni Looks to Add "Twitter" Express Bus

San Francisco Examiner

The resurgence of the mid-Market Street neighborhood could be boosted by another bus line serving the area. Muni has proposed adding an express route that would operate during peak weekday travel times...

Read On

National: Transport Bill Talks Behind the Scenes

The Hill

Negotiations in Congress about a new federal transportation bill are moving out of committee rooms and behind the scenes, as lawmakers in the House and Senate continue talks about a possible deal...

Read On

Dallas: Transit Agencies Work to Build System

Progressive Railroading

Dallas native Jim Cline recalls the days before the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) system existed. It was the early 1980s, and expressways were under rapid construction to accommodate the Dallas-Fort Worth region's sprawling growth...

Read On

National: On Transportation Enhancements

National Journal Transport Experts Blog

One of the most carefully negotiated provisions of the Senate highway bill involves "transportation enhancements," a program that provides government funding to help states "expand transportation choices and enhance the transportation experience," according to the Transportation Department...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Research: Urbanism as Material Discourse

Urban Geography Journal

This essay seeks to challenge the idea that those who consider themselves to be empirical urban researchers are necessarily concerned with a quite separate quest for knowledge than those involved in the interpretation of representations and narratives of the urban experience...

Read On

National: Mayor Enters New Urbanist Lion's Den

New Haven Independent

It fills in a failed urban renewal highway. Does that make it "new urbanism"? That question has hovered above New Haven's biggest development project in a generation, Downtown Crossing. Another way of asking the question: Is New Haven undoing a major mistake and learning from its past? Or is it repeating the mistake?..

Read On

Florida: City Gets by with 9 Public Employees

Governing Magazine

Weston, Fla., an affluent suburb 25 miles northwest of Miami, has one of the most unusual charters of any city: it specifically discourages the city from hiring employees. Since the 1980s, state and local governments across the country have increasingly sought to outsource various service to the private sector. But few do it like Weston...

Read On

Blogosphere: Bike Score, Evaluating TOD Justice, Census Change Impact, Form Based Code Value, Brazil Urban Development

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:59:12 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Walk Score Releases Bike Score

Walk Score Blog

Just in time for Bike to Work Week, we are thrilled to launch Bike Score and our first ranking of the most bikeable U.S. cities. See how your city ranks and vote for your city to be next to get Bike Score...

Read On

Blogosphere: TOD That Is Healthy, Green & Just

Seattle Transit Blog

Today Puget Sound Sage released a new report on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the Rainier Valley. It outlines changes seen in the Valley over the last decade, makes an environmental and social equity arguments for a greater emphasis on affordable housing and living wage jobs in TOD, enumerating racial justice principles for TOD, and calls for urgent and aggressive actions and creation of tools necessary to achieve these principles...

Read On

Editorial: Des Moines Should Push on with BRT

Des Moines Register

The Legislature's rejection of a $2 million request from Des Moines for a bus project was not unexpected. It was a long shot, since few members of the Legislature appreciate the need to invest in new public transportation alternatives...

Read

Blogosphere: How to Navigate With No Street Names

The Atlantic Cities

To an outsider, Amman, Jordan, could seem nearly unnavigable. Until only two years ago, its streets were unlabeled and its buildings unnumbered. Even now, locals give direction by landmark, narrating the way over the phone or on hand-drawn maps...

Read On

Blogosphere: Texting While Jaywalking Gets Big Ticket

Yahoo News

Avid texters beware: Fort Lee, N.J. police said they will begin issuing $85 jaywalking tickets to pedestrians who are caught texting while walking...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Tokyo's LED Fireflies

Per Square Mile

The Tokyo Hotaru Festival 2012 is a modern twist on the age-old Japanese love of watching fireflies along waterways. Some 100,000 blue LED light bulbs floated down the Sumida in imitation of the insects, long celebrated in haiku and other verse...

Read On

Blogosphere: Wallpaper Stops Stolen WiFi

Atlantic Cities

Are the neighbors all hopping on your Wi-Fi like it's the city bus, causing your internet connection to smoke and drag? Too lazy to pick a good password to prevent this blatant thievery?..

Read On

Blogosphere: How Would Ending Census Affect Work?

Rooflines

The U.S. House of Representatives last week voted to eliminate the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, in the latest move by this Congress to make ineffective government a self-fulling prophecy. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Economic Value of Form Based Codes

Joe-Urban

A common misconception is form-based codes are used primarily to improve the look and aesthetic feel of places. The Friday session at CNU 20 entitled "Form-Based Economic Development on Main Street" was eye-opening as to just how compelling the argument is that form-based codes are also a tool to create economic value...

Read On

Blogosphere: Connecting Our "Life Sciences Triangle"

The Straight Line

On a recent trip to Savannah, we not only had a wonderful time - we learned a few unexpected things. There's more to the city than the beautiful downtown (with omnipresent SCAD buildings), there's the economy built on an infrastructure that allows Savannah to be the fourth busiest port in the country (according to our boat tour guide) linked to an extensive heavy rail system...

Read On

Blogosphere: DC Baseball District Takes Off

NRDC Switchboard

The neighborhood near Nationals Park, the baseball stadium in southeastern Washington, DC, is undergoing an amazing transformation. A decade ago, the federal Department of Transportation had made a hopeful commitment to the area with plans for a new headquarters, but by and large this part of town remained a sketchy no-man's-land of outmoded and abandoned warehouses...

Read On

Blogosphere: Portland Creep and Density Debate

Portland Transport

As most of you are aware, election day is Tuesday, May 15. Portland Afoot and others have thoroughly covered many of the races that are on the ballot, including the races for the open Metro council positions, the Portland city council, and the Portland mayoral race...

Read On

Blogosphere: Brazil, Case Study for Urban Development

Urban Times

The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the "lungs of the earth." More than half of the oxygen-producing Amazon and its remarkable biodiversity are contained in Brazil, which also boasts 14% of the world's renewable fresh water and many natural resources including rare earth elements...

Read On

Blogosphere: Venice, City? Museum? Amusement Park?

Next American City

I felt a sense of dread the moment I stepped off the train: That imprisoning feeling of being in the wrong place, with nowhere else to go. Of the 17 million people who visit Venice every year, I needed only an instant to realize that I did not want to be one of them...

Read On

Editorial: The Battle for Westchester

New York Times

America has become far more diverse in the 44 years since the Fair Housing Act was passed, and many of the barriers that kept communities separate and unequal have eroded. But the fight against unlawful discrimination has not ended...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:23:32 -0400

"In the absence of this connectivity provided by Metrorail service to Dulles International Airport and to the Washington area's other major employment centers, Loudoun County's economy will follow a development path similar to its current pattern and be oriented primarily to residentially supported commercial development and airport-oriented business functions" Read On

News: Houston Transit Funding, Seattle LRT Copper Theives, Pedestrian Research, Chinese Suburbanization

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:06:10 -0400

TRANSPORT

Houston: Metro Hears from Public on Road Funding

Houston Chronicle

Metro board members on Friday got an earful of diverse opinions on whether the transit authority should continue to divert a portion of its sales tax revenues to road projects...

Read On

Seattle: Theives Steal 4 Miles of Copper Wire

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Thieves stole 70,000 pounds of copper cable from Sound Transit's Link light rail line between Tukwila and Sea-Tac Airport, the agency reported Friday...

Read On

Research: Pedestrian Social Force Model

Springer Transportation

Although various theories have been adopted to develop reliable pedestrian walking models, a limited effort has been made to calibrate them rigorously based on individual trajectories...

Read On

National: DeFazio - Too Little Spent on Transportation

Politico

It's impossible to envision the United States without its transportation system. George Washington knew we needed a "smooth way" - a road connecting Eastern cities with Western territories if our nation was to survive...

Read On

National: Budget Amendment Could Hurt Silver Line

Washington Post

Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has amended the state budget, possibly withholding money for the authority that operates Reagan National and Dulles International airports until Virginia's two new members are seated on its board...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Portland: Politics Quirky As City Itself

Seattle Times

Portland is famously weird and fiercely proud of it, so things can get a little bizarre when it comes time to pick a mayor. In one local tradition, candidates try to outdo each other in an eating contest at a doughnut shop known nationally for oddities such as oversized, maple-frosted doughnuts topped with strips of crispy bacon...

Read On

Research: Tech Interdependence & Regional Growth

Papers in Regional Science

The economic growth literature suggests that knowledge spillovers are subject to distance decay effects. In this paper the main aim is to provide a theoretical framework and empirical evidence on the role played by other kinds of proximities, namely relational, social and technological proximity, in explaining productivity growth...

Read On

Research: Suburbanization and Sub-centering

Chinese Geographical Science

This study focuses on the suburbanization and subcentering of population and examines the nature of spatial restructuring in terms of the population distribution in the Beijing metropolitan area...

Read On

Blogosphere: Value Capture, Staten Island BRT, Bike Work Day Record, Density More Than High Rise, Death Of Detroit

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:22:13 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Value Capture Past, Present, Future

Lincoln House Blog

Although it's been used widely in Europe and Latin America, value capture - the concept of asking private landowners to contribute to the cost of infrastructure, for example, in anticipation of the rise of property values such projects bring - has been a little harder to find in the U.S. That may be changing. One notable project, the Dallas-Fort Worth Cotton Belt transit line, is based on fundamental principles of value capture...

Read On

Blogosphere: MTA Chooses Busway for Staten Island

Streetsblog

The MTA announced yesterday that if it builds a new rapid transit line along Staten Island's North Shore, it will opt for bus rapid transit over light rail, an MTA spokesperson told Streetsblog. The obstacle now, as always, is money...

Read On

Blogosphere: Record Breaking Bike to Work Day

SF Streetsblog

Bike to Work Day in the East Bay broke records once again yesterday, with ten mayors, dozens of council members, and over 17,000 participants riding - an overall 22 percent increase across the East Bay. The record-breaking number of elected officials riding in included the mayors of Albany, Berkeley, Piedmont, Dublin, Fremont, Emeryville, Hayward, Richmond, and Union City...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why Tax Car Sharing Like Cigarettes?

The Atlantic Cities

Rental-car taxes are a boon for big cities. They extract hefty contributions to local coffers from the constituents least likely to complain about it: out-of-towners...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Civility Amidst Diversity in Amman

The Polis Blog

To the newcomer, Amman seems like the tranquil eye of a cyclone. In this hilly city of 2.8 million people, the king and his family smile gently from portraits on the walls. Amman has a long history of immigration, including recent Iraqi and Syrian refugees and a large Palestinian community...

Read On

Blogosphere: Do Density, Just Not High Rises

Crosscut

When it comes to land development, Americans famously dislike two things: sprawl and density. Over the past 50 years the pendulum swung sharply in the direction of spread-out, single-use, drive-everywhere-for-everything, low-density development. Now the pendulum is swinging back...

Read On

Blogosphere: What Really Killed Detroit?

Car Free in Big D

We've been sold a premise that Detroit died for a variety of reasons: over-reliance on a singularity of industry, the unions in that industry, the inability to innovate and keep up with the rest of the world, etc. But that is all based on the premise that 1) Detroit is dead, and 2) it died solely because of the auto industry...

Read On

Blogosphere: Dispatch from CNU 20: Walking

Helm of the Public Realm

As you may know, the CNU20 conference was organized around tracks which allowed you to focus on your particular interest and how it related to New Urbanism. I spent most of my time on the "Mobility and Walkable City" since that is where my concentration lies...

Read On

Blogosphere: Space, First But Not Final Frontier

Helm of the Public Realm

When I chose this breakout session, I didn't really fully understand the title, but I was confident that with "space" and "transportation," it had to be up my alley...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why Bay Area Doesn't Have 11M Residents

Transportationist

Having lived in the Bay Area for half a decade, I don't doubt there are housing restrictions in some municipalities. There are many municipalities. Some would welcome development. Other just demand more side payments...

Read On

Blogosphere: What Killing the ACS Actually Means

The Atlantic Cities

So the Republican-led House of Representatives this week voted 232-190 to eliminate the American Community Survey, the annual survey of about 3 million randomly chosen U.S. households that's like the Census only much more detailed...

Read On

Blogosphere: G Maps Feature Takes You Inside Business

Urban Cincy

Cincinnatians have been able to use Google Maps for finding directions, transit information, traffic congestion, topography and other natural features, examining aerial imagery, and getting a first-person view of street scenes around the city. Now, Cincinnatians will be able to walk right inside of businesses and get a first-person view inside buildings...

Read On

Blogosphere: More Charts About Poverty and Cities

Getting Around Minneapolis

Here comes more laz-e-boy social science from Alex. Following up on my response to Steve Berg's Strib op-ed from a couple weeks ago, I dug up the poverty rate for the 50 metro areas with 1 million population or more...

Read On

Blogosphere: Guerrilla Gardeners

Design as Politics

Only a few years ago, the Irish were constructing huge amounts of beautiful houses attracting potential residents with various bathrooms, granite-topped built-in kitchens and a few acres of land to towns nobody had even thought of commuting from before - The inhabitants never came...

Read On

Blogosphere: Human and Social Capital Takes the Bus

This Big City

I was sitting on the bus one morning this week, wearing my headphones, studiously avoiding eye contact with strangers and still waking up for the day ahead. Adhering to the unspoken rules of commuting in a major city, in other words...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:33:45 -0400

"It's like riding on candy!" Read On

News: SunRail Funding, Tucson-Phoenix Rail, Texas HSR Plans, Rough Road Tax, Austin Rail Plan, Salt Lake Gentrification, High Tech Ghost Town

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:57:52 -0400

TRANSPORT

Orlando: Bill Would Capture Value for Operations

Orlando Sentinel

A bipartisan bill circulating in Congress could help the SunRail commuter train in Central Florida pay for millions of dollars in annual operating deficits...

Read On

Arizona: Rail Between Tucson and Phoenix Studied

Arizona Public Media

Several options for passenger rail service between Tucson and Phoenix are under study by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Supporters say it could be an economic driver for the heavily-traveled corridor, but others caution it would have to be paid for with help from the private sector...

Read On

Minneapolis: LRT Pushes Evolution of Prospect Park

Twin Cities Finance and Commerce

A group in Minneapolis' Prospect Park neighborhood has grand plans for development around the Central Corridor light rail transit station to be built at 29th and University avenues...

Read On

Texas: Once Riders Depart HSR, They'll Need a Car

Fort Worth Star Telegram

If high-speed rail comes to North Texas by 2020, the bullet trains initially will rely on the area's road system - not public transportation - to get most of its riders from the end of the line to their final destination, an official said...

Read On

Texas: Details of HSR Plan Emerge

Fort Worth Star Telegram

If high-speed rail comes to North Texas by 2020, the bullet trains will initially rely on the area's road system -- not public transportation -- to get most of the riders from the end of the line to their final destination, an official said...

Read On

Twin Cities: Rough Ride Ahead for Minnesota Drivers

Minnesota Post

Estimates of a "secret tax" U.S. motorists pay for driving on bad roads run from $15 billion to $67 billion a year, at the top end more than double what we pay in federal fuel taxes...

Read On

Twin Cities: No Money This Session for SW Corridor

Minnesota Public Radio

The 2012 legislative session ended with no bond funding for the proposed Southwest Corridor Light Rail project. Business leaders, Met Council and transit advocates have been pushing lawmakers to allocate $25 million to the project, which has federal permission to enter preliminary engineering...

Read On

Austin: City Adds 10 Miles to Urban Rail Plan

Austin American Statesman

Austin's urban rail plan is growing tentacles. With a potential November public vote on a first segment of a downtown-centric, electric-powered rail system, City of Austin transportation planners have added about 10 miles to the 16.5-mile, $1.3 billion proposed system that has long been public...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Salt Lake: Granary District Fights Gentrification

Salt Lake Tribune

An urban revolution has begun in Salt Lake City's Granary District. About 150 residents and property owners in the light-industrial neighborhood - roughly bordered by 600 South, 300 West, the 900 South Interstate 15 off-ramp and I-15 - have been meeting for the past two years to grab control of the development of the industrial district that's only minutes by bike or TRAX train from downtown...

Read On

Boston: Scar Left by Failed Highway to Change

Boston Herald

There's plenty of action in Jackson Square. A major redevelopment of the Jamaica Plain area where Columbus Avenue crosses Centre Street has kicked into gear, aimed at finally healing the old wounds of an ill-fated highway project...

Read On

DC: City's Rapidly Disappearing Affordable Housing

Planetizen to Washington Post

In a city that survived the recession better than most, efforts to meet the demand for upscale housing will "change the face of the city for decades to come," reports Annys Shin...

Read On

Research: Decision Framework for Using Value Capture

Mineta Institute

Seventy-five percent of the funding for public transit in the US is provided by local and state governments. Due to the fiscal stress that both of these funding sources face, new revenue sources are being investigated, one of which is value capture...

Read On

Seattle: Easing Development Rules Getting Harder

Seattle Times

Seattle's land-use committee is talking about scaling back proposals by Mayor Mike McGinn to streamline development regulations, including parking requirements...

Read On

Twin Cities: Rethinking Hennepin Avenue

Minnesota Post

When I was growing up, Hennepin Avenue was the soul of the city. As far as I was concerned, there was no more exciting, cosmopolitan place to be. The theaters, like Radio City, the Orpheum and the State, where I attended movies and occasionally served as an usher for Broadway shows, were grand..

Read On

New Mexico: High Tech Ghost Town Breaking Ground

Government Technology

Lea County, N.M., will soon be home to a modern day ghost town, complete with cutting-edge technology. Called the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation (CITE), the facility will be located just outside of Hobbs, N.M. Researchers will be able to test the latest innovations..

Read On

Blogosphere: Bamboo Bike, Driving & Work, CAHSR State Budget, Bus Rodeo, DC Development Subsidies, Housing & Land Use

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:37:38 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Can a Bamboo Bike Change the World?

Mashable

Big Idea: BBS holds bike-building workshops where students can craft their own bamboo bicycle - a sustainable form of transportation made in a sustainable way...

Read On

Blogosphere: Metro Logos Around the World

Transit Maps

Slightly tangential to my usual posts, but cool nonetheless. The Metrobits.org website showcases around 170 Metro logos (and other train systems as well - Sydney's CityRail is most decidedly not a Metro, but is shown) all one page...

Read On

Blogosphere: Americans Driving Less Due to Less Work?

DC Streetsblog

Everyone's trying to figure out why, after decades of consistent growth, the amount Americans drive is leveling off and even declining. The decline started during the recession, to be sure, but was more dramatic than in previous recessions...

Read On

Blogosphere: HSR Money Must Be Part of Budget

CAHSR Blog

Although high speed rail opponents in Sacramento have been trying to delay the legislature's approval of spending Prop 1A bond funds to begin construction of the high speed rail project, the Obama Administration today made it clear that delay would jeopardize federal funding...

Read On

Blogosphere: Will Another Fiasco Cancel Parking Lease?

Urbanophile

Chicago's parking meter lease is the gift that keeps on giving. Put aside for the moment the fact the parking meters are a bad type of asset for a long term lease in the first place...

Read On

Blogosphere: On to the Bus Rodeo

The Atlantic Cities

Excitement is in the air, like the heat rising up from the asphalt of this hotel parking lot where a couple hundred men and women have gathered, traveling from all over North America, to compete in what is likely the most vaunted event in all of public transportation: the 2012 International Bus Roadeo...

Read On

Blogosphere: Will Dallas Buckle Under Asphalt?

Streetsblog.net

We've been reporting on the Trinity Toll Road proposal in Dallas, yet another downtown highway with a tremendous cost...

Read On

Blogosphere: Big Bike Changes Since 2009

San Franciscoize

Happy Bike to Work Day everyone! I hope you're all out on two wheels today enjoying this beautiful weather and the company of thousands of people riding their bikes together. If you take a look around this morning, you might just trick yourself into believing you're peddling through Amsterdam or Copenhagen for a moment or two...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Paint Your Roof with Solar Power

The Urban Times

A researcher believes thermoelectric paint could bring affordable DIY solar energy to the market within five years. "This weekend, dear, shall we clean out the basement or go solar?" This scenario may soon be a real possibility, using a back-to-the-future approach called thermoelectric paint...

Read On

Blogosphere: Amsterdam's Glowing Canals

Pop Up City

The area of Falmouth close to Montego Bay in Jamaica is famous for its Luminous Lagoon, where water naturally illuminates due to the micro-organisms living in the shallow, warm area where salt and fresh water meets...

Read On

Blogosphere: Can DC Learn from Successful Subsidies?

Greater Greater Washington

New data from the Office of the DC CFO reveals that the initial wave of development subsidies, such as Gallery Place, have repaid to the city well ahead of schedule...

Read On

Blogosphere: New Urbanism Feeling Its Age

The Atlantic Cities

The season, as it's known, ended in April, leaving Lily Pulitzer-clad stragglers shopping for sunglasses on Worth Avenue and ordering the steak au poivre at Flagler's...

Read On

Blogosphere: Housing/Land Use Talk Past Each Other

Greater Greater Washington

When discussing housing affordability, there are 2 groups of advocates who are constantly talking past each other. Affordable housing groups do not engage with the economic arguments for building more housing, while proponents of expanding the housing supply don't spend enough time thinking about how to ensure that an increased supply benefits everyone...

Read On

Blogosphere: Capturing the Farms of New York City

Next American City

New York photographer Rob Stephenson spent last year documenting farms in New York City. Whether on a Manhattan rooftop or in an abandoned lot in the Bronx, these experiments in urban agriculture hold the power to change the way the city feeds itself...

Read On

Blogosphere: Sorting Census Data on Central Cleveland

Rustwire

Let me first say I don't consider myself a Cleveland cheerleader. I consider myself a Clevelander that is tired of the weariness that comes with asserting my city's right to exist outside of poverty and punchlines...

Read On

Blogosphere: What Can Bay Area Learn from Other SCSs

SPUR

In recent months, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego all passed their first Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) in response to SB 375, the 2008 bill requiring a coordinated land use and transportation plan to reduce per capita greenhouse gas emissions from driving in California...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:37:24 -0400

"I think it's important to have the information, but it's important that people have freedom and liberty and we do not have an intrusive federal government that would impose a fine on people if they didn't let the information come out about whether they had a flush toilet." Read On

News: Transit Resiliency, Des Moines BRT Stalls, Bike & Pedestrian Funding, TIF District Benefits, City Allergies

Thu, 10 May 2012 10:18:08 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Salt Lake City: Sugarhouse Streetcar Starts Construction

Salt Lake Tribune

Under the warm spring sun Wednesday, a crowd gathered at 2235 Main St. in South Salt Lake to celebrate the beginning of the long anticipated return of streetcars to the Salt Lake Valley...

Read On

Pittsburgh: Impact of Port Authority Route Eliminations

UCSUR Pub

The Port Authority of Allegheny County has proposed a 35 percent service reduction to cope with a looming $64 million budget shortfall. These proposed cuts will eliminate 46 of 102 routes...

Read On

Research: Framework for Resident Resiliency

TRB TRIS

This research will investigate the resiliency value of transit infrastructure and transit-oriented developments (TODs). Much of the early resiliency research was qualitative and looked at resiliency primarily through the lens of natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or terrorist attacks (Battelle 2007)...

Read On

Des Moines: Plans for BRT Line Stall

Des Moines Register

Efforts to bring "rail-like" bus service to downtown Des Moines hit a speed bump this week when a significant piece of funding failed to get backing by Iowa lawmakers...

Read On

National: Moynihan Station Work to Begin

Wall Street Journal (via Streetsblog NYC)

The first leg of construction on the future Moynihan Station will kick off later this year, the head of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey said Tuesday...

Read On

National: 4/5 Americans Want $$ for Bike/Walk

Transportation Nation

You always have to be a little leery when a group supporting a particular outcome puts out a poll showing support of that outcome, but an America Bikes poll being released today shows pretty lopsided results: a plurality (47%) of Americans wants more funding for bike and pedestrian programs...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Boulder: City Struggles with Affordable Housing

Daily Camera

With legal, budgetary and market constraints, Boulder City Council members struggled to find consensus Tuesday night about how best to create more affordable housing...

Read On

Florida: Redistricting Pits GOP v GOP in Mica's District

ABC 13

Community and business leaders in affluent Seminole County talked about the jobs and economic development that will come from the new 61-mile commuter rail through Orlando. They praised the man who pushed hard for the $1.3 billion project and many others: Republican Rep. John Mica of Florida. ..

Read On

National: iPhone App Checks Real Estate on the Fly

Wall Street Journal

Let's say you're walking around your neighborhood, or a neighborhood you'd like to make yours, and you spy a house you find interesting. Even if it isn't for sale, you can just whip out your iPhone, take a picture of the home and in less than a minute, you'll have an estimate of its price, plus details on its square footage, number of rooms, similar homes for sale and other facts...

Read On

Hampton Roads: TIF District Has Done Its Job

Virginian Pilot

Fourteen years ago, Virginia Beach established the first tax-increment financing district in the state: 270 acres surrounding Lynnhaven Mall. The mall was the largest on the East Coast when it was built in 1981, but by 1996 its primacy had been lost...

Read On

National: Why Are City Allergies Higher?

Mother Jones

Are you an urban-dweller who suffers from allergies? Maybe you need more bacteria in your life, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

Read On

National: House Votes to Drop Census ACS

Huffington Post (via Bill S)

The House voted Wednesday to eliminate the detailed surveys of America that have been conducted by the Census Bureau since the nation's earliest days...

Read On

Blogosphere: Unsustainable Gas Tax, State Of Infrastructure, Transit Recession, Copenhagenization, Frequency vs Coverage

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:59:49 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: WMATA Says Blogs Aren't News Media

Greater Greater Washington

WMATA lawyers incorrectly read the laws in 2009 to declare Greater Greater Washington, and other blogs, not part of the news media. Today, they reiterated this incorrect interpretation in response to a PARP request (their version of FOIA) from Michael Perkins...

Read On

Blogosphere: Five Things House/Senate Bill Should Do

T4 America

The "conference" on the transportation bill between the House and Senate began yesterday, with opening remarks and a long public hearing - though much of the real work will happen behind closed doors...

Read On

Blogosphere: Gas Tax Unsustainable

DC Streetsblog

Would stricter fuel economy rules bankrupt transportation funding in America? The Congressional Budget Office seems to think so, but environmentalists are quick to say that the system was hurtling toward bankruptcy anyway...

Read On

Blogosphere: State of US Infrastructure

The Atlantic Cities

A growing number of American states and metropolitan areas understand that their competitive position and quality of life depends on investing both in growing infrastructure backlogs and cutting-edge opportunities. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: For Transit, Recession is Not Over

Washington Post

Public transportation in the United States has faced a perverse situation these past few years. Thanks to high gas prices, more and more Americans are riding buses and trains. But thanks to budget crunches, transit agencies are actually cutting services at the exact same moment...

Read On

Blogosphere: Copenhagenization

Urban Times

Just like any other metropolitan city, Copenhagen has its challenges with busy commuter traffic during peak hours. Except in Denmark's capital, where over 50% of locals travel to work on bicycles, it's the bike jams causing concern...

Read On

Blogosphere: Frequency vs Coverage

Urban Planning and Transport Blog

If we lived in a perfect world, a transit agency would not only be able to provide both an extensive network of core bus routes running frequently and a network of lines that is able to blanket the area with coverage...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: What's the CDC Model?

Rooflines

No one expects that a one-size-fits-all definition for community development or a blueprint model for effective CD is attainable-it must be tailored to the needs of individual communities. But are there basic rules we can follow for effective CD?..

Read On

Blogosphere: Urban Agriculture Isn't New

ASLA Dirt

In fact, it's been around since 3,500 BC when Mesopotamian farmers began setting aside plots in their growing cities...

Read On

Blogosphere: SRO as Affordable Housing Type

CNU

Reading Eric Kleinenberg's latest book Going Solo has a new relevance for New Urbanism and links directly to CNU 20. In an increasingly urbanized world how do we provide for our most neglected populations: the single and homeless? It was gratifying to read Kelinenberg's focus on a new innovative solution: bringing back the SRO...

Read On

Blogosphere: Block Size and "Efficiency" of Scale

Walkable DFW

There is a concept in development, particularly with regards to retail buildings, that the bigger a building is the more spread out, thus diluted, and in turned lessened your overall costs are to buy the land, build the building, and operate it...

Read On

Blogosphere: Infographic - Social Media Neighborhoods

Urbanophile

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new way of looking at neighborhood definitions they call livehoods that determines de facto neighborhoods using an algorithm that looks at Foursquare checkins...

Read On

Blogosphere: US Manufacturing's Next Phase

Brookings

Perhaps the only silver lining to the Great Recession is that it triggered a new focus on manufacturing in the United States. After 25 years of being sold a shiny vision of a service-dominated post-industrial economy, the U.S. is rediscovering how important it is to actually make things..

Read On

Blogosphere: Trash Cans for Coffee Cups

Atlantic Cities

Sandra Hoj was getting fed up with her fellow Copenhageners. All along the city's waterfront, paper coffee cups overflowed from trash cans and littered the ground...

Read On

Blogosphere: Do Cities Make Us Happier?

Atlantic Cities

I've been looking at some research reports, and confirming that some of the qualities associated with great urbanism - good public transit; easy access to cultural activities, recreation and shops; connectedness - are associated positively with human happiness...

Read On

Blogosphere: How Tokyo Invented Sushi

ASLA Dirt

"Sushi is fleshy, decadent, an erotic experience," said professor Jordan Sand, Georgetown University, at the Food & The City symposium at Dumbarton Oaks....

Read On

Blogosphere: The World's Largest Tetris Game

Pop Up City

On Friday 20 April, a group of hackers at the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology turned the facade of MIT's Green Building into an awesome playable version of the classic game Tetris...

Read On

Blogosphere: The New Old Town

The Urban Times

This post builds on concepts originally introduced by "Why Place Matters in the Built Environment: Part I" and "Why Place Matters in the Built Environment: Part II." In essence this article presents an idealized version of the future which takes into account the constraints within which we are currently operating (in terms of diminishing natural resources)..

Read On

Quote of the Day

Wed, 09 May 2012 12:21:25 -0400

"I don't want 40,000 new jobs in Loudoun, and slowing growth by 10 percent or more would be a blessing. Think what we could do with the millions we save by not pouring it into Metro." Read On

News: NY Bike Share Cost, Fed. Conference Bill, Seattle Parking Minimums, Private Texas HSR, Healthy Planning, Building Affordable Housing

Wed, 09 May 2012 10:55:28 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

New York: Price of City's Bike Share

Guardian UK

Perhaps it is because gift horses seem so few and far-between in the cycling campaigning world that the common habit of advocates is not just to look them in the mouth, but immediately to start doing dentistry on them...

Read On

National: Negotiators Kick Off Bill Conference

Transportation Nation

Republicans and Democrats from the House and Senate began their formal conference over surface transportation funding Tuesday, in a negotiation that could take up to a month and where tens of billions of dollars are at stake...

Read On

Seattle: Times' Half Truths on Parking Requirements

Public Cola

The Seattle Times' "Truth Needle" column, the paper's semiregular takedown of local politicians who play fast and loose with the facts, is dedicated today to Mayor Mike McGinn's proposal to lift minimum parking requirements...

Read On

San Francisco: All Door Boarding Moves Forward

San Francisco Chronicle

Muni's plan to allow all-door boarding on all lines cleared an important hurdle at City Hall Monday when a Board of Supervisors' committee strongly endorsed the plan. Muni's governing board already gave its blessing...

Read On

Tampa: HART Plan Cuts Routes, Ups Fares

Tampa Tribune

Staring at a $1.5 million budget shortfall next year, HART will propose increasing some bus fares by 25 cents in November and combining and trimming some of the express routes...

Read On

Texas: Private HSR Between Houston and Fort Worth

DVICE

While California and Nevada are still trying to figure out how to realize an interstate maglev linking Anaheim to Las Vegas, a rail company in Texas is outlining plans for a 205-mph bullet train that would link two major metropolitan hubs in the Lone Star state: Houston and Fort Worth...

Read On

Oakland: BRT Not Quite a Done Deal

East Bay Express

AC Transit's scaled-down Bus Rapid Transit project got the go-ahead from the district's board of directors late last month, but the ambitious proposal may see further proposed modifications when it comes before the Oakland City Council for approval in June...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

International: Health Expert Urges Better Planning

Sydney Morning Herald

Better urban planning would improve Canberrans' health, according to leading experts at the second Active Living forum yesterday. The idea of a ''biophilic'' city design, which would move the city from car dependence, is being championed by the ACT Heart Foundation as another way to encourage locals to be active...

Read On

International: Cities of Dreams

Wall Street Journal

Turkey's economic growth has made headlines for a decade, and continues to be strong-the economy expanded by 8.5% in 2011. But the boom has brought worries of overheating, instability and a potential bust...

Read On

Nashville: Reversing Years of Neglect

New York Times

On a bluff overlooking the Cumberland River, the odd collection of trolley barns and old hospital buildings here known as Rolling Mill Hill has been in some stage of redevelopment for the last 14 years...

Read On

Bay Area: Lucas' Land Could Build Affordable Housing

San Francisco Chronicle (via Abby TL)

Filmmaker George Lucas is pushing forward with plans to build low income housing at Marin County's picturesque Grady Ranch, a vow of his that was widely dismissed as an insincere attempt by the billionaire to thumb his nose at complaining neighbors...

Read On

Boulder: City Struggles with Affordable Housing

Daily Camera

With legal, budgetary and market constraints, Boulder City Council members struggled to find consensus Tuesday night about how best to create more affordable housing...

Read On

Blogosphere: Michigan Transit Policy, Bike Share Trips, Expensive Buy America Rules, Obesity Prevention Strategies, Street Hackers

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:29:43 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Governor's Strategy Man Talks Transit

Model D

William Rustem, director of strategy for Gov. Rick Snyder, says that nothing is more important to Michigan's future than building transit and transportation systems that work...

Read On

Blogosphere: 7 Questions as Bill Conference Starts

DC Streetsblog

The first meeting of the transportation bill conference committee is today at 3:00. (To familiarize yourself with the participants, see Ben's reports on the House and Senate conferees.) We'll be live-blogging it, beginning to end...

Read On

Blogosphere: Bike Share is for Short Trips

Streetsblog

One of the stranger threads to come out of yesterday's announcement that Citigroup will sponsor NYC bike-share is the complaint that it will cost a lot to take long rides on the system...

Read On

Blogosphere: A First Look at the Orange Line Extension

LA Streetsblog

Last week, I had the chance to tour the new Orange Line BRT extension from where the Orange Line currently ends in Canoga northward for four miles to the Metrolink Station in Chatsworth. Even as construction of some of the stations continues, test buses run along the route...

Read On

Blogosphere: The High Cost of Buy-America

Systemic Failure

The FRA is soliciting bids for a $551 million contract for 130 bi-level railcars. As a condition for the contract, the railcars must be manufactured entirely with American steel and components. ..

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Re-Branding Through Humanitarian Efforts

Urbanophile

Indianapolis has long been known as the "Crossroads of America" and one of the "Sports Capitals of the World." We host large-scale conventions, international races, and very soon...the Super Bowl. Huge corporations including Eli Lilly, Cummins, and Rolls Royce call Indianapolis home. We are a relatively small city, but we're on the map...

Read On

Blogosphere: Report - Key Obesity Prevention Strategies

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

A new report from the Institute of Medicine, Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention, released today in conjunction with the Weight of the Nation Conference, finds that progress in stemming the obesity epidemic has been too slow..

Read On

Blogosphere: Desperately Seeking Tech Talent

Burgh Diaspora

Tech companies are making strategic location decisions based on access to talent. The office rental market makes for a handy map for the US Talent Economy. Where the tech talent is:...

Read On

Blogosphere: Affordable Housing Suffers

Urban Places and Spaces

Three big problems with affordable housing policy. 1. The first is the most obvious, but people schooled in the paradigm of capitalism and markets can't see it, because they can't self-reflect. It's that the market economy is designed to maximize price...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Pub Shed

Place Shakers (via Per Square Mile)

Most folks with an interest in planning issues are no doubt familiar with the pedestrian shed or ped shed. The idea is simple. Experience has shown us that the average person will walk, without hesitation or undue kvetching, to destinations they can reach in under five minutes - in practical terms, about a quarter mile - beyond which they begin to consider other modes of travel...

Read On

Blogosphere: Kotkin - Small Cities Drive Growth

New Geography

The conventional wisdom is that the world's largest cities are going to be the primary drivers of economic growth and innovation. Even slums, according to a fawning article in National Geographic, represent "examples of urban vitality, not blight."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Mapping City Flows as Blood

Spatial Analysis UK

Blood is everywhere when it comes to describing cities. We have arterial roads, pulsing transport flows, and cities with different metabolisms...

Read On

Blogosphere: Street Hackers

The Atlantic Cities

Inside the civic digital space, anyone can download a public dataset, build an app, share it with others. There are no permit fees, no regulations to research, no paperwork to file. You don't have to trudge to City Hall. Everything is (or at least, it should be) open...

Read On

Editorial: Fighting the Future of Two Suburbs

Washington Post

NIMBYISM IS AT LEAST as old as the suburbs, but it's a shape-shifting impulse. Over the years the objects of its wrath have evolved, particularly in affluent areas, to include not just undesirable neighbors (landfills, prisons) but also what many people would consider desirable ones, such as chic stores and modern transit hubs...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:51:04 -0400

"Dickens would have been surprised at how long it has taken Los Angeles to build its rail system. He was so into the power of rail. Amazed by the sense of making you fly without effort. He'd say that creating a network can change the way a place views itself." Read On

News: Planning Megaprojects, Personalized Travel Planning, Encouraging Walking, NY Bike Share, Chicago Train Congestion

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:31:00 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: Amtrak Ticket Checkers to Use iPhones

New York Times

Old-school train conductors are finally ready to give up their hole punchers to try something new: the iPhone...

Read On

Research: Why Mass Media Matters to Planning Research

Journal of Planning Education and Research (Abstract)

(Note from JW - This paper is by Bent Flyvbjerg and discusses megaprojects) This article asks how planning scholarship may effectively gain impact in planning practice through media exposure. In liberal democracies, the public sphere is dominated by mass media...

Read On

Research: Soft Transport Policy Measures in Sweden

Springer Journal of Transportation (Abstract)

Evaluations carried out in many countries show that soft policy measures in the form of personalized travel planning reduce private car use and increase travel by public transport...

Read On

Research: Impact of HSR on City Hierarchy

Journal of Regional Wissenschaft (Abstract)

The continent of Europe is marked by the fundamental role of its cities. Cities are the social structure in which any territorial phenomena assumes greater importance, strength and influence, and consequently their success becomes the success of the territory surrounding it...

Read On

Research: Can Negative Attitudes of Walking Change?

Journal Planning Education & Research (Abstract)

We investigate whether the design of the built environment encourages walking above and beyond individuals' attitudes toward walking. With data from a regional travel survey, we use regression analyses to examine differences in neighborhood walking trips among residents with positive and negative attitudes toward walking...

Read On

New York: City Officials Kick Off Bike Share

Wall Street Journal Metropolis

With the launch of New York City's bike-sharing program just weeks away, Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday revealed two previously unknown details: what the bikes would look like and who was picking up the tab...

Read On

National: Chicago Train Congestion Slows Country

New York Times

When it comes to rail traffic, Chicago is America's speed bump.Shippers complain that a load of freight can make its way from Los Angeles to Chicago in 48 hours, then take 30 hours to travel across the city...

Read On

National: Keystone Pipeline and Highway Bill Talks

The Hill

The Keystone XL oil sands pipeline is looming over this week's launch of House-Senate talks on transportation legislation. The first formal session of the bicameral panel trying to hash out a final bill arrives Tuesday afternoon...

Read On

National: Keystone Plus Two Year Bill = Deal?

National Journal Transportation experts

A Democratic compromise on Keystone could pave the way to a highway bill. The Democrat-run Senate has a transportation bill it's happy with--and which has a chance in the Republican-led House. Meanwhile, House GOP leadership is pushing hard on a provision that would automatically approve the Keystone XL pipeline. ..

Read On

International: Kuwait Metro Operational by 2020

Arab Times Online

Plans are moving ahead for Kuwait's country-wide metro system, which is hoped to address the growing issue of congestion and create a better environment for growth in commercial, business, industrial and residential markets...

Read On

Twin Cities: SW Corridor Could Lose Fed Funds

Minnesota Public Radio

Supporters of the proposed Southwest Corridor Light Rail project say it risks losing federal support. The Minnesota House today passed a $496 million bonding bill, which does not include any money for the light rail line between downtown Minneapolis and Eden Prairie. Gov. Mark Dayton made the $1.25 billion light rail project one of his top bonding priorities this year...

Read On

Los Angeles: Charles Dickens - Rail of Two Cities

Los Angeles Times

Who knew that Charles Dickens, master scribe who brought us Scrooge, Copperfield and tale upon cautionary tale of hard 19th century life, was a transit aficionado with a story to tell traffic-snarled Angelenos about their plight? I didn't...

Read On

Vancouver WA: Council Supports BRT, Without Lanes

The Columbian (via @MikeLindblom)

Vancouver's top leaders said Monday they'll back a plan for bus rapid transit on Vancouver's Fourth Plain corridor to Northeast 121st Avenue, but made it clear they still have questions about financing, business impacts and station locations...

Read On

National: Google's Self Driving Car Given the OK

Forbes

What do you get when you give Google engineers a Prius and send them to Las Vegas? A self-driving robot car, of course! Department of Motor Vehicles officials said Monday they've issued Google the nation's first license to test self-driving cars on public streets..

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

New York: Permits Climb as Developers Up Bets

Wall Street Journal (via Devin C)

Manhattan is starting to shake off its construction doldrums and could see the first flurry of building activity since the recession, according to the city's Department of Buildings...

Read On

Research: The Role of the Planning Scholar

Journal of Planning Education and Research (Abstract)

While a recurring theme in planning scholarship has been to characterize the role of the planning practitioner in society, less attention has focused on the evolving role of the planning scholar...

Read On

Research: Ecological Integrity in Urban Forests

Journal of Urban Ecosystems (Abstract)

Ecological integrity has been an umbrella concept guiding ecosystem management for several decades. Though plenty of definitions of ecological integrity exist, the concept is best understood through related concepts, chiefly, ecosystem health, biodiversity, native species, stressors, resilience and self-maintenance...

Read On

Blogosphere: Who Killed Men's Hats? The Car

NPR's Krulwich Wonders (via @kyleburkholder)

A hundred years ago - and that's when this picture was taken, in 1912 - men didn't leave home without a hat. Boys wore caps. This is a socialist political rally in Union Square in Manhattan. There may be a bare head or two in this crowd, but I think those heads are women's...

Read On

Blogosphere: Auto Use Collapse, Cyclist Protection Laws, Kids & Traffic, Parking Lot Trees, Bolt Bus Northwest

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:51:16 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Collapse of Auto Use Unprecedented

Business Insider

The greatest economics site in the world, FRED, has added vehicle miles data to its database. So we're going to have a lot of fun playing with this information. Here's the chart we made...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Italian Job Metro Scene

The Source

How do they do that? is a series for The Source that explores the technology that helps keep Metro running and passengers and other commuters moving. Some of it applies directly to the trains, buses and freeways and some of it runs in the background..

Read On

Blogosphere: Do Passing Laws Protect Cyclists?

The Atlantic Cities

Cyclists in the Keystone State have reason to rejoice. In April, a new safe-passing law went into effect requiring that drivers leave a berth of at least four feet between their vehicles and road-bound bicycles...

Read On

Blogosphere: Shuttled Kids Don't Know Street Patterns

The Atlantic Cities

Traffic and kids don't mix. That's something people intuitively understand. Automobile collisions disproportionately kill kids, for starters. Heavy traffic also prevents them from playing on their neighborhood streets...

Read On

Blogosphere: Blogger Poised to Gain BART Board Seat?

California Planning and Development Report

The transit activists, it seems, are storming the gates in the Bay Area. Their target for the 2012 election season is the open District 3 seat on the Bay Area Rapid Transit, and a victory could signal the maturation of an insurgent trend years in the making...

Read On

Blogosphere: Trees Needed to Fix Parking Blight

Minnesota Post

It's been nearly a century since the French architect and planner Le Corbusier envisioned La Ville Contemporaine, a city whose centerpiece was a cluster of 60-story towers set in a lush park. His aim was to clean up urban squalor, give all residents access to green space and make city living more efficient...

Read On

Blogosphere: Bolt Bus Take Pacific NW Market Share?

Transportation Issues Daily

BoltBus, an intercity express bus company that is very popular in the Northeast, comes to Cascadia with the launching of a Seattle-Portland route beginning May 17. See our story "BoltBus to Compete with Amtrak, Horizon Air for Portland-Seattle Travelers" for more details...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: If Whole Foods Is In, Time to Buy

Salon

If you ask Whole Foods why it's breaking ground on a store in Midtown Detroit this month, it'll say it wants to be part of "an incredible community" and "make natural foods available to everyone."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Dutch Mobile Food Trucks

Pop Up City

Mobile food is a wonderful thing. Whether it's a Japanese-style hot dog stand in Vancouver or Iraqi mahshi from one of Portland's world-famous food carts, there's something to be said for having the ability to head outside to pick up a tasty meal on the street corner...

Read On

Blogosphere: Interactive Map of Urban Resource Use

Per Square Mile

Two clever MIT grad students have built a web mapping tool that allows you to explore population density, energy usage, and material usage at the neighborhood scale for 42 U.S. cities...

Read On

Blogosphere: Bike as Paintbrush, City as Canvas

The Atlantic Cities

Michael Wallace is pretty excited about the new bike ride he's got planned. It's a tribute, he says, to the Crocodile Hunter. "I can't wait to ride that one," he says...

Read On

Blogosphere: Villa for Urban Bees?

Pop Up City

One of our urban trends for 2012, the 'design for animals', involves increasing numbers of products that extend design principles to the world of animals, whether it's modern bird houses or skyscrapers for bats...

Read On

Blogosphere: Interactive Map of Charlotte Pop Change

Plan Charlotte

The map below shows the percent change in population for cities from 2000 to 2010 - the larger the circle, the higher the percent change. Click on individual cities to see additional population data...

Read On

Blogosphere: Getting Development Right

Next American City

No one paid too much attention when retired New York Police Department detective Greg O'Connell began, in the early 1990s, to buy up tumbledown warehouses on an overgrown pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why Microsoft Chose NYC

The Atlantic Cities

For decades, high-tech industry followed a Silicon Valley "nerdistan" model of development distinguished by sprawling industrial parks off freeway interchanges, but there is growing evidence that high-tech may be evolving toward a more urban orientation...

Read On

Blogosphere: OECD Reviews Chicago

New Geography

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization that has its roots in the administration of Marshall Plan aid to rebuild Europe after World War II. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Future Cities, Imagining

This Big City

The concept or idea of a New or Future City can be unsettling, perhaps even unappealing. One begins to imagine Koolhaas's description of the Generic City, "a city of 15 million inhabitants, in or near the tropics, with high-rise apartments, low rise slums and post modern architecture by unknown 100-strong practices."..

Read On

Blogosphere: White Flight, Urban Renewal, Pop Loss

Urban Review StL

It's true that some of St. Louis' population loss can be attributed to "white flight" which is defined as:..

Read On

Blogosphere: Remaking a 1950's Planned City

Co.Exist

In the 1950s, rapidly built planned cities (also known as "development towns") sprung up in Israel to accommodate the influx of new citizens, including Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Holocaust survivors...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:47:58 -0400

"A technology community won't ferment if it is spread evenly over one hundred square miles of metropolitan area, especially if mass transit options are limited" Read On

News: NYC Bike Share, Virtual Twin Cities LRT Tour, Tucson TOD, Privatizing Moscow Metro, Cincinnati Form Based Codes

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:22:35 -0400

TRANSPORT

New York: 42 Bike Share Docks for Lower Manhattan

Transportation Nation

The New York City Department of Transportation continues to show community boards in Brooklyn and Manhattan where it's planning to install Bike Share stations in those boroughs...

Read On

Minneapolis: Virtual Tour of SW LRT

Twin Cities Finance and Commerce

The proposed Southwest Light Rail Transit line for the Twin Cities has been hard to visualize. Preliminary plans for the alignment don't run along one particular street - unlike the current Hiawatha line or the future Central Corridor LRT...

Read On

Tucson: Planning May Promote Infill, Benefit Streetcar

Inside Tucson Business

With workers busy laying tracks for the newly christened Sun Link modern streetcar project, some of the efforts to promote development along the line have begun to pan out...

Read On

International: Moscow Ponders Privatizing Metro

Moscow Times

City Hall is considering privatizing the Moscow metro system as a step toward developing the capital's infrastructure, the Moscow government said in a new strategy document...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Cincinnati: City Betting on New Form Based Code

Cincinnati Enquirer

Almost twice as many people lived in Cincinnati 60 years ago. But then cars made it easier to get things farther from home and families elected to move to quieter, more spacious and sometimes safer suburbs. Longtime residents passed away, and their children chose not to stay...

Read On

N Kentucky: $10M for Catalytic Development Fund

Business Journals (Paywall)

Northern Kentucky's first-ever development fund has raised $10 million and will begin financing projects in the region's urban core before year's end...

Read On

International: China Ups Energy Efficient Buildings

Reuters

China wants energy-efficient buildings to account for 30 percent of all new construction projects by 2020 to bring its building energy consumption ratio closer to that of developed countries, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday...

Read On

New Jersey: State Opens Urban Beach in Jersey City

New Jersey Statehouse Bureau

Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez on Thursday afternoon officially opened a 4-acre "urban beach" in the Jersey City development of Newport, overlooking the Hudson River...

Read On

Bay Area: Saltworks Project Gets Scaled Back

San Jose Mercury News

The developer of the controversial Redwood City Saltworks project announced Thursday it will submit a revised plan that offers considerably more wetlands restoration than the original one...

Read On

Virginia: Upgrades Divisive for Tyson's Landowners

Washington Post

Private-sector executives are sometimes known to grumble about government tax policies that amount to a bureaucratic maze. Why can't the government just create a straightforward system, they wonder? And why does every decision take so darn long?..

Read On

Blogosphere: Tech Startups & Transit, Bikes & Urbanism, Chicago BRT Push, LA Parking Changes, The Need For HUD, Prosperity Collaborative

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:53:38 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Economic Crisis Rolls On in Pittsburgh

Transport Politic

The board of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, serving the Pittsburgh metropolitan region, announced last week that it would have to cut services by 35% by September 2 - the largest cut ever for the agency - if it is not provided an increase in state aid...

Read On

Blogosphere: Transit Gives New York Startups Edge

Mashable

Asking budding entrepreneurs where they'd like to build their next startup often elicits the same three-word response: New York City. Over the past four years, there's been a 40% spike in startup financing in "Silicon Alley"..

Read On

Blogosphere: Bikes, Transit, and Traditional Urbanism

The Old Urbanist

Back in 2010, Nathan Lewis published what is one of the few pro-urban critiques of transportational bicycling available on the net. In the piece, he calls into question the assumption that increasing rates of urban bicycling, or increased provision for bicycle infrastructure, are necessarily beneficial for pedestrian-centric traditional urbanism...

Read On

Blogosphere: Cortright - CRC's Repeated Lies

Portland Transport

As an economist--someone who follows data and trends closely--and as a long time observer of the CRC public relations machine, I've become accustomed to the Orwellian spin that they frequently put on the facts. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Chicago's Push for BRT, Funding Issues

DC Streetsblog

The transportation news has been flying out of Chicago lately. Last week, in a 41-9 vote, the City Council approved Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Chicago Infrastructure Trust, which will be used to build projects with private financing...

Read On

Editorial: Get Rid of Dedicated Lanes Past Monument

San Leandro Patch

AC Transit's East Bay Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plan has been in the works for over eight years. Last week the AC Transit Board certified the environmental impact study (EIS) and announced that the new route will be from Oakland along International Blvd. to San Leandro BART via East 14th and Davis Streets...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Editorial: Our Eggs Still in Too Few Baskets

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Financial advisers say that the best way to both preserve and grow your savings is to diversify your investments, i.e., create a balanced portfolio. Putting all of your eggs in one basket is dangerous. The same advice could be applied to a region's economy...

Read On

Blogosphere: Rio de Janeiro Mayor's Vision for Cities

Urban Times

Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro, gave a TEDTalk recently about cities. Using Rio as an example, he listed and expanded on four "commandments" that govern the creation and sustainability of cities of the future in general...

Read On

Blogosphere: Top Cities for New Home Construction

The Atlantic Cities

Construction activity came to a near-halt after the housing bubble burst. The number of new residential units authorized in 2009, 2010, and 2011 was less than one-third of the level during the boom...

Read On

Blogosphere: Zoning Change Should Drop Parking Mins

LA Streetsblog

Ever since I attended a lecture by Donald Shoup at the LA Street summit in 2010, it has been stuck in my brain that most municipal zoning codes effectively make it illegal for developers to pursue truly sustainable models of development...

Read On

Blogosphere: Need Fed Housing Agency, National Goals

Metro Trends Blog

Mitt Romney suggested that Americans would be better off without a federal agency responsible for housing and urban development. I disagree, and here's why. We still need the national housing goal, spelled out in the National Affordable Housing Act, that "every American family should be able to afford a decent home in a suitable environment."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative

Living Cities Blog

Last week featured the inaugural meeting of the Brookings-Living Cities State-Metropolitan Prosperity Collaborative, a peer exchange forum intended to promote deeper collaboration between state and metropolitan leaders on issues critical to creating economic opportunity ..

Read On

Blogosphere: The Decline of Charlotte?

Burgh Diaspora

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is trying to prop up the image of Charlotte. In the Atlantic Cities, endless sprawl and downtown neglect has transformed into a people-friendly city-scape...

Read On

Blogosphere: More to Cities Than Architecture

From Rurban to Urban

In my about page I mention seeing the world in somewhat the same way as the New Urbanism movement does. My earlier posts reflect the movement's philosophy in different ways, but this time I decided take a more straightforward approach to unfold what all this fuss is essentially about...

Read On

Blogosphere: An IPO for Cities

Next American City

The Facebook IPO is one of the most anticipated public offerings of a private company. With shares expected to trade at above $25 apiece, Facebook's valuation will soar beyond $80 billion. ..

Read On

Quote of the Day

Fri, 04 May 2012 17:49:34 -0400

"So what can U.S.metropolitan areas learn from the Viennese story? First, cities and states should stop waiting for the federal government and push ahead with their own carbon reduction targets." Read On

News: Chicago Bus Lanes, Vancouver BRT, CAHSR Numbers, Caltrain Electrification, Gainesville Transit Taxes, London Smart City Test

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:28:01 -0400

TRANSPORT

Chicago: Bus Only Lanes Are Coming Soon

Chicago Sun Times

Bus rapid transit is coming to Chicago. Within two years, CTA bus riders will get their own lane to get through the throngs of traffic near Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center...

Read On

Vancouver WA: BRT Plan Gets the Green Light

Columbian

A citizens committee Wednesday signaled it's on board for bus rapid transit on Vancouver's Fourth Plain corridor as far east as Northeast 121st Avenue -- and possibly farther in the future...

Read On

California: Rail Critics Used the Wrong Numbers

North County Times

A report that warned of huge operating deficits for California's bullet train was based on "the wrong numbers," an official of the state High-Speed Rail Authority claims...

Read On

Fort Collins: Mason Corridor BRT Line

KUNC

Fort Collins residents will see the MAX Bus Rapid Transit project begin to take shape along Mason Street over the summer. KUNC's Brian Larson spoke with Northern Colorado Business Report publisher Jeff Nuttall about the project and its future impacts along the Mason Corridor...

Read On

Bay Area: JPB Approves Caltrain Electrification

Palo Alto Online

Caltrain has received a unanimous thumbs-up by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board to electrify the Peninsula commuter-rail system. The Joint Powers Board, the agency that owns and operates Caltrain, approved a regional agreement Thursday, May 3, to fully fund the railroad electrification...

Read On

Gainesville: City Leaders Push Forward on Transit Taxes

Gainesville Sun (via Thomas H)

Gainesville city commissioners continued to plan Thursday for potential November referendums on road and transit sales taxes, with some again voicing opposition to the County Commission majority's handling of the tax issue...

Read On

International: Cairo's Subway is Efficient, Dependable

New York Times (@ttpolitic)

By the dusty factories at the end of the subway line, two day laborers emerged from the cars, dreading their return to life above ground...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

International: China Must Do More To Curb Emissions

Chicago Tribune

China must act urgently on multiple fronts if it is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from its rapidly expanding cities and hit government targets for curbing carbon intensity, a new report from the World Bank said on Thursday...

Read On

International: London to Test Smart City System

BBC

An operating system designed to power the smart cities of the future will be put through its paces in London. Living Plan IT has developed its Urban OS to provide a platform to connect services and citizens...

Read On

International: Dubai to Build Underwater Hotel

Daily Mail

When it comes to outlandish new design ideas, Dubai is certainly ahead of the curve. The glittering emirate has already got the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa, and even the Earth itself - in the form of dozens of man-mad islands just off its coastline...

Read On

Research: Geospatial Analysis of TOD Activity Spaces

TRB TRID

Activity spaces are dynamic, "people-based" accessibility measures that can be used to analyse spatial arrangements of travel...

Read On

Research: Land Use Planning in TOD

TRB TRID

The 2010 30 Year Plan for Greater Adelaide (2010 30YPGA) is a milestone achievement in the planning of public transit networks for the Greater Adelaide metropolitan area because of its explicit strategy of intensifying development densities along the city's major transport corridors...

Read On

Denver: Food Desert Research Back and Forth

Denver Post (via Bill S)

Two recent reports allegedly downplaying the role of "food deserts" in growing obesity statistics raised the hackles of researchers, nutritionists and foundations dedicating great resources to exactly that problem...

Read On

Phoenix: Senior Housing Project Not Sexy Enough?

East Valley Tribune

For years, Mesa has waited for the time when developers would get so excited about downtown that they would come knocking on the city's door with plans to invest in major projects...

Read On

Blogosphere: Speeding Cars & Child Safety, TIFIA Loan Value, CAHSR Business Plan, The Vienna Metropolis, Charlotte's Sidewalks

Fri, 04 May 2012 11:07:33 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Think of the Children

Systemic Failure

Politicians will go to any length to protect children from underage sex, predators, and abductions. But when public health professionals suggest children should be protected from speeding automobiles - well, get ready for a whole lot of stupid:..

Read On

Blogosphere: A Little TIFIA Goes a Long Way

DOT Fastlane

While America waits for Congress to pass a comprehensive, long-term transportation plan, DOT and the Federal Highway Administration continue to help communities stretch the value of scarce local and state resources with our Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan program...

Read On

Blogosphere: Advances, Concerns for CAHSR

Next American City

Earlier this spring, high-speed rail in California took two very significant steps. First, Bay Area leaders announced a plan to electrify Caltrain, the commuter rail between San Francisco and surrounding counties, which would make it possible for Caltrain and high-speed rail to share the same tracks between San Jose and San Francisco...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Alexis de Tocqueville on Sprawl

The Atlantic

Your morning coffee with a side of Democracy In America. Here we find Tocqueville making his way through mountains beyond mountains. You read something like this and you wonder how much of our current reality was, long ago, wired into us. Of course some of it was. It's hard to know how much:..

Read On

Blogosphere: The Case for Fewer Wards in STL

Next American City

St. Louis likes its government close to home. The 90 municipalities in St. Louis County average fewer than 10,000 residents each, and the region is smothered with political jurisdictions...

Read On

Blogosphere: Vienna Offers Glimpse of Next Metropolis

The New Republic

"Smart cities" is the urban buzz phrase of the last few years, and fans often turn to European cities for inspiration. From Amsterdam's bike lanes to Copenhagen's wind power, from Barcelona's 22@ innovation district to Berlin's dramatic redevelopment, European examples abound...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Fake Forest for Hangouts

The Atlantic Cities

Describing the reign of the mechanistic, Talorized new state order and its transmogrification of nature in his dystopian scare novel We, Yevgeny Zamyatin wrote how, under the sovereign gaze of the "One-State"..

Read On

Blogosphere: Charlotte's Evolution to City of Sidewalks

The Atlantic Cities

Not too long ago, Charlotte, North Carolina, was an emerging metropolis attempting to solve its explosive population growth issues through sprawling development. However, over the past 20 years, it has consciously reinvented itself as a city of sidewalks...

Read On

Blogosphere: Limits of Kickstarter Urbanism

The Atlantic Cities

Kickstarter, as Alexandra Lange noted in a recent article on Design Observer, is good at taking cool designs for watches or bike seats from idea to reality...

Read On

Blogosphere: Neighborhoods Worth Playing In

The Atlantic Cities

When he was driving around Menlo Park, California, a few years ago, househunting, Mike Lanza had to ask himself: "Where are all the kids?"..

Read On

Blogosphere: Food Desert Dustups Cause Confusion

Live Well Colorado

From concerned citizens to healthcare professionals, individuals across Colorado and throughout our country are reacting to the article Studies Question the Pairing of Food Deserts and Obesity that was recently published in The New York Times...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:27:15 -0400

"I think that people on bikes, foot and public transit ... make our communities richer, more equitable, and pleasant places to live" Read On

Blogosphere: Civil Rights & Transit, Toronto Speed Limits, Pricing Travel Behavior, Origin Story of CNU, DC Sustainability Vision

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:01:06 -0400

TRANSPORT

Editorial: Civil Rights and Transit Service

Los Angeles Times

Wouldn't it be great if we could move public transportation across the city of Los Angeles as easily as the avenging thieves of the film "The Italian Job" moved their fleet of get-away Mini Coopers by hacking into the transit authority's computers and making all the lights turn green at the right moment?..

Read On

Blogosphere: World's Largest Underground HSR Station

Gizmodo

The Express Rail Link West Kowloon Terminus, when completed (sometime in 2015), will be the world's largest underground high-speed rail station, occupying a whopping 4,628,481sq/ft!..

Read On

Blogosphere: Mayor Ford Doesn't Want to Slow Down

Atlantic Cities

Toronto mayor Rob Ford thinks the idea of reducing speed limits in the city to save lives is "nuts, nuts, nuts." Ford's remarks come on the heels of Toronto's Medical Officer of Health, David McKeown, releasing a report that recommended reducing speed limits because of the public health benefit...

Read On

Blogosphere: Dramatic Changes from Congestion Pricing

DC Streetsblog

For the last nine years, private motorists entering central London between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. have paid a fee (currently £10 or US$16.22) to drive on the city's scarce street space. The revenue from the congestion charge is plowed into the city's transit system...

Read On

Blogosphere: Does POP Work Better in Small Cities?

The Atlantic Cities

Later this month, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board is expected to vote on whether to make sure people are paying to ride its growing network of light rail and subway lines...

Read On

Blogosphere: Students Study Expressway Removals

Plan Philly

A group of 19 city planning graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania spent the semester studying six North American cities with expressways passing through them, and concluded each locale would be better off removing at least some portion of those highways...

Read On

Commentary: Architectural Design Off on Expo Line

Los Angeles Times

This is getting to be a pattern. Every time a major rail line opens in Los Angeles, my reaction tends to unfold in two distinct parts: excitement tempered pretty quickly by a sense of disappointment, of opportunities missed...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: How the Internet Redefined Urban Space

The Atlantic Cities

As the internet spreads beyond our computer screens and into the physical world, how can we define and distinguish between public and private spaces?..

Read On

Blogosphere: Integrate Cleveland Neighborhoods

Rustwire

As famed Bronx, NY environmental activist Majoria Carter said, "I believe that you shouldn't have to move to live in a better neighborhood." Indeed, the best - and perhaps only - way for the rust belt to be reinvented as a sustainable, thriving, and inclusive region is by accomplishing the task in community after community ... one at a time...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Origin Story of CNU

Better Cities and Towns

In the early years, it was called Neo-Traditional Planning. Then in 1991, in a conference room at the Playa Vista development in Los Angeles, the term New Urbanism was proposed for the first time in a conversation with Stefanos Polyzoides...

Read On

Blogosphere: DC Offers Vision for Sustainability

ASLA Dirt

At a historic church in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray said there are either two future directions for the city: "The gaps between us could further divide our city," or the city could become "greener, more equitable, and more prosperous" for all...

Read On

Blogosphere: A New Era of Urban Agriculture

ASLA Dirt

Carrot City: Creating Places for Urban Agriculture, written by Ryerson University professors Mark Gorgolewski, June Komisar, and Joe Nasr explores the new era of urban agriculture...

Read On

Blogosphere: What Can We Learn from Lost Housing

Enterprise @ the Horizon

A Section 8 building for residents with disabilities was sold when property conditions deteriorated and retrofits to modern accessibility standards were deemed too expensive. An affordable townhome development in Miami converted to condominiums after rent restrictions expired...

Read On

News: Speeding LA Transit Work, Dulles Rail Solution, Chicago Red Line Replacement, Houston Bike Share, Salt Lake Streetcar Park

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:01:06 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

California: Bill Would Speed Up Measure R Projects

Land Lines Magazine

An effort moving forward at the California statehouse is intended to make sure Los Angeles area transportation projects are done sooner, and ensure that funding does not dry up any time in the foreseeable future...

Read On

National: BART Defends Service Shutdown to FCC

Computer World

Disrupting mobile phone service is a legitimate tool for law enforcement authorities working against terrorism or other dangerous situations, a mass transit agency has said in defending its own mobile shutdown last August...

Read On

National: LaHood Sees Dulles Solution

The Hill

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday that a logjam in planning for the proposed extension of Washington, D.C.'s Metrorail to Dulles International Airport will be resolved "pretty quickly."..

Read On

National: Durbin Hints Keystone Will be Part of Deal

Crain's Chicago Business

So, what's it going to take to finally shake a federal transportation funding bill of consequence out of a House and Senate conference committee?..

Read On

Minneapolis: LRT May Be Bottineau Option

Minneapolis Star Tribune

While nothing is set in stone for a proposed transit corridor in the north Hennepin County suburbs, one thing is clear after recent public meetings: people prefer a train to a bus, even though the latter would cost less...

Read On

Chicago: Red Line Replacement Depends on Congress

Chicago Tribune

Setting a timeline for the CTA's No. 1 improvement project - the multibillion-dollar replacement of the Red Line - hinges on negotiations that will begin next week in Congress over a new transportation funding bill, CTA president Forrest Claypool said Wednesday...

Read On

Houston: City Could Set Up Downtown Bike Share

Houston Chronicle (via @nealip)

Houston's first bike share program will take to city streets Wednesday in an effort officials predict will transform how workers and visitors will travel short distances in the downtown area...

Read On

Eugene: Mom Bikes Where She Needs to Go

Eugene Register Guard (via Matt R)

Pumping a heavy-duty Dutch-made Workcycle Fr8 bicycle from Costco with four bags of groceries loaded on back is something Emily Swenson takes in stride these days...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: New L Station Serves Surrounding Jobs

Railway Gazette

Chicago Transit Authority opened its first new L metro station for 18 years on April 30. Located on an existing section of the Yellow Line, Oakton-Skokie station is adjacent to the Illinois Science and Technology Park..

Read On

Salt Lake City: City Council Funds Streetcar Line Park

Salt Lake Tribune

The Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday evening voted to spend $6.9 million on a so-called greenway that would run parallel to a planned trolley line from South Salt Lake to Sugar House...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:05:53 -0400

"The incongruous thing is that Congress, with a simple, low-cost solution to so many transportation problems right here in front of them, can't see the people for the cars" Read On

News: BRT Rating System, HSR Research, PA Transpo Funding, Trading Lawn For TOD, NY Green Zoning, Student Debt and Home Ownership

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:49:56 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: BRT Systems Getting Rating Standard

Transportation Nation

Now it can be told: there are objective standards for measuring how good your Bus Rapid Transit system is. The Institute for Transportation Development Policy has issued new scoring system to see how good BRT systems around the world are...

Read On

Research: Accessibility Impacts of HSR

The Transportationist (Full Article)

This paper reviews the state of high-speed rail (HSR) planning in the United States c. 2010. The plans generally call for a set of barely inter-connected hub-and-spoke networks...

Read On

Pittsburgh: Service Cuts Not Inevitable

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Gov. Tom Corbett's remark last week that he might be able to address Pennsylvania's transportation funding shortage by the "end of the calendar year" seemed to suggest that the governor does not think he can get the Legislature to act on revenue-raising bills before the November elections...

Read On

International: Mayor - Congestion Pricing an Insult

The West Australian

Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has criticised a proposal to introduce a congestion charge in Perth, saying it is an insult to the city. Economic advisory group Committee for Economic Development of Australia released a paper on Monday saying a congestion charge, where motorists pay a fee to enter the CBD during peak times, should be introduced in Perth to combat traffic...

Read On

National: Can Road Repair Pay for Itself?

Washington Post (via @robpuentes)

It's no secret that America's roads need fixing. Of the nation's highways, 17.4 percent, or some 164,000 miles, were in poor or mediocre condition in 2008, according to the Federal Highway Administration...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

New Jersey: Trading the Backyard for a Train Station

Wall Street Journal

Tom and Pat Kelly spent 22 years living what many people consider the American dream: They owned a four-bedroom home with a pool and a big yard in Turnersville, N.J. They traded that in to live near a train station...

Read On

Atlanta: City Tops in Residents Living Alone

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Atlantans are likelier to live alone than residents of virtually any other major U.S. city, with nearly half of Atlanta's households having just one person, according to a census analysis released this week...

Read On

New York: Greening New York's Zoning Rules

New York Times

On Monday, the New York City Council unanimously approved a package of zoning changes that will make it easier for property owners to undertake energy efficiency upgrades and even produce their own solar and wind power...

Read On

Milwaukee: Transit Center Plans at 40 Stories

Milwaukee Business Journal

Redevelopment proposals sent to Milwaukee County for the Downtown Transit Center include a 40-story retail and apartment tower, office high rises, and a hotel...

Read On

International: Surveys Holding Up Foundation Removal

Daily Yomiuri

The bare foundations of houses that were swept away by the massive tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake stand out against the devastated landscapes in hard-hit areas of the Tohoku region...

Read On

International: Demand for High End Paris Real Estate

Wall Street Journal (paywall)

Storied French mutual insurer Groupama, battered by Europe's sovereign-debt crisis, has put some prime Paris commercial real estate on the block. Fortunately for the firm, demand for top properties has stayed strong even as the crisis has raged on the Continent...

Read On

National: Student Debt and Home Ownership

New York Times (via @dianalindindex)

FOR many recent college graduates, the dream of owning a home may have to be postponed awhile as they first grapple with repaying mounds of education loans...

Read On

Providence: Brown U to Pay City Instead of Taxes

Wall Street Journal (via @landpolicy)

An agreement dating back to Colonial times provides that Brown University is "freed and exempted from all taxes." How times have changed. With its hometown gripped by the worst fiscal crisis in memory, the Ivy League college agreed Tuesday to voluntary payments of $31.5 million to Providence over 11 years..

Read On

Blogosphere: LA Rail Car Politics, Bike & Walk Investments Pay Off, Affording Affordable Housing, Urban Pollution & Obesity

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:08:42 -0400

TRANSPORT

Opinion: MTA Does Right Thing on Rail Cars

Los Angeles Times

It is in the nature of politicians to keep making the same mistakes over and over again, especially if they're the kind of mistakes favored by a lawmaker's key financial backers...

Read On

Blogosphere: Small Investments Can Pay Off

DC Streetsblog

If you ever doubted whether a small investment in biking and walking could have a large impact, here is your proof. The last transportation law, SAFETEA-LU, provided four communities with four years of funding to build an infrastructure network for nonmotorized transportation..

Read On

Blogosphere: "Complete Streets" Policies Sweeping NJ

Streetsblog.net

It was a banner week last week for sustainable transportation advocates in New Jersey. Both Essex and Mercer Counties approved Complete Streets policies joining Monmouth County to become the second and third counties in New Jersey to adopt a Complete Streets policy...

Read On

Blogosphere: Lessons from an Unbuilt Beltway

At Lincoln House

A little over forty years ago, Boston said no to the Inner Belt -- an eight-lane freeway that would have blasted through the urban fabric from south of downtown, through Cambridge, and reconnecting with Interstate 93 north of the city in Somerville...

Read On

Blogosphere: Missteps with Outer Beltway Story

Greater Greater Washington

WAMU's Metro Connection aired a sadly one-sided story on Friday about long-debated, oft-rejected proposals to build an Outer Beltway across the Potomac, far from the region's core...

Read On

Blogosphere: Is Mica Leaving T&I at Year's End?

Politico

T&I head John Mica is facing term limits that could kick him out of his job at year's end, but he's confident he'll have a plum spot next year. But Mica might be daydreaming: He'd need Republicans to waive a relatively new rule limiting members to six years atop a committee, or he'd have to take on a popular chair of another committee...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why Do Buses Stop After Intersection?

Seattle Transit Blog

Any longtime bus rider has noticed that Metro tends to place its stops so that buses must pass through the intersection before they open their doors. That's great for runners, but not so great if your transfer whizzes by on the cross street...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Ecology More Than Flora and Fauna

Per Square Mile

Sigrist isn't entirely wrong-our understanding of the natural world must consider human impacts. The thing is, many ecologist already do that. If Sigrist had written this decades ago, I would concede his point...

Read On

Blogosphere: Urban Think Tank on Borderlands

The Polis

"If we extend Goethe's metaphor ["I call architecture frozen music"] beyond architecture, we might say that urbanism is 'frozen politics.' It then becomes apparent that there is a need to develop new mechanisms that can 'unfreeze' the boundaries of this condition...

Read On

Blogosphere: Population Density by Latitude

Big Think's Strange Maps

Did you know that almost 90% of the world's population lives in the northern hemisphere? And that half of all Earthlings [1] reside north of 27°N?...

Read On

Blogosphere: Who Can Afford Affordable Housing?

Chicago Policy Review

With more than 1.8 million housing units subsidized since the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) was introduced in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the LIHTC has become the primary vehicle by which low-income rental housing is developed across the United States...

Read On

Blogosphere: Crime Reduced, But at What Cost?

The Atlantic Cities

When it comes to local budget decisions, the goal of fiscal balance often means that one type of expenditure is cut so that another can be increased. If fire and police departments need more, for example, the libraries get less...

Read On

Blogosphere: Is CAD Stifling Homebuilding Recovery?

New Geography

The front cover of Engineering News-Record on March 12th, 2012 was about a technology survey conducted a few weeks earlier. Of 18 issues surveyed, the need for better software was mentioned most frequently...

Read On

Blogosphere: New Ballpark District Project

Denver Infill

Today, we have more good news in our efforts to rebuild Denver's historic urban fabric. As I mentioned a little over a week ago, there were several Downtown districts like Ballpark, Arapahoe Square and Golden Triangle that were particularly negatively impacted by the parking-lot craze...

Read On

Blogosphere: TIFs, Subsidies Key to Rebuilding

RE Journal

For Jim Sansone, it's a simple fact: The 350,000-square-foot retail project Plaza on the Boulevard in Jennings, Mo., would not exist were it not for development subsidies...

Read On

Blogosphere: Urban Pollution Linked to Obesity

Huffington Post

It's well known that a poor diet and physical inactivity are the main contributors to obesity, now an epidemic that afflicts 17 percent of America's children...

Read On

Researching The Impact of Transit Oriented Development on Public Transportation Ridership

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:52:23 -0400

A 2005 Florida study that sought to develop a research design to better establish the relationship between transit oriented development (TOD) and travel mode share has been added to the Resource Center best practices database.

Originally published in September 2005, "Impact of Transit Oriented Development on Public Transportation Ridership" concluded that "The initial hypothesis that good quality transit combined with good quality TOD would succeed in shifting travelers from single-occupant vehicle travel to transit was found to be an oversimplification."

Reseachers noted that quality transit service and quality TOD are helpful and important to shifting mode share, but not sufficient unto themselves.

"Other necessary factors include supporting elements of the larger urban spatial structure, disincentives to driving alone, favorable marketability of TOD for non-transportation reasons, and incentives to use transit," researchers said.

While research literature at the time suggested that urban form was not the most important determinants of travel behavior, the researchers found urban form does appear to exert some kind of influence, and for that reason, it is worthwhile to further specify the relationship to ascertain how policy initiatives relating to TOD can support the goal to balance mode share in the direction of greater transit use.

The research design developed by the researchers is intended to be applied to a Florida region, but the results will likely be useful to many urban areas throughout the United States that have developed since the 1940s.

Download the full report

Quote of the Day

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:57:04 -0400

"We're not talking about overwhelming density, we're talking about acceptable density." Read On

News: Fed Transpo Pressure, Enviro Vs. Infrastructure, CA HSR Testimony, Fed Golden Handcuffs, Food Desert Maps

Tue, 01 May 2012 14:44:58 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: Obama Hits Congress on Transportation Bill

Transportation Nation

President Barack Obama is getting pointed on the transportation bill. Speaking at the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department Conference today, Obama whacked the Republican-led House of Representatives for "refusing to pass a bipartisan bill that could guarantee work for millions of construction workers...

Read On

Atlanta: Sierra Club Comes Out Against Sales Tax

Atlanta Journal Constitution

As reported last week, the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club will oppose the July 31 sales tax referendum on transportation, in metro Atlanta and elsewhere...

Read On

National: Environmentalists vs. Infrastructurists

National Journal Transportation Experts

With conferees scheduled to meet next week to begin hammering out a new transportation reauthorization, all eyes are now turning back to the legislative details: what are key points of contention and where is there room for compromise?..

Read On

National: M1 Hopes to Hop on Cincinnati's Order

Crain's Detroit

The Motor City is looking to the Queen City when it comes to downtown streetcars. The choice of vehicles also may save Elmo, Snoopy and Captain Underpants parade floats...

Read On

Sacramento: Bullet Train Plan Gets Tempered Response

Sacramento Bee

Will Kempton, who chairs a "peer review" committee that has been sharply critical of the state's highly controversial bullet train project, sounded a more positive note Monday during testimony to the Assembly Transportation Committee...

Read On

National: The New Earmarks, FTA's Rules

Wall Street Journal (Paywall)

President Obama has been heard of late ballyhooing what he's done to cut federal red tape. Left unsaid is what he is doing to fashion golden handcuffs for local transit agencies. Consider the work of his artisans at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: How the USDA Maps Food Deserts

Scientific American (via John H)

Food deserts-areas where residents have limited options for purchasing fresh foods-are not easy to quantify. Access to food depends on a number of factors, from geography to transportation to the choices of individual grocers...

Read On

Twin Cities: No Love for the Heart of the City

Minneapolis Star Tribune (via Faith C)

Nothing riles up the neighbors like the prospect of more neighbors. In the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, a warning marked "Urgent!" went out over the Internet when a developer tried to fill a sparse corner with four stories of housing atop a row of retail shops...

Read On

Research: Over Education and Spatial Flexibility

Papers in Regional Science (Abstract)

This paper addresses the effect of workers' spatial flexibility (commuting and migration) on their probability of being over-educated. The empirical analysis deals with two possible sources of misspecification: the endogeneity of migration and the omission of relevant job characteristics...

Read On

New Jersey: Last Phase of Development Begins

New York Times

In 1981, the developer Richard S. LeFrak got a call from his father, who was exploring a broad swath of land in Jersey City. "You'd better come over and look at this," Samuel J. LeFrak told his son...

Read On

Blogosphere: Fed Transpo Posturing, True BRT In SF, Atlanta 50/50 Mandate, Sterilized Bus Air, Streetlight Budget Drain, Tea Party Vs. Planners

Tue, 01 May 2012 12:29:42 -0400

TRANSPORT

Opinion: Cars, Trains, Political Posturing

New York Times

The transportation bill is vital, providing billions of dollars to states and communities to build and repair roads, ensure bridges are safe and improve mass transit for millions of commuters. It also sustains some 2.9 million jobs, many in the hard-pressed construction industry. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: SF Ready to Commit to True BRT

Transbay Blog

In San Francisco, the Transportation Authority and SFMTA are moving forward to recommend a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for bus rapid transit on Van Ness Avenue, signaling that a long planning process will be drawing to a close later this year...

Read On

Blogosphere: Nix 50/50 Mandate for Success

Atlanta Journal Constitution

In fewer than 100 days, voters in metro Atlanta will decide whether to make an unprecedented investment in transportation improvements including several ground-breaking transit projects that will connect to the existing MARTA system...

Read On

Blogosphere: Diverging Diamond Not Good for Peds

Greater Greater Washington

An almost-finished plan for the Greenbelt Metro and MD-193 area aims to create pedestrian-friendly urban nodes in northern Prince George's. But the county has decided to push a pedestrian and bike-unfriendly interchange in the middle of the corridor. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Gameday Congestion Fee for Stadiums

Transportationist

How to pay for the Vikings stadium is the topic of the hour here in GreaterMSP. I have another solution that has not been broached to recover part of the $77 per ticket subsidy...

Read On

Opinion: Yes We Can Afford the Transit Project

Honolulu Star Advertiser (Paywall)

Regardless of where people stand on Honolulu's rail transit project, it is clear that the community benefits from more transparency and more discussion about how taxpayer money is being spent on a project that will have a significant impact on the future of Oahu and our state...

Read On

Blogosphere: UV Lamps to Clean Bus Pathogens

The Transit Wire

Five Rice University seniors have installed a device on a Houston (TX) METRO bus that destroys 99.8% of the pathogens that circulate through the air-filtering system. Called FluProof, the $500 device uses high-powered ultraviolet lamps to sterilize the air...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Opinion: Rainier Valley Would Be Good Stadium Site

Seattle Times

The debate over a new basketball and hockey arena is centered on the wrong location. Rainier Valley, not Sodo, would be a more beneficial site for fans and the community at large, write guest columnists Richard McIver and David Essig...

Read On

National: Secret Energy Drain on Cities - Streetlights

The Atlantic Cities

Streetlights, often tens of thousands of them spread throughout the entire footprint of a city, represent an impressively large drain on city budgets. They are often cities' biggest or second biggest energy demand..

Read On

Blogosphere: The Limits of MPOs

The Atlantic Cities

Our highly fragmented system of local governments makes it nearly impossible to address important issues facing metropolitan America in a rational way. Indeed, just getting around a metro region can be a challenge. Let's look at some examples...

Read On

Blogosphere: Making of a Smart City - Buenos Aires

Co.Exist

The Argentinian capital isn't ranked as one of the world's most advanced cities. But recent projects show it's working hard and offering a path for other cash-strapped cities to still become smarter...

Read On

Blogosphere: Tea Parties and Planning America

Planetizen

I recently had the pleasure of sitting on a panel convened by the Lincoln Instititute of Land Policy to discuss the Tea Party and its effects on local planning (a topic I've discussed earlier on this blog). At one point, the moderator asked if there were any successful techniques that planners could use to effectively deal with Tea Party activists...

Read On

Blogosphere: City as Lab for Alternative Urban Research

This Big City

The current landscape of cities is that of contested processes, interdependencies and relations which are dominated to various degrees by diverse actors with contrasting voices and agendas...

Read On

Blogosphere: CEQA Reform Bringing Smart Growth

Public CEO

California's transformative law for planning and development, usually called SB 375, comes to life this month in the Sacramento region, the very place that helped inspire its elaborate integrality five years ago...

Read On

Blogosphere: America's Cities Mishaped by Rules

City Limits

We live in a world in which the physical character of cities is a largely a product of rules. Mostly these rules are not helping us create better cities. In fact, they are making it much more difficult...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:53:58 -0400

"Who really is in power to make decisions? The people who showed up that night? Is that democracy? The 16 people who self-activated through the Internet? Is that democracy? No. That's called a mob. That's called a little mob. Democracy is intelligent as long as it has a random sample, if everyone's represented" Read On

News: KC Streetcar Tax Districts, Anatomy Of Transit Vote Defeat, CA Statewide Rail Planning, Strip Mall Parks

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:33:44 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Kansas City: Streetcar Taxing District Advances

Kansas City Business Journal

A Jackson County judge has ruled that Kansas City officials can move forward with plans to create a special taxing district in Downtown to build a streetcar system...

Read On

Tampa: Combination of Factors Led to LRT Defeat

Tampa Tribune

Frugality, opposition to new taxes, concerns about the bad economy and confusion about rail plans led Hillsborough County voters to defeat a sales tax referendum to create light rail and improve other transportation options...

Read On

Twin Cities: Cedar Ave BRT Line Delayed to 2013

Pioneer Press

Snags in planning could delay a much-anticipated bus line on Cedar Avenue. The Cedar Avenue Bus Rapid Transit line was expected to start running in November. But Dakota County leaders are grappling with news it might not run until spring 2013...

Read On

Bay Area: Statewide Passenger Rail Planning

San Francisco Chronicle

With strong bipartisan support, the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 1117 this week, calling for the creation of a statewide passenger rail plan that will be used to guide rail transportation policy decisions...

Read On

Los Angeles: Expo Line Opens Possibilities

Los Angeles Times

For some, the opening of the Expo light rail line means an easier commute to work or school. For others, it's a chance to ride mass transit to Staples Center or to visit the museums in Exposition Park...

Read On

Twin Cities: Many Options for the Gateway Corridor

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Nearly 200 people attended open houses to learn about plans for mass transit in the east metro, showing plenty of interest and offering plenty of varying opinions...

Read On

New York: 7 Line Down the West Side

NY1

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota said he would like to see the 7 train run down the West Side of Manhattan as far south as 23rd Street. "It's something I think that would make sense," said Lhota...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Bay Area: Hercules $300m in Development Debt

San Jose Mercury News

The Hercules City Council this week declared a $316.5 million outstanding debt of its defunct redevelopment agency as of the coming fiscal year. That comes out to more than $13,000 for each of Hercules' 24,000-odd residents...

Read On

Miami: Turning Strip Malls into Parks

Miami Herald (via City Parks Blog)

Four years ago, Miami-Dade's parks department, already one of the largest in the nation, embarked on an ambitious, 50-year plan that promises to place a playing field, bike or walking trail, or a green spot within strolling distance of every county resident...

Read On

Research: Ecological Consequences of Fragmentation

Urban Ecosystems Journal

Landscape change is an ongoing process even within established urban landscapes. Yet, analyses of fragmentation and deforestation have focused primarily on the conversion of non-urban to urban landscapes in rural landscapes and ignored urban landscapes...

Read On

Blogosphere: Virginia Beach Rail Vote, Transit Score, Transit-Oriented Burbs, Sustainable Cities, Urban Planning For Dummies, 'Evil' Suburbs

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:10:33 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: The Onion Releases Transit Issue

Planetizen

Out this week, the satirical newspaper The Onion has collected a host of stories dedicated to transit and transportation. Some of these you may have seen before, but many are new to us...

Read On

Editorial: Virginia Beach's Second Chance for Rail

Virginian Pilot

People in Virginia Beach have been talking about light rail since the 1970s. In 1999, the last time they were asked whether to bring it to the city, about 42,000 voters said no. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: What's Wrong with Transit Score?

Human Transit

Carter Rubin, on Los Angeles Metro's blog The Source, says exactly what needs to be said about WalkScore.com's Transit Score product. The product is in the news today because of their new ranking of US cities by Transit Score...

Read On

Blogosphere: Need Walkable, Transit Oriented Burbs

Cap'n Transit

You regularly hear transit and livable streets advocates talking in terms of an opposition between "urbanists" who want transit and walkability, and "suburbanites" who want car-oriented sprawl...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: It's FHA's Fault?

Rooflines

While we're used to seeing articles that blame the homeowner for some part of the housing crisis, some of the articles that come over the transom give us pause for their angle...

Read On

Commentary: Some Cities Used Redev Responsibly

San Jose Mercury News

Decades ago, California recognized that many cities were wrestling with economic blight. So it made a deal: If cities invested our money to redevelop blighted areas, the state promised to repay us with the increased property tax revenue, making us whole again...

Read On

National: Duany on Unbiased Democracy in Planning

Palm Beach Daily News

At the end of a wide-ranging talk by New Urbanism pioneer Andrés Duany on Friday at The Colony, The Society of the Four Arts President Ervin Duggan asked a question central to the vitality of the Town of Palm Beach...

Read On

Portland: City's REO Problem

Portland Housing Blog

The more things change the more they stay the same..."The vast majority of repossessed Portland-area homes aren't up for sale. Instead, more than 80 percent of them are off the market, many vacant and developing maintenance problems that might ultimately take a toll on their resale value if and when they do sell."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Cox - Urbanization in America Staying Same

New Geography

The recent release of the 2010 US census data on urban areas (Note 1) shows that Americans continue to prefer their lower density lifestyles, with both suburbs and exurbs (Note 2) growing more rapidly than the historic core municipalities...

Read On

Blogosphere: Citizens Want Sustainable Cities

This Big City

Planners and engineers within the transportation design industry have long debated the appropriate location, function, and character of city streets...

Read On

Blogosphere: Google's Glasses Benefit City Dwellers?

Next American City

While this writer thought Metro Cuffs were convenient, with public transit lines readily available on your wrists, Google is taking urban navigation and social media to the next level. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Urban Planning for Dummies

Atlantic Cities

"Urban Planning for Dummies is a lot like Sex for Dummies," says Jordan Yin. "We're already doing it, let's just do it better." Yin, an urban planning professor at Cleveland State University, is the author of, yes, Urban Planning for Dummies .

Read On

Blogosphere: LA 20 Years After Rodney King Riots

Environmental and Urban Economics

The LA Times today has some fascinating stories and maps looking back at the events of 20 years ago and asking some big questions. What are the lessons of the riots? Has quality of life for African-Americans in Los Angeles improved since then?...

Read On

Commentary: 'Evil' Suburbs Deserve More Respect

Kansas City Star

When you attend a lecture at the downtown library, presented by a land strategist from the liberal Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., be prepared to be ridiculed if you live in suburbia...

Read On

Commentary: Imagining Austin's Comprehensive Plan

Austin American Statesman

The Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan - now two and a half years in the crafting - is headed toward City Council for final review and adoption. It's a solid and far-reaching plan that does much to protect Austin's future...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:51:45 -0400

"This has always been a balance between roads and transit, but I think oftentimes transit has come out on the short end of that stick. Over the history of this agency we've actually spent more money building roads than we have building rail or (High Occupancy Vehicle lanes)." Read On

News: Tumlin On Congrestion, Houston Transit Funding Vote, Faster HSR, LA LRT Pushes West, Value Capture Research

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:34:49 -0400

TRANSPORT

Ottawa: Jeff Tumlin on Congestion

Ottawa Citizen

It's hard to overstate how much fun Jeffrey Tumlin is to listen to. The California-based consultant on transit-oriented development gave an afternoon talk, a snappy one with an actually worthwhile set of slides, on fighting congestion on roads...

Read On

Houston: Residents Will Vote on Transit Funding

Houston Chronicle

The Metropolitan Transit Authority is preparing for a referendum, likely to be on the November ballot, asking voters to decide whether to put millions more of their sales tax dollars toward transit or continue diverting part of it for road projects in their cities and Harris County...

Read On

National: Lawmakers Want 125 MPH Trains, Not 110

The Hill

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers is calling for the panel of lawmakers tapped to negotiate an agreement on a new federal transportation bill to remove a provision dealing with high-speed rail from the Senate's version of the measure..

Read On

Virginia: Arlington Backing Out of Transit Funding Deal

Transportation Nation

Leaders in Arlington County and the City of Alexandria in the Washington, DC suburbs are moving in different directions along a high-capacity transit corridor on U.S. Route 1, and it's causing some tension among lawmakers in Alexandria...

Read On

Los Angeles: Expo Opening a Push for the West Side

Los Angeles Times

Trains begin running Saturday on the first segment. USC, with three nearby stops, is seen as a big beneficiary. The line is expected to carry riders to Culver City this summer and to Santa Monica in a few years...

Read On

Los Angeles: Subway Extension Runs into Roadblock

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles County transportation officials set the stage Thursday for a showdown with Beverly Hills leaders over a small portion of the much-anticipated Westside subway extension...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Research: Special Value Capture Edition

Journal of Transport and Land Use (Full)

The value capture potential of the Lisbon Subway

Joint Development as a Value Capture Strategy in Transportation Finance

Rail integrated communities in Tokyo

Economic and equity effects of transportation utility fees

Financing transportation with land value taxes: Effects on development intensity

Read On

Cincinnati: Former Council Member's Streetcar Land

Cincinnati Enquirer

It seems former Cincinnati City Councilman and "Mr. Cincinnati" Jim Tarbell still keeps tabs on what the city is up to. Hamilton County property records show he recently spent $255,000 for two Jackson Street buildings - right near one of the proposed streetcar stops...

Read On

Research: Gentrification with Justice

Urban Studies Journal (Abstract)

Scholars and policy-makers have increasingly sought to understand the relationship between poverty and place in the inner city. This paper examines the spatiality of an anti-poverty strategy called 'gentrification with justice'..

Read On

Research: Shopping Centers, Centripetal v Centrifugal

Urban Studies Journal (Abstract)

In support of the call for international comparative analysis of commercial structure due to globalisation of commercial services, this study investigates the locational dynamics of shopping centres in Denver, USA, and Brisbane, Australia...

Read On

New Jersey: Harrison's TOD Development Efforts

New Jersey Journal

Harrison is moving forward with its redevelopment efforts by amending a plan adopted in 2003 to transform 250 acres of former industrial sites into a transit hub with residences, entertainment, hotels and other commercial uses...

Read On

Blogosphere: No TIFIA For Tappan Zee, TransitScore Rankings, Denver Airport City, Green Garage, Cultural Borders

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:03:12 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Feds Reject TIFIA for Tappan Zee

Streetsblog

In a major rebuke to the Cuomo administration's plans for a transit-less Tappan Zee Bridge, the federal government rejected New York State's application for a low-interest federal loan yesterday. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Kubrick's Subway Photos

Second Avenue Sagas

Once upon a time, Stanley Kubrick wasn't always an award-winning director. He was just a staff photographer for LOOK Magazine, and in 1946, he was assigned to capture the essence of the New York City subway...

Read On

Blogosphere: MTA Board Approves Subway EIS

LACMTA The Source

After nearly five years of planning and scores of public meetings, the Metro Board of Directors on Thursday certified the Westside Subway Extension's Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report (FEIS/R), the legally-required study that considers the many options, impacts and mitigations for the project...

Read On

Blogosphere: First WalkScore TransitScore Rankings

DC Streetsblog

Today, Walk Score - developers of the popular method for evaluating neighborhood walkability (and filling out NCAA tournament brackets) - announced its first ranking of cities by Transit Score, a measure of the "usefulness" of a city's transit system...

Read On

Blogosphere: Denver Mayor's Airport City

Huffington Post

At the Airport Cities World Conference held in Denver this week, Denver Mayor Hancock announced a plan intended to further the reach of Denver International Airport's business potential. The roadmap comes from a Canadian firm the city hired in 2011...

Read On

Blogosphere: Learning from LA's Rail Car Procurement

Brookings Institute

March's job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were bleak. The 120,000 jobs added to the economy fell far short of the 200,000 that were expected. While the unemployment rate dipped to 8.2 percent, in California it remains stubbornly high at 11 percent...

Read On

Blogosphere: How to Use Walk/Bike as Solution

Broken Sidewalk

Lakeside Swim Club is a huge complex of swimming pools in the Highlands of Louisville. The club draws people like a grocery store or small college, but it does so without car parking lots...

Read On

Blogosphere: Can a Parking Deck Be Green?

Greater Greater Washington

County Executive Ike Leggett calls the new garage at the Glenmont Metro a "boon to transit and a boon to the environment." A truly "green" garage at a transit station would make room for people, not just cars...

Read On

Blogosphere: 7 Reasons Not to Own a Car

Huffington Post

Margaret Thatcher earned the undying enmity of the world's transit users when she said (in her sexist and condescending way), that any "man who, beyond the age of twenty-six, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Providence Parking Madness

Urbanophile

As a quick addendum to my Providence series, here's a graphic put together by Greater City Providence that highlights all the parking in downtown Providence. As in most downtowns, it's pretty staggering...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Washington State Considers TIF

The Next American City

Among the significant changes needed to update Washington state's 123-year-old Constitution is amending it to allow for Tax Increment Financing (TIF), a public-development tool available in 48 other states (Arizona is the other state with no TIF)...

Read On

Blogosphere: Rude Wake Up Call for Cities

Planetizen

I'm on my way home from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy's Journalists Forum , an annual event, co-sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Neiman Foundation, in which journalists from around the country convene to discuss, jointly, the fate of our industry and the fate of American cities...

Read On

Blogosphere: Former Meatpacking Plant Goes Farm

Good Magazine

Had Willy Wonka had been fascinated by industrial ecology instead of cocoa beans, his factory may have looked something like The Plant, Chicago's first entirely self-sustaining "vertical farm."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Suburbanization of Del Mar Won't Fix It

Urban Review St. Louis

Delmar Blvd., like most St. Louis streets, was once very urban in form. Buildings all were built up to the sidewalk, defining the public vs. private space. This also gave pedestrians a sense of enclosure, they weren't exposed on all sides...

Read On

Blogosphere: Borders That Define US Culture

The Atlantic Cities

When we think about borders, we tend to think of administrative boundaries. Those demarcating lines, often grown out of rivers and mountain ranges or diplomatic quirks, govern our daily lives, and that's doubly so if we live near a neighboring country or state...

Read On

Blogosphere: Are Suburbs Creating More Startups?

Chicago Policy Review

It begins as a one-man or one-woman operation in a downtown loft. It expands to a Market Street headquarters. Then to a pristine, suburban mega-campus, all the while gaining influence and market share...

Read On

Blogosphere: Partners of Neighborhood Stabilization

Rooflines

The recent report from the National Fair Housing Alliance on the differing maintenance standards of REO property in communities of color versus white communities put another set of statistics on the pattern that most of us have been seeing from the beginning of the housing collapse:..

Read On

Blogosphere: A Live View of London's City Data

Digital Urban

Here at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, we have just made live our latest in a series of services examining live data feeds - CityDashBoard...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:11:35 -0400

"The AC Transit board also decided to eliminate about 5 miles of the route north of downtown Oakland to save money and avoid worsening traffic congestion at six intersections mostly along Telegraph Avenue." Read On

News: Denver Nixes Transit Vote, Bellevue LRT Cost Cutting, Expanding Dallas LRT, Twin Cities TOD Biz Boost

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:43:29 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Denver: RTD Board Nixes Fastracks Extension Fall Vote

Denver Post (via Bill S)

A FasTracks proposal to link commuters in the northwest Denver metro area to downtown is stalled after the Regional Transportation District board of directors decided Tuesday night not to pursue a tax increase in November that would fund the idea...

Read On

National: Daimler Closing Orion Bus Manufacturing Plant

Toronto Star

German automotive giant Daimler announced Wednesday it's shutting down its Orion bus plant in Mississauga, putting up to 390 people out of work. The company blamed slumping demand for transit buses from regional and municipal governments across North America for the closing...

Read On

Seattle: Officials Work to Cut Costs on Bellevue LRT

Seattle Times

Bellevue and Sound Transit officials' ideas for reducing the cost of light rail through Bellevue focus on eliminating planned trenches in parts of South Bellevue, excavating a shallower downtown tunnel and building a less expensive downtown station...

Read On

Dallas: Irving Eager for Orange Line Start

Dallas Business Times

Dallas Area Rapid Transit knows Irving is eager to get light rail service, said Gary Thomas, DART president and executive director. All he has to do is look back a few years ago when DART talked about delaying the project...

Read On

Twin Cities: Hoping to Boost Business Along the Line

Pioneer Press

The former home of Porky's drive-in could soon house seniors. The old Central Exchange building on University Avenue could open its doors to renters from a wide range of incomes. And coming soon to a T-shirt or billboard near you: Central Corridor, the ad campaign...

Read On

Dallas: Blue Line Extension Begins Testing

NBC Dallas/Fort Worth

Dallas Area Rapid Transit ran its first test of the Blue Line expansion to Rowlett on Wednesday morning. Crews walked along the tracks, checking every detail as the train traveled up to 5 mph...

Read On

Denver: NW Rail Advocates Look for Fresh Start

Boulder Daily Camera

Public officials between Denver and Longmont say RTD made the right decision by not seeking a tax increase from voters this year to fund a controversial northwest corridor transit plan. ..

Read On

Los Angeles: Express Trains Popular, Expensive

Press Enterprise

Express trains that trim the travel time to downtown Los Angeles from San Bernardino are attracting many rail riders, leading Inland officials to ask for more of the limited-stop lines...

Read On

Oakland: AC Transit Approves BRT Line

San Jose Mercury News

The AC Transit board on Wednesday approved a $152 million bus rapid transit project in Oakland and San Leandro that will introduce the Bay Area to a new type of speedy, frequent service like a "railway on wheels."..

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Research: The Coming California Population Slowdown

USC News (via Urban Ethics and Theory)

A massive slowdown in California's population growth means the state likely won't reach 50 million residents until the year 2046, according to a new USC analysis released today...

Read On

Detroit: Downtown Projects Get Tentative OK

Detroit Free Press

Four significant development projects for the greater downtown area won tentative approvals Wednesday, signaling that recent development interest in Detroit is continuing...

Read On

Stamford: Walkability Seen as Key Development Focus

Stamford Advocate

Densely developed urban centers as well as spread out suburbs will falter if urban planners neglect a better balance between automobile traffic, transit, and pedestrians, Regional Plan Association President David Kooris said...

Read On

Berkeley: Battle Over Live Work Communities

East Bay Express

Last year, the Berkeley City Council took a historic step toward attracting green tech to West Berkeley. Despite the protestations of some local residents and businesses, the council opened portions of West Berkeley to companies involved in research and development - a move that recognized that the economy is shifting toward green-collar jobs...

Read On

Research: Is It Graffiti or Street Art?

Journal of Urban Affairs (Abstract)

In cities such as Sydney, a succession of wars on graffiti has produced a moral geography of artistic practice. At the same time, the rise to prominence of creative cities discourses and the subsequent revaluation of creativity as a postindustrial salve unsettles the dominance of the normative criminalization of graffiti...

Read On

Research: Between Social Engineering & Gentrification

Journal of Urban Affairs (Abstract)

The article examines the emergence of urban countercultures and social movements in Christiania, Copenhagen, and Haga, Gothenburg in the context of the Scandinavian welfare state, from the 1970s to the present...

Read On

Blogoshere: Copenhagen Difference, Robert Moses Effect, Toronto Green Roof Policy, Really Compact Building

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:12:19 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Why Streets of Copenhagen are Different

The Atlantic Cities

Yesterday, I wrote about how the streets of cities in the United States were transformed over time into the exclusive province of cars. Fundamental changes in infrastructure and in law have solidified an attitude of resignation to the idea that people on foot or on bikes will inevitably be struck by vehicles...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Robert Moses Effect

The Business Insider

History presents a lot of patterns we can learn from, if you examine them closely. Lately, I've been talking a lot about the "Robert Moses Effect"...

Read On

Blogosphere: HSR Calculation Conversion Errors

Systemic Failure

In 2009, Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath of Berkeley's Institute for Transportation Studies published a paper entitled "Life-cycle assessment of high-speed rail: the case of California" in the academic journal Environmental Research Letters...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Commentary: If We Cut HUD, Keep Best Programs

Bloomberg

Mitt Romney suggested last week that the Department of Housing and Urban Development "might not be around later." Predictably, this set off a minor firestorm. Eliminating every HUD program would be unwise and inhumane, but the best ones could be saved even if the department were shuttered...

Read On

Blogosphere: Deconstructing Minnesota Sports Complex

Transportationist

The Minnesota Sports Complex, like an inferiority complex, plagues the state. If we in Greater>>MSP lack one pro sports team in the Big Four, we are inferior to big cities who have all four teams, like Los Angeles, or New York (er. New Jersey)...

Read On

Blogosphere: Toronto's Green Roof Policy

The Atlantic Cities

In January of 2010, Toronto became the first city in North America to require the installation of green roofs on new commercial, institutional, and multifamily residential developments across the city...

Read On

Blogosphere: Playa Vista Overcomes Obstacles

ASLA Dirt

Once mired in litigation and always fraught with controversy, Playa Vista, a 1,000-plus acre wetland, residential community, and commercial development in western Los Angeles, may now be considered a success story...

Read On

Blogosphere: Building Compact, Really Compact

The Polis Blog

A city's compactness is a compromise. On one side, a city can be spread-out - giving the advantages of cheap construction costs and plenty of green areas and roads, but also long commutes and dependence on cars...

Read On

Blogosphere: Is the Heat Island Good for Trees?

The Atlantic Cities

Cities, with their hard surfaces and black streets, are really good at soaking up solar energy. These sorts of surfaces retain heat, making them markedly warmer than less paved areas, in a process known as the urban heat island effect..

Read On

Blogosphere: Washington State Considers TIF

The Next American City

Quote of the Day

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:10:42 -0400

"Our costs of government and infrastructure are rising at many multiples of our economic growth. We are literally drowning ourselves in concrete." Read On

News: NY Vs. Megabus, Funding Detroit LRT, LA Mayor Transpo Secy?, Harm In Sprawl, Talking About Gentrification

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:56:23 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

New York: Port Authority Wants Megabus Out

Transportation Nation

The Port Authority doesn't want Megabus to be able to pick up passengers on the sidewalk outside the West-side bus terminal. The city's Department of Transportation gave the discount carrier - known for occasional $1 fares - a three-month trial permit to operate on West 41st Street outside the terminal, which expires in early May...

Read On

Detroit: M1 Rail Getting Ready to Go

Crain's Detroit

The private sector organizers of a $137 million streetcar plan for Woodward Avenue say they will subsidize its operational funding for up to 10 years - potentially satisfying one of the project's biggest question marks and criticisms...

Read On

Los Angeles: Mayor V The Next Transport Secretary?

KCET Public TV

Last Wednesday when Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivered his state of the city address he largely avoided the main topic facing the city: the budget. That came on Friday in the unveiling of his budget, which included a proposal with significant layoffs...

Read On

Seattle: First Hill Streetcar to Break Ground

Seattle Times

Decision-making Seattle style: At the same time the tracks of our venerated waterfront trolley are being ripped out, we are breaking ground for the new 2.2 mile First Hill streetcar project...

Read On

Denver: US 36 Project Gets OK to Apply for TIFIA

Denver Post

Supporters of the project to build managed lanes on U.S. 36 from Denver to Boulder received good news Tuesday with the announcement that the project was one of five nationwide selected to apply for a federal loan...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Cleveland: The Harm Caused by Sprawl

Cleveland Plain Dealer

The biggest and most ambitious regional planning effort in half a century is taking aim at suburban sprawl and the economic mayhem it's causing in Northeast Ohio...

Read On

National: Struggle To Talk About Gentrification

Next American City

These are the words of Peter Marcuse, acclaimed planner, lawyer and professor emeritus of urban planning at Columbia University, whose work in the study of urban development over the past several decades has sought to turn the conversation..

Read On

Blogosphere - In

Blogosphere: Invention Of Jaywalking, SF Livable Streets, Poverty & Road Hazards, Equitable Transit, LA Development Reform

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:17:08 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: The Invention of Jaywalking

Atlantic Cities

It happened again the other night. This time, the driver of a Jaguar traveling down 42nd Street in Manhattan struck another car and lost control, flipping onto the sidewalk and striking several pedestrians...

Read On

Blogosphere: RIP 2012 Federal Transportation Bill?

Transportation Issues Daily

We may well look back upon this day as the one in which we realized once and for all that no transportation bill would be enacted in 2012...

Read On

Blogosphere: Transit City Resurrection

Steve Munro

At its meeting of April 25, 2012, the Metrolinx Board will consider a recommendation from staff that sets out how work will proceed with Toronto's rapid transit projects in light of recent decisions by Toronto Council...

Read On

Blogosphere: Video - Innovative Solutions in SF

Streetfilms

Livable City's Executive Director Tom Radulovich sums up San Francisco's recent livable streets achievements in saying, "There's this tactical urbanism that we've really been quite good at. What can we do at a low cost with stuff that's reversible, with paint on the street, with bollards..."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Hybrids Won't Save Environment

Radials Blog

Ad professionals are pretty smart. Or, maybe more accurately, they're pretty perceptive, able to pick up on trends, memes, and slang and insert them into slick commercials that have almost become events in themselves...

Read On

Blogosphere: Interview w Darrell Clarke, Expo Champion

The Source

With the first phase of the Expo Line scheduled to open later this month, I recently interviewed Darrell Clarke, the co-chair of Friends 4 Expo Transit, a group that has worked tirelessly to ensure that Los Angeles has light rail, rather than a busway - or no transit at all - along the Exposition corridor...

Read On

Blogosphere: Low Income Areas & Dangerous Roads

DC Streetsblog

Who suffers most from bad road design? Not surprisingly, the answer is poor people, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health...

Read On

Blogosphere: Equitable Transit

Getting From Here to There

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is is trouble with the U.S. Government (again) for non-compliance with FTA civil rights requirements. Here is an LA Times story about this...

Read On

Blogosphere: Ex Secretaries Communications Strategy

Streetsblog DC

If 80 percent of the American people agree that federal infrastructure investment will create jobs, and two-thirds say better infrastructure is important, why is the call for a robust transportation bill being made in whispers? And why is Congress already two and a half years late in producing one?..

Read On

Blogosphere: Libertarians on Transportation Reform

Streetsblog DC

There's more than one way to approach transportation reform. One is to believe that an ideal transportation policy promotes the use of modes that are environmentally sustainable and which foster livable cities, while those that perpetuates overdependence on automobiles do neither...

Read On

Blogosphere: HSR Operating Costs

Systemic Failure

What are the per-mile operating costs of a high-speed rail line? And how high do fares need to be to cover those costs? Those seem like simple metrics to answer...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Remaking Chicago as Complete Region

Planetizen

After a decade of slow growth and missed opportunities, Scott Bernstein and Kyle Smith, of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, offer a "back to the future" scenario for revitalizing Chicago as a complete region, based on targeted and prioritized reinvestment in the city's underutilized transportation assets. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Digitizing 100 Years of Land Use Value

At Lincoln House

Here's a quiz: how many recognize something called Olcott's Blue Books? Gabriel Ahlfeldt from the London School of Economics certainly does...

Read On

Blogosphere: SF Works to Reform Business Tax

SPUR

For the last decade, businesses in San Francisco have been adamant that the city's payroll tax is holding back job growth. First, companies must pay the tax when they reach $250,000 in payroll, which discourages new hiring...

Read On

Blogosphere: 3 Ways to Put Equity into TOD

Living Cities

Urban leaders across the country are lifting up Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) as a land-use and transportation solution to connect people to their places of employment, key services, and the communities they care about...

Read On

Blogosphere: Reimagined Bridge Could Be Windfall

Urban Cincy

On Tuesday April 24 and Wednesday April 25 residents will have a chance to voice their concerns about the preferred Brent Spence Bridge design alternative, currently known as Alternative I at Longworth Hall...

Read On

Blogosphere: Green Infrastructure Could Save Cities

The Atlantic Cities

Compared to canvas grocery bags or CFL light bulbs or even solar panels, larger "green infrastructure" projects such as roof gardens or permeable streets can be hugely expensive...

Read On

Blogosphere: Smart Growth isn't Only Answer

The Atlantic Cities

I want to follow up on yesterday's article about placemaking. Reacting to an excellent essay by Ethan Kent, I posited that that the creation and strengthening of great places - great people habitat, if you will - should be a very important part of a "new environmentalism." ..

Read On

Blogosphere: LA Wants to Move Past 40's Code

Curbed LA

The LA City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee will consider a funding scheme today for a massive new development reform effort that would further streamline development in the city...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:44:30 -0400

"These funds are supposed to be used to overcome patterns of economic and racial segregation. It appears that they're doing exactly the opposite." Read On

News: Transpo Funding Conference, Baton Rouge Transit Tax, Rio Grande Valley Rail, Detroit LRT Funders

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:25:19 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: Maybe the System is Working!

Transportation Nation Experts Blog

Everybody take a deep breath. Congress is poised this week to appoint conferees to a long-awaited conference committee that will negotiate a highway bill. Finally. I know that President Obama has dangled a veto threat over the House version, and I know that Republicans are determined to link the politically volatile Keystone XL pipeline to a bipartisan infrastructure bill...

Read On

Research: How to Structure Learning Between Cities

Environment and Planning Journal

The internationalization of policy regimes and the reorganization of the state have provided new opportunities for cities to bypass nation-state structures and work with other cities internationally. This provides greater opportunity for cities to learn from each other and could be an important stimulus to the transfer of policies across the globe...

Read On

Seattle: Metro Bus Riders In for Changes

Seattle Times

King County Metro Transit is preparing for what it calls the biggest package of route changes in the agency's history, cutting thousands of service hours from outlying Seattle neighborhoods so more buses run on busier corridors...

Read On

Baton Rouge: City Passes Sales Tax for Transit

Times Picayune

The Canada Line is proving to be a boon to Richmond, with a $4-billion-dollar development bonanza riding the rapid transit corridor through its city centre...

Read On

Brownsville: Valley Railway Plan Gains Traction

Brownsville Herald

Planning for a Rio Grande Valley commuter rail system took a step forward this past week as Mercedes became the first city to officially throw its support behind the project...

Read On

Detroit: Woodward Group Wants to Pay Operating Costs

Detroit Free Press

The private-sector group that wants to build a 3-mile light rail line on Woodward Avenue from downtown Detroit to the New Center said today it has raised all of the money it will need to build the line - and is pledging to fund the operations of the system privately for the first 10 years after it's built...

Read On

Bay Area: BART Recommends Bombardier for New Cars

The Bay Citizen

BART staff on Monday recommended that the transit agency award a $2.5 billion contract for its new fleet of cars to a Canadian company, Bombardier, Inc. The firm has come under scrutiny in recent months for installing faulty parts in Chicago subway cars and for not agreeing to build a larger portion of each BART car in the United States...

Read On

International: The Trouble with the Delhi Metro

Wall Street Journal

I have been car-free, by choice, since I moved to the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon a few months ago. I wanted an apartment near a Metro station, as I was certain the excellent new system would take me wherever I needed to go...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Texas: LIHTC Units Built in Poor Neighborhoods

New York Times

Plans to build a low-income apartment complex for seniors in one of San Antonio's most fashionable neighborhoods had been posted for barely a week in January when the fury began...

Read On

National: Behind Chinese City's Growth, Heavy Debt

Wall Street Journal

The Chinese city of Chongqing accumulated tens of billions of dollars in liabilities during Bo Xilai's term as local Communist Party chief, as it juiced growth that helped launch the former high-flyer's campaign for a top political post...

Read On

New York: The City's Restaurant Regulars

Wall Street Journal

If it's after midnight on just about any night, Bruce Davis will be perched in the spot at the same brasserie-and probably drinking the same drink. Mr. Davis is one of New York City's foremost regulars, with an extraordinary commitment to an otherwise ordinary restaurant...

Read On

Sacramento: Still Liking Railyard Future w/o Kings

Sacramento Bee

Even as Mayor Kevin Johnson worked late last week to revive an arena deal in the downtown railyard, city officials said they would push forward with development of the property regardless of the outcome...

Read On

Newark: City Setting Aside Housing for Teachers

Education Week (Paywall)

They are two of the most persistent challenges in trying to rebuild long-struggling cities like Newark: improving the schools and growing a middle class. Here, officials are hoping that a novel concept-reserving sleek new apartments designed by a world-famous architect for teachers-can help on both fronts. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Logic Of Buses, Transit Patent Trolls, NY Rent Control, Floating Cities, Romney Smart Growth Model

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:57:28 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: The Magic of Streetcars, Logic of Buses

Streets.mn

The City of Minneapolis is promoting Streetcars in a number of corridors, including one in North along Broadway to compensate for the rerouting of Bottineau LRT to avoid North. Promoters of Minneapolis Streetcars, including Mayor R.T. Rybak, are engaged in magical thinking in their assertion that streetcars will have transformative effects...

Read On

Blogosphere: More on the Patent Trolls

Atlantic Cities

Dowell Baker, a law firm specializing in patent litigation in Lafayette, Indiana, finds companies to target in a couple different ways. The firm's client, ArrivalStar, holds 34 U.S. patents, all related to the idea of tracking a vehicle in motion and then alerting people, through some communications device, of when it may arrive or whether it's running late...

Read On

Commentary: New Stadium Should Incentivize Transit

Los Angeles Times

If it is built, the proposed 72,000-seat Farmers Field stadium in downtown Los Angeles will bring many benefits but also major traffic congestion...

Read On

Blogosphere: Can You Build Out of Congestion?

Car Free in Big D

Councilperson Angela Hunt was interviewed by DMN transportation reporter Michael Lindenberger where she dropped this dime:..

Read On

Blogosphere: Rahm's Big Plans

Chicago Policy Review

Mayor Emanuel recently announced a $7 billion plan to revamp Chicago's infrastructure. Do you see the proposed public-private endeavor as a step toward the New Urbanism promoted by CNU? Do you think planning and design have been adequately incorporated into his plan?..

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Supreme Court Refuses Rent Control Case

The Atlantic Cities

Today, the Supreme Court decided not to hear a case that challenged the constitutionality of New York City's rent regulations. This is undoubtedly a major relief for residents of the city's 1,025,214 rent-regulated units, which represents about half of the city's housing stock...

Read On

Blogosphere: Krug's Floating Cities

Pop Up City

Last week I received an email from Hamburg-based designer and art director Reinhard Krug, who wanted to show us his latest work - an amazing series of limited edition prints of floating cities. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Romney Model for Obama Smart Growth

Grist

Everyone knows that "Obamacare" was modeled on Mitt Romney's Massachusetts health-care law. But did you know that a key Obama "smart growth" initiative - the Partnership for Sustainable Communities - was also created in the mold of a Romney program?...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:55:26 -0400

"I'm sitting in the most innovative place in the world, but I may as well be in the 1970s. It's untouched by technology." Read On

News: Houston TOD Preference, LA LRT Problems, Oakland BRT Benefits, Italy's Private HSR, Betting Big On TOD, Air Pollution Death Toll

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:20:52 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Houston: Mass Transit Gains Momentum in Survey

Houston Chronicle

This year's Kinder Houston Area Survey found strong support for mass transit and a growing number of people who say they want to live within walking distance of work and shopping, reflecting what survey founder Stephen Klineberg predicts will become a fundamental shift in one of the nation's most car-centric cities...

Read On

San Francisco: App Built for Muni Goes Unused

New York Times

If all goes according to the five-year plan approved by the Board of Supervisors, the city and county of San Francisco will upgrade its technology infrastructure to accommodate such trendy things as social networks, cloud computing, crowd-sourcing, open-source software and location-aware apps...

Read On

National: White House Doesn't Like Keystone Addition

The Hill

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Friday that mandating approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline was "noxious" to the future of a new federal highway bill that was approved by the House...

Read On

Portland: Building The Newest River Bridge

Portland Oregonian

Crews raising TriMet's $134 million light-rail bridge from the waters of the Willamette River are just hours away from the "Big Pour" of the west tower's base...

Read On

Los Angeles: Delays on the Blue Line Causing Problems

Los Angeles Times

As officials build mass transit lines at a rapid clip, Los Angeles County's oldest and most-used light-rail system has been breaking down with alarming frequency...

Read On

International: New Dehli Rail Going Underground

Economic Times

The rapid rail network to be laid as long-distance Metro trains connecting Delhi with its major suburbs with limited stops will go underground in the capital . There will be three hubs - Sarai Kale Khan for the Delhi-Meerut corridor, Kashmere Gate for the Panipat stretch and Dhaula Kuan for trains plying between Delhi and Alwar...

Read On

Pittsburgh: Oakland BRT to Cut Time Between Centers

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

A transit advisory group will conduct four public meetings during the next two weeks on proposed rapid bus service that could shorten commute times and spur development between Downtown and Oakland...

Read On

International: Italy Launches Private HSR

AFP

Italy launched Europe's first private high-speed train service this week, as the country looks towards the more liberal economy that Prime Minister Mario Monti wants to put on the rails...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

New Jersey: Town Betting Big on TOD

Wall Street Journal

Nestled along the Passaic River, this town has never quite shed its gritty industrial image, even as residential development helped transform nearby Jersey City and Hoboken from faded urban centers into commuter havens...

Read On

San Jose: Silicon Valley Needs Housing for Talent

San Jose Mercury News

The economic recovery appears to be well under way here in Silicon Valley. From 2009 to 2010, California's economy grew by just 1.8 percent, and the U.S. as a whole saw growth of just 2.6 percent. For the San Jose metro area, the figure was an eye-popping 13.6 percent -- easily the best among large U.S. regions. ..

Read On

International: 13K People/Yr Dying from Air Pollution

Guardian UK

Air pollution is prematurely killing 13,000 people a year in Britain compared with fewer than 2,000 deaths a year from road accidents, a major study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has concluded...

Read On

National: When Factories Close, Pain Lasts

Wall Street Journal

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has updated research that carries a sobering message for cities with big manufacturing legacies. Basically, the more factories a place used to have, the less growth it enjoys - even decades later...

Read On

Oakland: Redevelopment Head Discusses Loss

Next American City Forefront

In this week's Forefront story, journalist Josh Stephens took a close look at California Gov. Jerry Brown's decision to dissolve the state's 400-odd urban redevelopment agencies, and what the collapse of the $5.6 billion-a-year system means for cities...

Read On

National: Kotkin - The Great California Exodus

Wall Street Journal

'California is God's best moment," says Joel Kotkin. "It's the best place in the world to live." Or at least it used to be. Mr. Kotkin, one of the nation's premier demographers, left his native New York City in 1971 to enroll at the University of California, Berkeley...

Read On

International: Chinese Cities Sinking from Buildings

China Daily (via David King)

A diminishing water table, combined with a growing number of skyscrapers, is causing large areas of China to sink, increasing flood risk and endangering the rail network, according to a survey released recently by the China Geological Survey...

Read On

New York: Why City Must Skyscrape

New York Daily News

The Bloomberg administration is fast-tracking a plan to transform the zoning near Grand Central Terminal, with changes that would allow developers to knock down smaller, older buildings and build new, modern towers...

Read On

Twin Cities: Grants Help Fund TOD Projects

Minnesota Post

One of the arguments for investing in improved transit in major corridors is that it attracts new development. But the Metropolitan Council figures that it doesn't hurt to prime the pump, especially during these challenging economic times...

Read On

Kansas City: TIF District Not Generating Needed Return

Wall Street Journal

The tab is mounting for this Midwestern city on a bet it made during the real-estate boom on an $850 million entertainment district meant to breathe new life into its struggling downtown...

Read On

International: Georgia Envisions Instant City

New York Times

Reaching the site where Georgia's government is breaking ground for Lazika, its grandiose city of the future, requires navigating livestock - shaggy cows and huge spotted hogs that sunbathe on the road to the hypnotic chirping of innumerable frogs...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Transport Mayor, Dulles Rail Uncertainty, Silicon Valley Bike Movement, Infrastructure Bank, HUD H+T Initiative, McMansion Definitions

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:03:07 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Bill Would Ban Cell Phone Shut Downs

The Transit Wire

A bill introduced in the California State Legislature would prevent state agencies from shutting down cell phone networks without first obtaining a court order. Introduced in response to Bay Area Rapid Transit's cell-phone shutdown last year, Bill SB1160 is currently in committee...

Read On

Editorial: Villaraigosa Still the Transport Mayor

Los Angeles Times

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came into office seven years ago with a remarkably ambitious agenda, proposing to solve many of L.A.'s most intractable problems: He would be the mayor who fixed the schools, cleaned up the gang problem and beefed up the Police Department...

Read On

Editorial: Dulles Rail Could Go Off the Tracks

Washington Post

FOR DECADES regional planners have worked to extend Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, a critical transit link that would juice Northern Virginia's economy and bring first-world convenience to the Washington region's preeminent international hub...

Read On

Blogosphere: A Surging Silicon Valley Bike Movement

SF Streetsblog

Bicycle advocacy can be an especially daunting challenge in the South Bay and the Peninsula, where car-centric policies and culture rule the day. At this week's Silicon Valley Bike Advocacy Summit the focus was on improving relations between advocates and government officials..

Read On

Blogosphere: What Does Infrastructure Bank Do For Us?

The Urbanophile

Infrastructure banks are back in the news thanks to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan for his billion plus dollar Chicago Infrastructure Trust. This trust would leverage private funds to finance infrastructure improvements in his city...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Your Next Mayor a Computer?

Salon

Three years ago, 100 Parisians volunteered to wear a wristband with a sensor in it. The sensors measured air and noise pollution as the wearers made their way around the city, transmitting that data back to an online platform...

Read On

Blogosphere: HUD H+T Initiative, Twitter Town Hall

The HUDdle

If you ask people what Earth Day or protecting the environment means to them, you'll most likely get a different answer every time. I'm someone who spends any chance I get in my garden, hands in dirt planting new flowers and plants...

Read On

Blogosphere: Smart Growth, How Developers Wrong

The Atlantic Cities

One of the problems I have with a lot of what passes for smart infill development - on the whole, a good thing - is that parks and green space are treated as afterthoughts at best, and frequently ignored altogether...

Read On

Blogosphere: Wide Variation on McMansion Definition

The Atlantic Cities

Though it was coined in the 80s, the term "McMansion" didn't really catch on until the late 1990s. It took hold - arguably by descriptive necessity - because significantly larger homes were popping up in subdivisions and gated communities around the country...

Read On

Blogosphere: Can Manhattan Build Out of High Rents

Getting From Here to There

Zoning controls and land use restrictions limit dense development in many areas. Most of the literature looks at the effect of minimum lot size zoning and concludes that such restrictions create sub-optimal levels of density...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:51:57 -0400

"We have been pitting the rich against the poor when we are all in the same complicated environmental, economic and social puzzle, and we have been dividing ourselves by race and generation when we have together just one future." Read On

News: LA Orange Line Testing, Denver LRT Corridor Ideas, NC LRT Extension Funding, Romeny's HUD Comments, Toronto Condo Boom

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:38:17 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Los Angeles: Orange Line Testing Starts Monday

Los Angeles Times

Three weeks of testing are scheduled to begin Monday for the new Orange Line extension -- a $216-million project in the San Fernando Valley that will add four miles to the bus rapid transit route and link it to the Chatsworth Metrolink rail station...

Read On

Denver: RTD Seeking Ideas for I225 LRT Project

Denver Post

Private firms will soon be asked to submit their ideas to help build the FasTracks Interstate 225 light-rail project in hopes of finishing that segment of roadway sooner and at less cost...

Read On

Charlotte: State OKs Money for LRT Extension

Charlotte Observer

Local and N.C. officials are expected to announce Thursday that state has signed a deal to pay 25 percent of the costs for the planned 9.4-mile light rail extension to UNC Charlotte's campus...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Fight Over Romney's HUD Comments

Washington Post

Democrats on Thursday criticized Republican front-runner Mitt Romney's suggestion this week that he might eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development, warning that such a step would put recent reductions in veterans' homelessness at risk...

Read On

Bay Area: Pleasanton Approves Housing South of BART

Contra Costa Times

The City Council has approved plans for 500 apartments in the Hacienda Business Park that will help the city meet court-approved requirements to provide more affordable housing in town. The unanimous approval on Wednesday night OKs plans by BRE Properties, a national builder of affordable housing, to construct a mixed-use housing project with about 500 apartments plus retail space. ..

Read On

Toronto: Intensifying Urbanization Driving Condo Boom

Globe and Mail

I wrote recently about the plight of U.S. homeowners who are suffering from the slide in house prices even if they diligently paid off their mortgages and didn't over-extend themselves in the first place...

Read On

Blogosphere: Obama Veto Threat, Do Cycletracks Work?, Chicago BRT Investment, NJ Toll Brawl

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:45:58 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Would Obama Veto the Bill? Maybe

Transportation Issues Daily

Could Congress pass a transportation bill only to see it vetoed by the President? It's possible, and here's why...

Read On

Blogosphere: Do DC's Cycletracks Work?

Greater Greater Washington

DDOT officials have said they are waiting to build the L Street cycletrack until they finished a study about the city's 2 existing cycletracks, on 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Yesterday, they posted an executive summary of the study, though right now the site isn't responding; perhaps too many people are trying to get a look? ..

Read On

Blogosphere: A New Standard for Transit Investments

Chicago Policy Review

The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) envisions Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) playing a crucial role in the future of transit policy. The Council outlines its ideas in the recent report "Bus Rapid Transit: Chicago's New Route to Opportunity."..

Read On

Denver: Poorest Neighborhood Faces Impact of LRT

Denver Post

At last week's gathering of people who want to see light rail used to further economic opportunity for all, a demographer named Manuel Pastor described the difference between the game of chess and a jigsaw puzzle...

Read On

Editorial: Don't Overburden Core w Streetcar Desire

Kansas City Star

Kansas City officials recently tweaked plans for financing a downtown streetcar system. A proposed 1-cent sales tax boost was not changed, but a proposed property-tax increase was rolled back by a few pennies per $100 in assessed valuation...

Read On

Blogosphere: New Jersey Toll Brawl

DC Streetsblog

New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg has been spoiling for a fight ever since the Port Authority raised tolls to cross into New York. And yesterday, he got it...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Planners Give LA a Thumbs UP

LA Streetsblog

Planners who traveled to Los Angeles over the past four days to attend the American Planning Association's National Planning Conference were greeted by a very different L.A. than the one they visited at the last APA conference in L.A. over 25 years ago...

Read On

Blogosphere: Zoning as an Extractive Institution

The Brookings Institute

The hottest topic in economic development theory right now is the role of institutions. In their new book, "Why Nations Fail," social scientists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that institutions-the rules of society-have long lasting implications on national prosperity...

Read On

Blogosphere: Railroad Renaissance - North Buffalo

Buffalo Rising

UB Law School's Regional Economic Development class is bringing fresh economic development ideas to neighborhoods that need a boost. "Railroad Renaissance: An Urbane North Buffalo Community" was created by the student team of Michael Cimasi, Shervin Rismani and Jeffrey Tyrpak, with Teresa Bosch de Celis and Meng Yu. Below is an abbreviated version of their report...

Read On

Blogosphere: DC Should Legalize Skyscrapers

Slate

Bipartisanship is rare in these polarized days. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is breaking from the mold by working with Washington, D.C.'s long-suffering semi-representative Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Vince Gray on relaxing Congress' strict curtailment of tall buildings in the nation's capital...

Read On

Blogosphere: WalMart's Battle To Get Into Cities

American Prospect

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the most eye-catching graphic in the Wal-Mart annual report was the "measles map" of the United States, in which each dot represented a company store or distribution center...

Read On

Blogosphere: South Charlotte's Determined Sprawl Park

Urban Land Institute

Success was not a certainty 20 years ago when the 2,000 acres (810 ha) that were to become Charlotte's Ballantyne community were used for hunting and farming and accessible only by hiking paths and dirt roads. Developing the property entailed substantial risk...

Read On

Blogosphere: Bad Zoning Can Ruin Your Kid's Life

The Atlantic Cities

Add to the list of boogeymen and monsters under the bed another terrifying villain with which to spook your children: restrictive zoning regulations. Scared already, aren't they? According to a new report from the Brookings Institution, being raised in an area with overly restrictive zoning controls can doom children to getting stuck in bad schools..

Read On

Blogosphere: Holtzclaw on Free Market Sustainability

NRDC Switchboard

During nine years as a nuclear engineer in the 1960s for Westinghouse and GE, I visited many vibrant and exciting cities. Yet, while Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Rome, Istanbul and Cairo boomed, NYC, DC, Chicago and San Francisco declined as folk abandoned vibrant sidewalks for the suburbs...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:21:42 -0400

"The cities that are going to make it in the next century are cities that give people the best choices for transportation." Read On

News: LA Tax Extension, Vancouver Anti-LRT, CAHSR Funding, House Transpo Bill, Seattle Monorail Tax, Bike Sharing Economics

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:45:04 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Los Angeles: Mayor V Wants to Extend Sales Tax

Los Angeles Times

Faced with a congressional stalemate over transportation funding, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants county voters to approve an indefinite extension of a half-cent sales tax used for transit projects...

Read On

Vancouver: Anti-LRT Petitioners Fall Short

Columbian

The Clark County Auditor's office has declared more than two-thirds of signatures turned in by light rail opponents seeking a vote to be invalid. A group of Vancouver residents submitted 9,039 signatures to a petition calling for a vote to create an ordinance that would prohibit any city resources from being used to extend TriMet's MAX line into Vancouver...

Read On

California: HSR Chief - Projects Often Lack Sure Funds

Sacramento Bee

After the state's fiscal analyst criticized California high-speed rail for facing "highly speculative" financial prospects, California High-Speed Rail Authority Chairman Dan Richard defended the $68 billion program this morning by suggesting major transportation projects often lack funding certainty...

Read On

National: House Defies Obama Veto Threat

DC Streetsblog

In a brazen but expected display of defiance - both of the President and of bipartisan efforts in the Senate - the House voted today to extend transportation policy through the end of September with several contentious policy changes attached...

Read On

Detroit: LaHood Delays Decision on M1 Project

Detroit News

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is postponing a decision on the proposed M-1 light rail project up Woodward Avenue for at least another month. In January, LaHood gave backers of the project 90 days to show that the light-rail is feasible...

Read On

San Francisco: HSR Would Be Valuable to SFO

San Francisco Examiner (via Streetsblog SF)

While the state's high-speed rail project is expected to redefine how people travel on trains, local officials are banking on the plan having an equally important impact in the skies...

Read On

Dallas: Another Downtown Highway is Pointless

Dallas Morning News (via Streetsblog.net)

"Do you proudly wear the label 'wild-eyed idealist'? " I asked Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs after a 30-minute conversation on the future of the Trinity River parkway...

Read On

National: LaHood Sees No Hope for Bill

The Hill

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday morning that Congress would not pass a multi-year highway bill before the election in November...

Read On

National: Seattle Monorail Tax Could Be Revived

My Northwest

Remember the car tab tax you had to pay in Seattle to cover the proposed monorail expansion? It could be coming back to help fund light rail, even though light rail funding isn't allowed under the tax...

Read On

National: Bike Sharing Popular, Not Profitable

US News and World Report

To look around Washington, D.C., you'd think that Capital Bikeshare must be making a killing. The bike sharing system's 1,200 sturdy, fire-engine-red bikes have become ubiquitous, weaving between cars at rush hour and carrying tourists up, down and around the National Mall...

Read On

Florida: Does South FL Want Lexus Lanes Everywhere?

Sun Sentinel

Great, just what South Florida doesn't need: more tolls and road construction. That was my first reaction to an influential think tank's proposal to blanket South Florida roads with more tolled express lanes on highways and new tolled overpasses/underpasses at 79 intersections on major surface streets. ..

Read On

California: Lawmakers in No Rush on HSR

Reuters

California lawmakers said on Wednesday they won't rush a decision on whether to approve a bond sale to begin building a high-speed rail system, adding they could sideline the issue until after they conclude state budget talks...

Read On

Seattle: Transit Cage Match

Public Cola

Monorail proponent Elizabeth Campbell-in the news most recently for her opposition to the deep-bore tunnel, and for her short-lived candidacy for mayor-is accusing another transit proponent, Seattle Subway founder Ben Schiendelman, of stealing her ideas for rail transit on the west side of Seattle...

Read On

Tampa: Streetcar Board Could Dissolve

Tampa Tribune

Local officials created a three-headed partnership a decade ago to operate Tampa's streetcar, whose start was contentious and whose history has been enveloped in fiscal controversy ever since...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Food Desert's Obesity Role Challenged

New York Times

It has become an article of faith among some policy makers and advocates, including Michelle Obama, that poor urban neighborhoods are food deserts, bereft of fresh fruits and vegetables...

Read On

Vancouver BC: Canada Line Reaping $4B Development

The Province

The Canada Line is proving to be a boon to Richmond, with a $4-billion-dollar development bonanza riding the rapid transit corridor through its city centre...

Read On

National: HUD Swears In Maurice Jones as Deputy Sec

National Mortgage Professional

Maurice Jones has been sworn in as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Jones was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 29, 2012...

Read On

National: DC Real Estate World Still Supports Peck

Washington Post (via GGW)

In the wake of the General Services Administration spending scandal, Capitol Hill lawmakers scrambled to issue caustic news releases and line up hearings. But in the other Washington - particularly among the city's real estate, development and architecture companies - the news got a different reaction..

Read On

Gulfport MS: City Repeals Smart Code

Sun Herald

In another matter, the council unanimously repealed SmartCode land-use regulations for most areas. SmartCode remains in force for West Gulfport and Florence Gardens, a development north of Interstate 10. But SmartCode is out for downtown, Mississippi City and Handsboro...

Read On

Chicago: HUD Touts Pullman Redevelopment

Chicago Tribune

Standing in a community room on Chicago's Far South Side on Tuesday, Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, promised to return to cut the ribbon when the renovation of Pullman Wheelworks Apartments is compete...

Read On

National: Housing Costs, Zoning,Access to Schools

Brookings Institute

As the nation grapples with the growing gap between rich and poor and an economy increasingly reliant on formal education, public policies should address housing market regulations that prohibit all but the very affluent from enrolling their children in high-scoring public schools in order to promote individual social mobility and broader economic security...

Read On

Blogosphere: MD Gas Tax Hike Fails, Developer Sidewalk Responsibility, Indianapolis BRT, Boomer Retirees, Giving Mayors More Power

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:08:49 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Maryland Gov Not Able to Raise Gas Tax

DC Streetsblog

Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland was dealt a setback last week when the legislature failed to approve a revenue package that would have shored up funding for transportation projects...

Read On

Blogosphere: Developers Should Provide Sidewalks Too

Greater Greater Washington

Prince George's County, like many other jurisdictions, requires developers to pay for new roads around new buildings, even outside the project's boundaries. But it never requires new sidewalks or bike lanes offsite. A bill in the county council would change that...

Read On

Blogosphere: Indianapolis BRT Story Unfolds

Urban Indy

On November 3rd, 2011, the Indianapolis MPO published a document (click to open .pdf) titled, "Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) - Corridor Elements Workshop". The document is an in-depth examination of the study about to commence on the East-West corridor (Washington Street) and the North-South corridor (Meridian/College/Madison)...

Read On

Blogosphere: London Travel Flows

A Science of Cities

Joan Serras in CASA is visualising some excellent flow data on the use of 114,000 pubic buses in London over a 24 hour period. Watch his previous Vimeo clip...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Anchor Institutions and Employment

Public CEO

In January of this year, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) announced that it had chosen the City of Richmond as the site for its second campus. It was a tremendous success for the City, which won over twenty competitors in the region, after a year- long competition...

Read On

Blogosphere: Where Will Boomers Choose to Retire?

The Atlantic Cities

Happy 65th to the estimated 10,000 Baby Boomers who passed the threshold into senior citizen status today. And an early congrats to the 10,000 more who will follow tomorrow...

Read On

Blogosphere: Where BIDS Work

Spatial Economics

Some lessons for Portas Pilots and other attempts to 'turn around' UK high streets from an interesting piece in the Journal of Urban Economics on which businesses choose to take part in Business Improvement Districts...

Read On

Blogosphere: Feds Should Give Mayors More Power

The Atlantic Cities

"We're being strangled by the lack of action at the federal level. That's why mayors are where the action is." Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed uttered these words during a panel discussion titled "Cities 2012: Are Cities the New Global Building Blocks?" ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Building a Community of Practice

NHC Open House

This column makes the case for establishing a national community of practice devoted to building knowledge about effective local housing policy. By fostering an ongoing, structured dialogue among local policymakers and practitioners..

Read On

Blogosphere: Can't Fool Mother Nature

ASLA Dirt

James Urban, FASLA, noted soil and tree expert, recently gave his talk, You Cannot Fool Mother Nature but You Can Understand Her, at the Arsenal in New York City. Urban is a prolific writer and lecturer on the subject of tree planting and the conditions needed to improve tree performance in urban environments...

Read On

Blogosphere: Cox - War on Suburbia Part II

New Geography

My April 9 Cross Country column commentary in The Wall Street Journal (California Declares War on Suburbia) outlined California's determination to virtually outlaw new detached housing. The goal is clear: force most new residents into multi-family buildings at 20 and 30 or more to the acre...

Read On

Blogosphere: Softer Side of Real Estate Development

Metropolis Magazine

Living in a big city can be hard. If you live in New York, you have probably quoted the famous song, "If I make it there, I can make it anywhere." But Portland-based developer Gerding Edlen recognizes the need for giving a softer side to the city...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:41:41 -0400

"Privatization should be about competition, not contractually enforced monopolies." Read On

News: Rail Vs. Bus In CBD, Hawaii Business Rail Supporters, Analyst Pans CAHSR, New Times Square, Active Living Near Transit

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:09:23 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Research: Transit in CBD, Rail v Bus, and More

Journal of Public Transportation (Full Papers)

Volume 15, No 1, 2012 of the Journal of Public Transportation is now available. Click on the links below to view the articles or obtain a full text version of this issue...

Read On

National: Obama Would Veto Pipeline Connection

Transportation Nation

The House will vote tomorrow on whether to extend transportation funding another three months - but President Obama has already threatened to veto it over language mandating approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline...

Read On

National: Reid and Mica Squabble

The Hill

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) shot back at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday, telling the senator that he doesn't need to "get a life" because he already has one...

Read On

National: Poking Holes in WSJ's Editorial

Free Enterprise (via T4)

The next time the Wall Street Journal editorial board decides to reprint talking points from the Heritage Foundation they might endeavor in some fact-checking. In today's Wall Street Journal piece, the editorial board offers a menu of reasons why the federal government shouldn't be involved in transportation investment..

Read On

National: Business Leaders Lash Out at Both Parties

The Hill

Business groups are exasperated that Congress has made little progress on issues they see as vital in helping the ailing economy. Industry leaders are lashing out at both parties for shifting into campaign mode with more than 200 days to go before the November election...

Read On

Twin Cities: Rail Proposals on Collision Course

Minnesota Post

Within the next year or two, there's the potential for a three-train pileup at the state Capitol. Local officials from the southwest, northwest and east could be converging simultaneously at the Capitol seeking $100 million or more in state funding for each of three possible light-rail transit (LRT) lines..

Read On

Hawaii: Business Community Forms Rail Group

Business Week

A group of Hawaii business and community leaders have formed a group in support of Honolulu's planned rail transit project...

Read On

California: Legislative Analyst Against HSR Plan, Again

Reuters

California lawmakers should not approve Governor Jerry Brown's budget proposals to provide additional funds for the state's pricey planned high-speed rail system, the state's budget watchdog agency said in a report on Tuesday...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

New York: Countdown to a New Times Square

New York Magazine

For two decades, New Yorkers have viewed Times Square as the city's heart of brightness, a candy-colored hellhole to be avoided whenever possible. At either end of a workday or just before curtain time, we may dart and jostle past slow-moving out-of-towners..

Read On

International: Who's Afraid of Luxembourg?

New York Times Borderlines

Luxembourg is about as cuddly as countries come: prosperous, picturesque and delightfully tiny. At 999 square miles, it is the smallest but one of the European Union states [1]...

Read On

International: Spain Has Room for 4M More Homes

Bloomberg

Spain has enough land approved for development to build 4 million homes and an existing supply of residences that will take about 10 years to sell, according to R.R. de Acuna & Asociados...

Read On

National: Active Living for All Ages Near Transit

AARP Public Policy Institute

Active Living for All Ages: "Creating Neighborhoods Around Transit" shows how transit-oriented development (TOD) facilitates the independence and mobility of older adults...

Read On

Blogosphere: SoCal Sustainability, Walkability Politics, Atlanta Rail Plans, Fresno TOD Imposter, Metropolitan Revolution

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:20:24 -0400

TRANSPORT

Commentary: SoCal Hailed as Model of Sustainability

Los Angeles Times

Southern California is no longer the Great Satan of suburban sprawl. Last month, the Census Bureau released a list of America's densest urban areas, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ranked first. New York-Newark was fifth...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why Don't Conservative Cities Walk?

Slate Moneybox

Reading Tom Vanderbilt's series on the crisis in American walking, I noticed something about the cities with the highest "walk scores." They're all liberal...

Read On

Blogosphere: Another Privatization Debacle in Chicago

The Urbanophile

I have been and remain a staunch defender of privatization done right, but done poorly it can be a disaster. It looks like we are seeing yet another example of this unfold in Chicago...

Read On

Opinion: Region Has Opportunity to Stand Out

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Today, we find ourselves at a point in time when Atlanta has the opportunity to once again be the crossroads of America. It is a major freight-rail junction, a logistics powerhouse when combined with the international airport and the Port of Savannah nearby...

Read On

Opinion: Transit Hub Gains Traction

Atlanta Journal Constitution

It's been talked about for decades, so there's much precedent for skepticism, but a MultiModal Passenger Terminal in the downtown "Gulch" between CNN and Underground Atlanta is closer to happening than ever before...

Read On

Blogosphere: Visionary Transpo Bureaucrats Part 2

DC Streetsblog

This is the second part in Streetsblog's series profiling 11 officials who are bringing American cities and towns into the 21st century when it comes to transportation and planning policy. Read the first three profiles in part one...

Read On

Blogosphere: New Rail Plans for Atlanta's East Burbs

The Transport Politic

After considerable disagreement over the value of funding rail extensions to Southern DeKalb County, the MARTA transit agency board endorses the project - despite a lack of funding...

Read On

Blogosphere: Raquel Nelson Back in Court

DC Streetsblog

Raquel Nelson, the Georgia woman who faced vehicular homicide charges last year when her four-year-old son was killed by a hit-and-run driver, is back in court this week, appealing the results of her trial...

Read On

Blogosphere: Sales Tax Exemptions are Subsidies

Seattle Transit Blog

A recent comment thread had the familiar, tiresome morality play about subsidies to drivers and transit. I think the use of "you are subsidized" as a moral critique is totally bankrupt...

Read On

Blogosphere: Let's Build Around Light Rail

Urban Review StL

When I saw the invitation it got me thinking; "How are we doing at building around light rail?" The original line of our St. Louis MetroLink opened on July 31, 1994 1993, almost 18 19 years ago. I decided to visit two of those original stations that had the most opportunity for new development: Wellston & Rock Road...

Read On

Blogosphere: Connecticut Busway Leading to Investment

Mobilizing the Region

Even before a shovel has been put into the ground, the Hartford-New Britain Busway project is already leading developers to invest millions of private dollars in the areas around future busway stations...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: A TOD Imposter in Fresno

Streetsblog . net

Recently on Streetsblog we looked at developers who misapply the terms "green" and "new urban" to sprawling, exurban housing developments...

Read On

Blogosphere: Patience a Virtue in Civic Work

Otis White

The Grand Coulee Dam in eastern Washington State is a marvel of engineering and one of the world's most successful public projects. It is the single largest producer of electricity in the country and one of the largest concrete structures in the world...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Metropolitan Revolution

Brookings Institution

In The Metropolitan Revolution, Bruce Katz and Jennifer Bradley call for a view of America based on reality, not nostalgia. The "real America" is not the romantic small-town version of days gone by...

Read On

Blogosphere: Death to the Placemaking Banner

Keep Houston Houston

Y'all know what I'm talking about. Is there any urban design thing more played, pointless, or bland?..

Read On

Blogosphere: Sell Browns Stadium for $1 and Be Done

Rustwire

You did expect them back, didn't you? Oh, you had to. They never stop, you know. It's in their DNA. The 1 percenters. They WANT. More. After the original sin tax passed, they came back for more - a $45 million County bond issue and then an added $75 million. Still paying for those at about $8 million a year. That's a lot of money...

Read On

Blogosphere: Is Bad Urban Design Making Us Lonely?

The Atlantic

Where we live can play a huge role in our social lives. Bigger cities offer more opportunities for interaction, suburban areas prioritize private spaces over public ones...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:12:21 -0400

"I think you should go home now, Devin! Get back on San Vicente. Take it to the 10, switch over to 405 North and let it dump you onto Mulholland -- where you belong!" Read On

News: Transpo Bill Negotiations, A Driving Tax, Impact Of Clustered Development, National Highway Tolls, Romney & HUD, Urban Spatial Strategy

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 11:55:54 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: More Quiet Cars on Commuter Trains

USA Today

Riders on New York's Long Island Railroad and Metro-North will have an easier time finding a quiet car now that the busiest commuter rail lines in North America increased the number of quiet spaces this month...

Read On

National: Heritage Foundation Not Happy with Bill

The Hill

The conservative Heritage Foundation's political arm is warning its members about a negotiations between the House and Senate about a possible long-term highway bill now that Congress is back in town. ..

Read On

New Jersey: Christie Lautenberg Feud Spoils Project

New Jersey Times

A year and a half ago, work was under way on two new commuter railroad tunnels under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York City, with a scheduled completion date of 2018...

Read On

National: The Driving Tax

National Journal Transportation Experts

Many policy analysts agree that a "vehicle-miles traveled" fee, a literal tax for actual road use, is an effective replacement for the current gas tax to pay for our roads and bridges. A penny-per-mile tax would raise enough to match the existing 18.4 cent-per-gallon fuel tax..

Read On

San Francisco: Caltrain to the Transbay Terminal

San Francisco Chronicle

In all the talk about high-speed rail, Caltrain electrification and construction of the Transbay Terminal, the long-desired downtown extension of Caltrain (which would be shared by high-speed rail) has seemed to remain in the shadows, ignored and forgotten...

Read On

Research: Transport Impacts of Clustered Development

Urban Studies Journal (Abstract)

This research aims to inform the compact city discussion with a case study of Beijing, where urban planning has emphasized clustered suburban development in the past half-century...

Read On

Research: Roadblocks & Avenues for Promoting Choice

TRB TRIS

Zoning authority is one of local government's most effective tools for promoting environmentally-friendly transportation. This article discusses how local governments can use zoning and land use controls to connect public transportation stations..

Read On

Denver: Aspen Rapid Bus Plan Breaks Ground

Denver Post (via CCB)

The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority officially broke ground Saturday on a $46.4 million project that it claims will revolutionize its bus service. RFTA is creating the first rural bus rapid transit system in the country with a combination of federal and local funds...

Read On

National: Highway Tolls Weighed

Charlotte Observer

The federal interstate highway system is showing its age, and, faced with the cost of repairing all those bumps and cracks, some states want to ask motorists to pay tolls on roads that used to be free...

Read On

NC Triangle: Half Cent for LRT Discussed

Daily Tarheel

Orange County Democrats jumped on board this weekend to support a sales tax increase that could determine the fate of a proposed light rail connecting Chapel Hill and Durham...

Read On

Minneapolis: Debate Over Northside Streetcar Benefits

Minnesota Daily

This past fall, street resurfacing crews removed several city blocks of old streetcar rails along Riverside Avenue left behind from its glory days in the early 20th century...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Bay Area: Walnut Creek Shows Suburban Evolution

San Francisco Chronicle

From the day it opened in 1951, Walnut Creek's Broadway Plaza has embodied the evolving landscape of Bay Area suburbs. It debuted as middle-class shops along new streets, parking lots on all sides...

Read On

Bay Area: Facebook Deal Will Give Menlo Park Millions

San Jose Mercury News (via Transportationist)

To get Menlo Park's approval of its expansion plan, Facebook has agreed to pay the city millions of dollars in the coming years, seed a community fund with a $500,000 donation, sponsor internship and job training programs, support efforts to boost local businesses, back affordable housing and improve bike and pedestrian pathways...

Read On

National: Sims to Romney - HUD is Healthy for America

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Mitt Romney did not know two reporters were listening outside on the street in Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday night, as the Republican nominee-in-waiting talked about abolishing a Cabinet department once headed by his father...

Read On

Pittsburgh: South Hills Village TOD Plans

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

The Port Authority is trying again to spur development of a vacant parcel next to its South Hills Village parking garage. Teaming with the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, the agency has requested proposals from developers who are interested in leasing the property and building on it...

Read On

Research: Unequal Earnings Growth in Canadian Cities

Urban Studies Journal (Abstract)

This paper investigates changes in the distribution of earnings across 87 metropolitan areas in Canada. It does so using micro data taken from the 20 per cent long-form sample of the census for the years 1996, 2001 and 2006...

Read On

Research: Potential Effects of Spatial Strategy

Urban Studies Journal (Abstract)

Urban sprawl is one of the major issues regarding sustainable urban development. In response to concerns about sprawl, compact development strategies have been proposed to promote sustainable development. ..

Read On

Research: Housing Densities and Consumer Choice

Urban Studies Journal (Abstract)

From 2001, the construction of flats and high-density developments increased in England and the building of houses declined. Does this indicate a change in taste or is it a result of government planning policies?..

Read On

National: Next American City's Next Move - Longform

Fast Company

For the past nine years, the nonprofit magazine Next American City has produced award-winning journalism covering urban development. But awards don't pay the bills, and putting out a print magazine is costly, particularly in the digital age...

Read On

Blogosphere: State Vs. Local In Virginia, Infrastructure Funding Vs. Financing, KC Transit Manifesto, Mapping Space Syntax, White Roof Global Impact

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:10:42 -0400

TRANSPORT

Virginia: Plan Would Let State Override Local Plans

Greater Greater Washington

It's time for Virginia residents to storm the harbor of their state capitol and throw the tea overboard. Last week, Governor Bob McDonnell signed a transportation bill that massively expands the hand of government and overrides local decisions about how communities should grow and change. How's that for big government? ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Fantasy Solution of an Infra Bank

Transportation Issues Daily

When a new Congress or member proposes an infrastructure bank (learn more from Wikipedia), like clockwork I will hear from a couple of State DOT CFOs who say in frustration: "But that's financing, not funding." It's great to have more financing tools and great to accelerate projects, my friends say, but financing rarely adds the additional new funding that is needed to address our long range needs and growing infrastructure deficit...

Read On

Op-Ed: Keeping LA's 30/10 Plan on Track

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 30/10 plan may be in trouble. The proposal calls for borrowing from the federal government over 10 years the total amount expected to be raised and repaid over 30 years from a half-cent sales tax authorized by L.A. County voters in 2008...

Read On

Blogosphere: Charlotte Trails Nation in Walkability

Naked City

Slate.com has been running a wonderfully written series about pedestrians, but in the No. 3 installment, about the WalkScore.com website, the article has a list of cities and neighborhoods deemed "most walkable" and "least walkable" according to the Walk Score formula...

Read On

Opinion: Let's Use Our Transit Taxes for Transit

Houston Chronicle

As the three new Houston light rail lines being constructed reach the halfway point, people are asking when work on the University Line will begin. The answer is: maybe never, unless we get our act together right now - and I mean in the next three to four weeks...

Read On

Blogosphere: We Are All Pedestrians

Straight Line Blog

While we're sitting here writing plans, guerilla urbanists are on the streets, identifying what they love about their communities. The Walk Your City Kickstarter project will provide open source access to crisply designed signs that can be zip tied to telephone poles to encourage people to walk...

Read On

Blogosphere: Transit Patent Troll Sues Agencies

DC Streetsblog

Lloyd Dobbler, John Cusack's generation-defining character in Say Anything, notably said, "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career." Martin Kelly Jones lives by a similar creed. He doesn't make or sell anything...

Read On

Blogosphere: A Transit Advocate's Manifesto

Transit KC

Hi, my name is David Johnson. I'm the author of this blog. This is my story. First, I want to tell you that Kansas City will build a downtown streetcar, and it will kickstart a much-needed transit renaissance in the entire region. ..

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Moneyball for Cities

Walkable DFW

Alert: nerdy, wonky stuff herein. But, I can't resist. I find this stuff fascinating. Below are a series of maps creating using Space Syntax. Space syntax is a theory of urban design and planning sprouting via the convergence of mathematics, systemics, and cities...

Read On

Blogosphere: How Will States Use Thier $2.5B?

Enterprise Community Foundation

Today, we released a new paper describing how 49 states and the District of Columbia are using their collective $2.5 billion in National Mortgage Settlement funds...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Limits of Marin's NIMBYism

The Greater Marin

I try not to use that term lightly. NIMBY (standing for Not In My Back Yard) is a pretty loaded pejorative, connoting a sense of entitlement to an unchanging landscape, and an irrational opposition to the project at hand. With Grady Ranch, I think that's exactly what we had...

Read On

Blogosphere: How Will States Use Thier $2.5B?

Enterprise Community Foundation

Today, we released a new paper describing how 49 states and the District of Columbia are using their collective $2.5 billion in National Mortgage Settlement funds...

Read On

Blogosphere: White Roofs Could Have Global Impact

The Atlantic Cities

If you combined all of the world's urban areas into one dense nugget of urbanity, it would cover about 2 million square kilometers, or 1.3 percent of the land area of the planet. About 60 percent of that - roughly the size of California and Texas combined - is made up of pavement and rooftops...

Read On

Blogosphere: Tower Construction Increased in 60s

Urban Cincy

While 1960 to 1990 is often thought of as a low point for the architecture, planning and engineering professions for a variety of reasons, it turns out it was also one of the more active time periods in terms of construction...

Read On

Blogosphere: Thoughts on Changing DC's Height Limit

City Block

With both city leaders and members of Congress discussing alterations to DC's height limit, I think there are a few things worth highlighting. These are just some thoughts on what I think are the core issues here, and how DC might proceed...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:51:12 -0400

"We've got to maneuver those buses in and out with daily commuters, as well as the organized protesters, as well as parade routes." Read On

News: Pedestrian Lifestyle, Tampa's GOP Bus Convention, Work & Bike Commute, Bus Service Decline, Unplanned Country, Creative Cities

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:32:06 -0400

TRANSPORT

National: Starting People Walking Again

Slate (Part 4 of Walking Series)

The plight of life on foot in America was nowhere more poignantly expressed than in the conviction, just last year, of a Georgia woman for vehicular manslaughter...

Read On

Research: Complexity and Uncertainty in Mega Projects

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

How should one cope with complexity and uncertainty in mega infrastructure projects? While rational theories tend to eliminate or reduce these unruly conditions, the authors of this article are in search of a different approach to deal with the characteristics of complexity and uncertainty proactively...

Read On

Tampa: GOP Convention's 300 Buses

Tampa Bay Times

For many Tampa Bay commuters, the most important number at this summer's Republican National Convention won't be the 4,000 police officers, the 15,000 journalists or even the $175 million in convention spending...

Read On

Research: Work Related Factors Effect on Bike Commute

Springer Transportation Journal

Increasing the number of people cycling to work brings a number of benefits: it can lead to reductions in air pollution and traffic jams, and increases people's physical activity levels...

Read On

Research: Role of Commuting in Metro Growth

Growth and Change Journal

Over the past few years, a large number of studies have focused on whether population or employment is critical to the source of metropolitan growth. However, only few attempts have so far been made to additionally consider the suburbanization stage and pattern of commuting,..

Read On

Research: Limits of Liberal Urban Mobility Policy

Journal of Urban Affairs

Liberalism remains the dominant philosophical perspective underlying the development of urban public policy in the United States. At the heart of Liberal Urban Policy lies a Mobility Paradigm, which is marked by a strong emphasis on facilitating population movement as a means of addressing urban social problems...

Read On

Research: Transit Dependent Get Less Bus Service?

Journal of Urban Affairs

Intrajurisdictional delivery of publicly provided services often results in observable service level differences that vary by spatial subunit (neighborhood). These variations are related to the sociodemographic characteristics of neighborhoods and have been hypothesized in prior literature to be the result of bias against or favoritism toward certain neighborhoods...

Read On

Research: Who Benefits from Non-Profit Eco Dev?

Journal of Urban Affairs

Questions surrounding the distribution of benefits have served as the focus for much research on local economic development. While nonprofit community development corporations (CDCs) emerged in the 1960s as one means of redistributing economic development benefits...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Research: How Portugal Became an 'Unplanned Country'

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

In this article, I seek to expose how scholars came to construct the idea that Portugal is an 'unplanned country'- a product of disorderly growth. While urban scholarship has now challenged the hegemonic view of spatial order as a proxy for modernity, development and progress...

Read On

Research: Taxes, Annexation, and Growth in Phoenix

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

Phoenix and neighboring municipalities, like many in the South and West, pursued a growth strategy based on annexation in the decades after the second world war. This article explores the link between annexation and competition for tax revenues...

Read On

Research: Spatial Analysis of Amenities and Growth

Review of Urban and Regional Dev Studies

Amenities are expected to impact regional economic growth by affecting growth in population, employment, income, and house values. This study assesses whether the 299 counties in the Northeast (NE) region of the US can build and pursue a growth strategy that depends on their local and neighborhood amenities..

Read On

Research: Migration of the Highly Educated

Journal of Regional Science

We examine the inter-regional migration of university graduates from 1991 to 2003 in Finland. The results show that time matters:..

Read On

Research: Spatial Monopoly of Dutch Supermarkets

Papers in Regional Science

Multi-establishment firms can create local spatial monopolies in the form of clusters of own establishments without competition. This paper examines the existence of spatial monopolies for Dutch supermarkets in 2009...

Read On

Research: Evolution of Organizing Strategy in Detroit

City and Community Journal

In contexts of entrenched metropolitan inequality and limited local resources, organizers and community activists often feel a sense of urgency to target higher levels of government...

Read On

Research: Are Central Cities More Creative?

Journal of Urban Affairs

This paper examines the location and growth of creative industries within metropolitan areas. In recent years, the creative industries have been increasingly sought after as potential engines of metropolitan economic growth...

Read On

Blogosphere: Transpo Bill Talks, Tucson Streetcar, LA Bike Sharing, SF To Anaheim HSR, Oakland Housing Displacement, War On Suburbia Hoax, Obesity & Postal Codes

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:08:29 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: House Tries to Horse Trade Keystone XL

DC Streetsblog

In another desperate attempt to push forward their fossil fuel agenda, House Republicans have indicated that even though they've been incapable of passing a transportation bill, they're willing to go to conference committee and pass the Senate bill...

Read On

Blogosphere: Investment on Streetcar Line Starting

DC Streetsblog

Streetcars are back, and Tucson, Arizona is leading the way. This southwestern city broke ground this week on the Sun Link Streetcar, the first new streetcar system built with federal funding in more than 60 years...

Read On

Blogosphere: LA Announces Massive Bike Share Prog

LA Streetsblog

In an announcement that caught even some CicLAvia organizers by surprise, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced this morning at the "CicLAvia opening" that CicLAvia partners Bike Nation will establish a permanent footprint in Los Angeles this December...

Read On

Opinion: Why Your Highway Has Potholes

Wall Street Journal Opinion Pages

Americans don't want to live in Ray LaHood's car-free utopia. Nothing shows off the worst of Congress like a highway bill. And this year's scramble for cash is worse than ever because the 18.4 cent a gallon gasoline tax will raise $70 billion less than the $263 billion Congress wants to spend over the next five years. Let the mayhem ensue...

Read On

Blogosphere: Anaheim Back in the HSR Plan

CAHSR Blog

Responding to concerns from Orange County elected officials, the California High Speed Rail Authority included language committing to a single-seat ride from San Francisco to Anaheim as part of the new business plan they adopted at yesterday's meeting...

Read On

Blogosphere: Tucson Breaks Ground on Streetcar

DOT Fastlane Blog

One of the very promising trends in transit these days is the growing number of American cities that are embracing the modern urban streetcar. And when DOT launched its first round of competitive TIGER grants, the city of Tucson jumped on-board the streetcar revival with both feet...

Read On

Blogosphere: What is a Subway/El?

Pedestrian Observations

The rapid transit built in New York beginning with the first els codified two characteristics that spread to the rest of the US, and are often seen in other countries' rapid transit networks as well...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Visualizing Race/Foreclosure in Oakland

The Polis Blog

Maps offer a compelling view of trends that influence the social life of cities. A set of carefully crafted maps by Pietro Calogero reveals a story of racial displacement in the aftermath of California's housing crisis...

Read On

Blogosphere: War on Suburbia is a Hoax

Grist

"California Declares War on Suburbia," blared the headline from The Wall Street Journal this week. Quick, kids! To the bunker!..

Read On

Blogosphere: Nashville Rolls On

The Urbanophile

I have a friend in Nashville and try to get there about once a year for a visit. He knows my insatiable desire for urban exploration, so tries to take me around to new places each time, which is awesome...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Twitter Languages of London

Spatial Analysis

Last year Eric Fischer produced a great map (see below) visualising the language communities of Twitter. The map, perhaps unsurprisingly, closely matches the geographic extents of the world's major linguistic groups...

Read On

Blogosphere: Your Postal Code Important to Obesity

This Big City

The western world is getting fatter. It's hard to ignore the spiralling rates of obesity in developed countries such as the UK and US, where more than one in four of us is now clinically obese...

Read On

Blogosphere: Camden Primed for Ped Friendly TOD

Mobilizing the Region

In a one-two punch for the City of Camden, New Jersey, an upcoming transit-oriented development project is slated to develop land near a train station and include complete streets upgrades that will add to the safety and prosperity of the area...

Read On

Blogosphere: Scenario Planning Tools in Bloom

At Lincoln House

If scenario planning software was arrayed on a shelf, for many planners it could be a dizzying experience, figuring out which visioning tools were right for their challenge...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:49:37 -0400

"That was one of the transformational moments of my life. I got in the car and drove home to Long Island, and I kept thinking to myself: 'Everything you've been doing is baloney. You've been writing under the belief that power in a democracy comes from the ballot box. But here's a guy who has never been elected to anything, who has enough power to turn the entire state around, and you don't have the slightest idea how he got it.'" Read On

News: Walkability, Honolulu Rail, Anti-Bus Bus Ads, Light Pollution, Ottawa's Infill Rules, Protecting Dallas Trees

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:11:06 -0400

TRANSPORT

National: What's Your Walk Score?

Slate (Part 3 of Walking Series)

The first thing to note about Walk Score-the company that tracks the "walkability" of locations around the world-is that its office, in the Laurelhurst section of Seattle, is not exactly a paragon of pedestrianism...

Read On

Honolulu: Rail Project Gains Momentum, Critics

Bond Buyer

After years of stops and starts on a $5.3 billion elevated rail system first conceived 45 years ago, the 20-mile Honolulu transit project appears to be rolling along...

Read On

Eugene: BRT Foes Buy Bus Advertisements

Eugene Register Guard

A group opposing a west Eugene expansion of bus rapid transit lines has found an unusual place to voice its opinion - on the back of a Lane Transit District bus. The anti-EmX group Our Money, Our Transit bought an ad on the back of an LTD bus to trumpet its opposition to the proposed extension..

Read On

Research: Shared Use Bus Priority Lanes on City Streets

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report examines the policies and strategies governing the design and, especially, operations of bus lanes in major congested urban centers. It focuses on bus lanes that operate in mixed traffic conditions...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

International: Is Light Pollution Ruining Stars?

Guardian UK

We are losing our view of the heavens. Half the UK's population can see only a fraction of the stars in the night sky, so saturated is it with light pollution...

Read On

Ottawa: New Infill Rules Too Restrictive

Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa's infill developers are unhappy about proposed new rules that will restrict street-facing garages and give neighbours a say when a project threatens their tree...

Read On

Dallas: In Defense of Trees

Dallas Observer

Let's talk trees for a moment. They're a bit like orphans or endangered species in that when people cry out to save them, there's little push-back, even if little action is ultimately taken. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Accessibility & Capacity, Dutch Driving Off Peak, Seattle Subway Plans, Food Deserts, Hong Kong Underground

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:39:41 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Accessibility Without Congestion

The Transportationist

Big cities have lots of congestion. Big cities have lots of accessibility. Therefore congestion causes accessibility. . Therefore accessibility causes congestion...

Read On

Blogosphere: Dutch Rewarding Drivers for Off Peak

Grush Hour

Is it possible to manage congestion without tollingevery road? Possibly not, but there is a way to put it off until "the nextadministration", while still addressing congestion. So think the Dutch-those masters of nationwide road tolling ideas...

Read On

Blogosphere: Plans for a Seattle Subway

The Stranger

Riding the bus at rush hour from downtown to Ballard-or from downtown to West Seattle-currently takes 30 minutes, even longer in heavy traffic...

Read On

Blogosphere: Activists the Key to Expo Opening

LA Streetsblog

That is the date when the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, one of the predecessor agencies to Metro, purchased the right of way from Southern Pacific that the Exposition Line is being built on...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Rural Food Deserts

Rooflines

I was introduced to the concept of the community garden on my street in Boston several years ago, on a site where a house had burned to the ground some time earlier...

Read On

Blogosphere: Bay Meadows TOD Starting Construction

Curbed SF

Bay Meadows is finally happening. Construction begins this summer at the Wilson Meany Sullivan project to build a new, self-contained and transit-friendly town on the site of the old race track with a 63-unit residential component called Amelia to break ground in a few months...

Read On

Blogosphere: Hong Kong Exploring Underground Spaces

BLDG Blog (via Per Square Mile)

Now, according to the South China Morning Post, civil engineers in Hong Kong are exploring the possibility of developing large-scale underground spaces-artificial caves-for incorporation into the city's existing infrastructure...

Read On

Blogosphere: US Metro Population Slows

The Urbanophile

Last week the Census Bureau released 2011 county and metro area population estimates that showed overall slowing population growth and particularly showing slow to halting growth in exurban counties...

Read On

Blogosphere: Over $2B To Stop Blight

NHC Open House

The National Mortgage Settlement is an historic joint state-federal initiative that settles claims that the five largest loan servicers (each affiliated with a major bank) engaged in a number of servicing abuses and improperly foreclosed on thousands of borrowers around the country...

Read On

Blogosphere: Seattle's Surreal Blue Trees

Pop Up City

Something surreal happened in Seattle's Westlake Park last week, when all trees suddenly turned blue. Don't worry, it's not some tree disease but a fresh landscaping project by Egypt-born and Melbourne-based sculpture artist Konstantin Dimopoulos. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Best and Worst of Media on Cities

The Polis Blog

In 2008, a major Mumbai newspaper published an article on the redevelopment of Dharavi, a vast informal settlement in the heart of the city. The reporter surveyed a sea of roofs, dreaming of the day that swanky skyscrapers replaced the "sprawl of squalor."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Population and Economic Growth

Rust Wire

Do jobs follow people or do people follow jobs? Is the answer to a city's economic problems as simple as attracting new people and growing your population? Is this a case of "If you build it, they will come" or does it get a little more complex than this...

Read On

Blogosphere: Big Boxes and Hate Group Locations

The Atlantic Cities

Economists and sociologists have for years pointed to a number of variables associated with the rise of hate groups in communities across the U.S., including high crime rates, high unemployment, low education, and geographic location...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:22:22 -0400

"The idea was not to put up a white bicycle where every rider died, because there would be many, many, but to bring awareness, to alert the authorities, this is a dangerous crossing, to respect the rider. But we stopped because we would reinforce the idea that biking is dangerous, and it is not, not really." Read On

News: Pedestrian Habits, Biking In Mexico, LA Vs. Beverly Hills, Defending ARC Decision, SF Losing Diversity, Urban Solar Farm

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:55:30 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: The Peculiar Habits of the Pedestrian

Slate (Part 2 of Walking Series)

What does famed urbanist William "Holly" Whyte have in common with David Simon's award-winning television series The Wire? They both understood the importance of street corners...

Read On

Bay Area: BRT Key in Re-imagining El Camino Real

Santa Clara Weekly

Would you rather spend an afternoon strolling the Champs Elysees or the El Camino Real? Imagining the El Camino reaching the heights of Paris' grand boulevard is hard...

Read On

International: Mexico City Residents Biking More

Washington Post

Hey, honey, let's go bicycling with the kids through downtown Mexico City! Just a few years ago, these would have been the words of a lone madman...

Read On

Los Angeles: Metro Pushes Back on Beverly Hills Study

LA Weekly

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority unsurprisingly gave the thumbs down to a report commissioned by the city of Beverly Hills, which found it would be unsafe to construct a subway tunnel underneath the campus of the Beverly Hills High School...

Read On

Virginia Beach: Nov. LRT Referendum Gains Support

Virginian Pilot

It looks like residents will be voting in November on extending the Tide light-rail line into Virginia Beach. A few tweaks in the language of the proposed referendum appeared to satisfy a majority of City Council members on Tuesday...

Read On

New Jersey: NJ Transit Boss Defends Christie's Decision

Star Ledger

In his first public comments since a federal report spurred questions about the math Gov. Chris Christie used to justify killing a Hudson River commuter rail tunnel, NJ Transit executive director Jim Weinstein today defended the governor's decision...

Read On

California: Senators In No Hurry for HSR

Los Angeles Times

As California's high-speed rail leaders get set to approve a plan for the $68-billion system, some state legislators are putting on the brakes, saying the June budget deadline may be missed...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Denver: Forum on Growth Notes Importance of Transit

Denver Post

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told a group of more than 250 leaders on Tuesday that the development of the metro area's transit system is at a tipping point, one that requires cohesive, innovative and timely action...

Read On

DC: Economics of Improving Corner Stores

WAMU 88.5 DCentric

The fallout continues over comments Councilman Marion Barry made about Asian-owned stores in Ward 8, calling them "dirty shops." Barry has since issued an apology, but a coalition of local and national Asian American groups have called for more meaningful engagement...

Read On

San Francisco: Is SF Losing Diversity to the East Bay?

San Francisco Bay Guardian

San Francisco is increasingly losing its working and creative classes to the East Bay and other jurisdictions - and with them, much of the city's diversity - largely because of policy decisions that favor expensive, market-rate housing over the city's own affordable housing goals...

Read On

Indianapolis: Urban Solar Farm at Public Housing Site

Indianapolis Star

A $10 million renovation of a Southside Indianapolis public housing apartment complex has been capped with sun power. City and federal officials today unveiled the first urban solar farm for the Indianapolis Housing Authority...

Read On

Portland: Development Doesn't Get Any Easier in LA

Daily Journal of Commerce

For years, Portland-based property developers have explored development opportunities in Los Angeles. The metropolis' downtown area is always ripe for new housing, even during economic downturns, and enough land is available for development that both commercial and residential projects can be pursued...

Read On

Boulder: City Trying to Envision New Heart

Denver Post

How to dream big and imagine the ideal heart at the center of Boulder -- while living within financial and geographical constraints -- is the challenge before city officials and the larger community as a planned revamp of the "civic center" gets under way...

Read On

Minneapolis: Future Depends on Revitalizing North Side

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Mayor R. T. Rybak highlighted the need to bolster north Minneapolis in his State of the City address Wednesday, linking the fate of the struggling neighborhood with the wellbeing of the entire city...

Read On

Blogosphere: People & Station Areas, Calif. Transpo Needs, Biking In London, Foodie Cities, Greenwashing Sprawl

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:24:37 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Humans Better than Cars Near Transit

Slate Moneybox

Stamford, Conn. is home to a commuter rail station heading in to New York City. Currently, land near the station is largely allocated to be used as parking lots or parking garages...

Read On

Blogosphere: California Needs $538B to Maintain System

LA Streetsblog

One of the things I do each year is read the California Transportation Commission Annual Report. I find it a useful snapshot of policy and operation issues for transportation in California. Intriguingly the 2011 Report's introduction mentions a statewide transportation needs assessment the Commission released late last year...

Read On

Blogosphere: Mayor Pushes for More Transit

Urban Cincy

Mayor Mark Mallory (D) focused on the positives during his seventh State of the City address, and he challenged Cincinnatians to get involved in projects or policies they want to see become reality...

Read On

Blogosphere: 10% of Inner London Gets to Work by Bike

Drawing Rings

A while back I posted an analysis of Census data showing the trend in the proportion of people who cycle to work in Inner and Outer London from 1971 to 2001...

Read On

Blogosphere: Ped Action Plan Ready Soon

SF Streetsblog

More than a year after the Mayor's Pedestrian Task Force began meeting to develop San Francisco's Pedestrian Action Plan, the SFMTA said the agency expects to finalize the document by late summer...

Read On

Blogosphere: ARC Report Fallout

Second Avenue Sagas

In the aftermath of yesterday's GAO report criticizing the cancellation of the ARC Tunnel, the political air has been rife with acrimony. Christie, of course, has been defending his decision while his political opponents have renewed their attacks...

Read On

Blogosphere: Death/Life of Silicon Valley Streetcars

Sociecity

In the early 1900's, most U.S. cities with populations over 20,000 or so had privately owned and operated above-ground electric rail systems...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Value of Green Space in Arid Climates

Chicago Policy Review

Whether they live in dense cities or far-flung exurbs, people love green space. More difficult to determine, historically, has been just how much they love it and in what proximity-how much are they willing to pay to live close?..

Read On

Blogosphere: Do Gated Communities Threaten Society?

The Atlantic Cities

The shooting death of Trayvon Martin has caused an epidemic of soul-searching in the United States. In the weeks since George Zimmerman pulled the trigger in that Florida gated community, it feels as though the entire nation has been busy trying to explain to ourselves what happened and why...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Next Big Foodie City, Tbilisi

The Atlantic Cities

Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, once served as a commercial hub along the trade routes connecting the eastern and western worlds and its dual identity is still palpable today...

Read On

Blogosphere: How Much Private/Public Spaces Worth?

The Next American City

The strip of pavement outside 180 Water St., home to the New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA), may not look like much, but it's for sale. The building's owner, Melohn Properties, recently put the tower on the market for $180 million...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Greenwashing of Sprawl

DC Streetsblog

Twenty-eight miles southeast of Cleveland, there is a development that bills itself as "Ohio's FIRST Green Certified Residential Community." According to the developer, The Lakes of Orange "offers a rare, one-of-kind opportunity to build and live in a green and sustainable environment."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Unplanned LA, Think Again

The Atlantic Cities

When David Sloane was asked to write a book about urban planning in Los Angeles, he balked. One person's take on such a big and dynamic city would be far too limiting, he thought...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:13:28 -0400

"Why do we walk so comparatively little? The first answer is one that applies virtually everywhere in the modern world: As with many forms of physical activity, walking has been engineered out of existence." Read On

News: Pedestrian Safety, Transpo Deductions, Expanding Atlanta Rail, Des Moines BRT, Seattle's Newest Streetcar, A Tax For Affordable Housing

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:48:15 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: The Crisis in American Walking

Slate

A few years ago, at a highway safety conference in Savannah, Ga., I drifted into a conference room where a sign told me a "Pedestrian Safety" panel was being held...

Read On

National: Transportation Deductions, Good Idea?

Transportation Nation

With gas prices rising, the economy plodding toward a recovery and tax day nearly upon us, the handful of available transportation-related tax deductions may be looking increasingly appealing to Americans seeking an alternative to the expensive drive to work, as the experts at H&R Block point out...

Read On

Atlanta: MARTA Moves Ahead with Rail Projects

Atlanta Journal Constitution

MARTA board members voted Monday to proceed with plans totaling $3.5 billion to expand rail mostly in DeKalb County, but if voters don't approve a regional sales tax in July the trains may never leave the station...

Read On

Des Moines: City Wants Rapid Buses

Des Moines Register

More than $1 million in local dollars has been pledged to date for a bus rapid transit project in Des Moines, and local backers are hopeful the remaining $3.5 million will soon be in hand..

Read On

Pittsburgh: Governor Wary of New Transport Fee

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

With average gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, Gov. Tom Corbett said on Tuesday that the time may not be right to impose more fees on motorists to boost transportation funding...

Read On

Cincinnati: Mayor Makes Case for More Transit

WVXU

Cincinnati's Mayor highlighted the positives during his State of the City address last night, focusing on pride, partnership,promotion, commitment and investment. ..

Read On

Seattle: Newest Streetcar to Remake First Hill

Seattle Times

Before Seattle-area politicians knew better, Sound Transit promised voters in 1996 an underground station at First Hill, where riders could take an elevator 200 feet down to catch a regional light-rail train...

Read On

Vancouver WA: LRT Funding Vote Will Happen in Fall

The Columbian

The C-Tran Board of Directors on Tuesday indicated it's still on board for a public vote on light rail this fall, but backed away from what's long been the presumed way to pay for operating it - a sales tax increase...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

California: Will State Act for More Affordable Housing

Huffington Post (via GC)

California's state leaders are debating whether they should tax homebuyers in order to fund more affordable housing for those who struggle with renting a house, let a lone buying one...

Read On

California: An Uncertain Fate for Urban Projects

New York Times

It is impossible to miss the long-moribund Santa Barbara Plaza, a collection of mostly boarded-up retail buildings in South Los Angeles across the street from a shopping center that just underwent a $30 million overhaul...

Read On

International: The Claimed Territory of Azawad

New York Times

Here's yet another contentious line drawn in the sand of the Sahara desert: The northern half of Mali has just declared independence, and would henceforth like that you call it Azawad, pretty please...

Read On

Portland: TIF as it Comes, Not Based on Bonds

NPR

Portland City Council will vote Wednesday on a new tool for the city's Development Commission help small business in new ways. PDC has identified six neighborhoods - most of them located on the city's east side...

Read On

Blogosphere: Seattle Parking Minimums & Kids, Low Density Subsidized Market, Denver Equity Atlas, Stories Of Urban Poor, Stars Above Cities

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:19:31 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Abolishing Parking Mins Won't Hurt Kids

The Atlantic Cities

Allow me to join the chorus of befuddlement at this Seattle Times editorial railing against a proposal to eliminate the city's minimum parking requirements for new developments located within a quarter-mile of mass transit...

Read On

Blogosphere: What Future Do We Want?

Crosscut

Paula Hammond, Washington state Transportation Department secretary, made some news by suggesting at last week's Sound Transit Board retreat that parking structures around stations should be free for anyone, even people not taking transit...

Read On

Blogosphere: Parking Minimums Will Have Revenge

Slate Moneybox

To the best of my knowledge, no large cities in the United States demand that new apartment buildings be constructed with cable television/Internet jacks pre-installed in the units...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Low Density Suburbs Are Not Free Market

The New Republic

Recently in the Wall Street Journal, transportation consultant Wendell Cox published an op-ed entitled: "California Declares War on Suburbia." Cox argues that "planners" in California are attacking what he calls "the most popular housing choice," the single-family detached home, and if they get their way, they will weaken California's economy, drive up housing prices, and increase traffic congestion...

Read On

Blogosphere: Cox Declares War on Common Sense

California Planning and Development Report

You may not yet have heard, but tanks are massing on the border of Santa Clarita. Special forces have ziplined into Poway city hall. Under cover of night, Jerry Brown himself stands resolute on the prow of a PT boat, Sutter at his heel, motoring up the American River towards Folsom...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Psychology of Designing Spaces

This Big City

"As children, my sister and I would try to hold our breath as long as we could when we went though the West Bottoms," Kansas City entrepreneur Darby Trotter said about taking a streetcar over the West Bottoms in Kansas City in the 1950s. "The smell was unbelievable."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Deeper Thinking Needed on Weak Markets

NHI Rooflines

Over the past couple weeks John Muller at the Greater Greater Washington blog has written some truly provocative pieces, including "Ward 8 development founders, may lose $4 million in grants" and "Abandominiums house Anacostia resentment," that identify important issues concerning housing policy...

Read On

Blogosphere: Consortium Finds Access and Equity Gaps

Denver Westword

Since its 2010 launch, Mile High Connects has taken a long, hard, scientific look at Denver's transit system. Formed as a collaboration between nonprofit leaders and philanthropies, the group analyzed the equity and access of area transportation...

Read On

Blogosphere: Sharing Stories of the Urban Poor

Polis Blog

Poverty and inequality make for captivating drama. For centuries, novelists, academics, development professionals and others have ventured into the neglected areas of society to tell the stories of the poor and craft solutions for the problems they see...

Read On

Blogosphere: Does City Life Have to Mean No Stars?

The Atlantic Cities

I remember the first time I went camping. I was 12 years old, and my swim team went on a rafting trip to the Delaware Water Gap. We got into camp in the dead of night, and I was blown away by the brightness of bodies in the night sky...

Read On

Blogosphere: A Plea for Urban Beauty

American Enterprise Institute

In a free market, prices are reliable signals of the scarcity of products, goods flow from those who do not want them to those who do, and order arises by an "invisible hand" from the free dealings of the many participants...

Read On

Blogosphere: Hines Brings Developers and Academics

Culturemap Houston

The name Gerald D. Hines carries a considerable amount of weight in Houston. Not only is there a school of architecture named after the celebrated real estate developer, but a good number of the city's architectural landmarks have evolved with the help of Hines' eponymous development firm - from Philip Johnson's monolithic Pennzoil Place to the Galleria...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:21:37 -0400

"Government finances are another constraint to sprawl. Outer-ring counties are financially strapped; there are no funds for more roads or for other infrastructure development. This has been causing a shift in planning in these counties as they begin to look for more compact and sustainable development that has a smaller effect on their budgets." Read On

News: GAO Questions NJ Claims, Utah Commuter Line, Federal Transpo Messaging, Tunneling Beneath Alps, Tampa Master Plan, Detroit Gardens

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:06:23 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: GAO Report Disputes NJ Gov Claims on ARC

New York Times

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey exaggerated when he declared that unforeseen costs to the state were forcing him to cancel the new train tunnel planned to relieve congested routes across the Hudson River, according to a long-awaited report by independent Congressional investigators...

Read On

National: UTA to Open New Commuter Line

Progressive Railroading

The Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) new FrontRunner commuter-rail line from Provo to Salt Lake City will open Dec. 10, UTA officials announced late last week...

Read On

National: Transportation's Messaging Problem

Governing Magazine (via T4)

Talk to anyone in the transportation community, and they'll say the ongoing debate about the federal highway and transit bill is the biggest issue -- the only issue -- facing Washington. At stake: hundreds of billions of dollars in spending affecting every state, city and county, not to mention huge American industries...

Read On

National: Debt from Big Dig Hampers Mass Transport

Business Week (via T4)

For nearly a decade, traffic has been zipping through Boston's Big Dig tunnels, the nation's costliest highway project that has also left a gaping financial hole in the state's transportation budget that isn't likely to be filled anytime soon...

Read On

International: HSR Under Alps Gathers Speed

Guardian UK

It is a project of extravagant dimensions and it has been blocked for almost 20 years by a protest of epic tenacity and occasional violence. But this week, Italian plans for a 35-mile rail link under the Alps, four miles longer than the Channel tunnel and linking Turin to Lyons, will move into a new and possibly decisive phase...

Read On

National: Transportation Deductions, Good Idea?

Transportation Nation

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Physical Activity and Successful Aging

European Review of Aging and Physical Activity

With the increasing number of individuals over the age of 65 years worldwide, it is critical for society to recognize the importance of helping seniors maintain their health, physical, and cognitive functioning as well as their engagement with life...

Read On

Tampa: City Begins Work on Downtown Master Plan

Tampa Bay Times

Mayor Bob Buckhorn launched a year-long effort Monday to write a master plan for downtown with the help of residents, neighborhoods and business owners. "This is a plan that's driven from the grass roots up," Buckhorn said. "We're going to go out and talk to people about what they want their future to look like."..

Read On

Detroit: Empty Lots Become Gardens

Detroit Free Press

In the Old Redford neighborhood in northwest Detroit, community gardener Kofi Royal, 64, has been busy planning what to grow this spring. The community plot he tends covers just a couple of vacant lots. But he and John George, the local activist and founder of the Motor City Blight Busters community group..

Read On

National: Great Recession, Slayer of Sprawl

Urban Land Institute

Suburban sprawl, that seemingly inexorable, inevitable spreading of the population to the outer edges of metropolitan areas, may well be over in the United States. If so, this would be one of the few positive results of the recent Great Recession and the housing crash...

Read On

Calgary: A System to Prioritize Growth

Calgary Herald

A new city hall's system for "prioritizing" growth in certain parts of Calgary stands to favour inner-city redevelopment projects over new suburbs, a developer groups warn. As part of the city's long-in-the-works plan to shift the balance away from sprawl-like growth and the public debt it causes..

Read On

Los Angeles: Ordinance to Streamline Approvals

LA Daily News

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today approved changes to the city's development approval processes that are aimed at clearing obstacles for thousands of new restaurants, retail shops and other small businesses to open in Los Angeles...

Read On

Los Angeles: Apartment Developer Buys Panavision Site

Contra Costa Times

A Texas developer has bought a 10-acre site in Warner Center and will build a big apartment complex, officials said Monday. The property, purchased by Houston- based The Dinerstein Companies, at 6219 De Soto Ave. has been home to the movie camera maker Panavision for the past 15 years. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Freeway Removal Opportunity, De-Bikification Of Beijing, Exurban Decline, Urban Forests, Rural Housing Finance

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:52:02 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Freeway Removal Creates Opportunity

The City Fix

The famed U.S. intellectual Lewis Mumford once said, "Forget the damned motor car and build the cities for lovers and friends." The recently released report on freeway removal from by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and EMBARQ (the producer of this blog) seems to be getting a bit closer to that ideal..

Read On

Blogosphere: De-Bikification of Beijing

The Atlantic Cities

Just a few years ago, the streets of Beijing were clogged with so many bicycles that riders sailing through an intersection looked like a school of fish moving through the water. Today the cars have taken over. In fact, Beijing more and more is just another traffic-clogged city with Chinese characteristics...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Census and Exurban Decline

DC Streetsblog

Last week, the New York Times and USA Today reported that Census numbers had confirmed the death of the outer ring suburbs, or exurbs. The latest numbers, capturing the year (actually 15 months, April 2010 to July 2011) since the last Census, showed a major shift away from the settlement patterns from 2000 to 2010...

Read On

Blogosphere: Many Meanings of an Urban Region

The Naked City

The recent news that the Charlotte "urbanized area" was No. 1 in rate of population growth 2000-2010 among U.S. urbanized areas of 1 million or more brought some local chest-thumping and in some quarters a bit of head-scratching...

Read On

Blogosphere: High Cost of Losing Urban Trees

The Atlantic Cities

Every tree in urban Tennessee provides an estimated $2.25 worth of measurable economic benefits every year. Might not seem like a lot, but with 284 million urban trees in the state, the payoff's pretty big...

Read On

Blogosphere: Calling All Community Foundations

The HUDdle

In the United States, community foundations serve tens of thousands of people, administer more than $49 billion in charitable funds, and address the core concerns of more than 725 communities and regions...

Read On

Blogosphere: Fight to Save Little Tokyo

The Atlantic Cities

Little Tokyo, an important historic neighborhood of roughly five large city blocks, sits in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, a short walk from the city's Civic Center. LA's iconic City Hall is easily visible from all over the district...

Read On

Blogosphere: Washington U Building Project

Urban Review StL

In February Washington University made a big announcement regarding development in the Delmar Loop: "Washington University plans to remake a central part of the Delmar Loop with an $80 million project consisting of stores and apartments for about 550 students"...

Read On

Blogosphere: Rural Communities and Housing Finance

Creston News Advertiser

A roundtable discussion on rural issues and challenges was held at The Iowana Thursday. United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director Bill Menner was available at the discussion to answer questions about rural challenges in Creston and surrounding areas...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:59:45 -0400

"To look realistically at the sales tax we would be able to generate just from within the city, it wouldn't be enough to fund light rail" Read On

News: Toronto's Relief LIne, Tampa Transit Tax, Houston HSR, California HSR Drops Anaheim, Pollution Property Price, China Enclave Urbanism

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:38:57 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Toronto: The Downtown Relief Line

Toronto Star

How do you spell relief if you ride the south end of the Yonge subway? D-R-L - downtown relief line. Since 1910, when the idea first emerged of a transit line connecting the east end of Toronto with the south end of Yonge St., the DRL has gained very little traction...

Read On

Tampa: City Tax Could Pay for Transit

Tampa Tribune

Two years after Hillsborough County residents turned down a sales tax referendum to support light rail, some Tampa City Council members favor giving Florida's large cities the power to hold their own sales tax votes...

Read On

Fort Worth: Rail Station Plan Stirs Controversy

Fort Worth Star Telegram

Many Mistletoe Heights residents agree traffic is a growing problem in their century-old neighborhood. But they disagree about a proposal to build a train station in their well-groomed area just southwest of downtown Fort Worth...

Read On

Texas: Jackson Lee Presses for HSR in State

Houston Chronicle

Officials in Japan and South Korea told Houston Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee that they are interested in helping Texas build a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas...

Read On

California: CAHSR Drops Anaheim

San Francisco Chronicle

The route of the planned Bay Area-to-Southern California high speed train system will stop short of Anaheim, state rail officials said...

Read On

Atlanta: MARTA Pins LRT Hopes on New Sales Tax

Atlanta Journal Constitution

MARTA board members are to decide Monday whether to move forward with plans for its first major expansion since it ran rail to North Springs in 2000. They only have to find an estimated $1.6 billion to lay nearly nine miles of track...

Read On

Twin Cities: Central Corridor Already Inspiring Projects

Pioneer Press

The Central Corridor light-rail line won't connect downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis until 2014, but some churches, youth advocates, bicycle aficionados and other nonprofits are eager to jump aboard immediately...

Read On

Dallas: Orange Line Starts Testing Soon

Dallas Business Journals

Dallas Area Rapid Transit will run its first test of a light rail train on the 5-mile extension of the Orange Line into Irving on Monday. The Orange Line train will travel from Bachman Station to the Irving Convention Center...

Read On

Charlotte: Red Line Critics Criticized

Charlotte Observer

A proponent of the $452 Re Line Regional project is criticizing opponents of the dual freight-commuter rail plan, saying the implications of not having the line "could be severe" to the future of the Charlotte region...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Should LA New Yorkify?

New York Times Room for Debate

Ah, Hollywood. The idea of it conjures fantasy worlds, but the reality involves a popular but gritty neighborhood that's going through some growing pains. A new rezoning plan is proposing that the low-rise, car-centric Hollywood of yore be replaced by skyscrapers and public transit hubs...

Read On

Research: Impact of Pollution on Property Prices

Journal of Geographical Systems

Much work has been done in the context of the hedonic price theory to estimate the impact of air quality on housing prices. Research has employed objective measures of air quality, but only slightly confirms the hedonic theory in the best of cases...

Read On

Research: Enclave Urbanism in China

Journal of Urban Geography

Following reforms enacted since the late 1970s, domestic and foreign investments are resulting in a dramatic transformation of China's landscape. The concentrated Maoist city with its cellular multifunctional work-unit structure is disappearing...

Read On

Blogosphere: Core County Outlook, Mode Share Changes, The Demographic Lull, War On Suburbs, Detroit Recovery, Census Urbanized Areas

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:07:38 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: An Improved Outlook for Core Counties

Transport Politic

A review of twenty one metropolitan areas shows that most are seeing an increasing percentage of their population growth - or a decreasing percentage of their loss - in their core counties...

Read On

Blogosphere: Should Cities Push Mode Share Change?

Urban Indy

The recent debate that has been raging here over the new bike lanes on Broad Ripple Avenue really touched off a fury of passionate debate among members of the urbanist community...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Exclusionary Ecology

The Polis Blog

As the study of relations between organisms and their environments, ecology seems to address nearly anything and everything. A human cell might exist in a body in a home in a city in a nation on a planet and beyond...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Demographic Lull Continues

Brookings

More than two years after the Great Recession was pronounced dead, there is scant evidence of renewed demographic dynamism in areas that once drove the nation's growth. This is especially the case in the nation's "exurbs"..

Read On

Editorial: Cox - California's War on Suburbs

Wall Street Journal

It's no secret that California's regulatory and tax climate is driving business investment to other states. California's high cost of living also is driving people away. Since 2000 more than 1.6 million people have fled, and my own research as well as that of others points to high housing prices as the principal factor...

Read On

Blogosphere: The Stereotypes Aren't True

Salon

No one likes a stereotype, unless it's about someone else - then it's hilarious. Los Angeles? Celebrity-obsessed lipo-junkies. Portland? Hipster snobs. Boston? Sports fanatics who think that a win for the Sox somehow makes them winners, too...

Read On

Blogosphere: What Twitter Means to Detroit

The Atlantic Cities

The recession hit hard in Detroit, but there are also signs of some real sparks of innovation and recovery. This past week, Trulia's newly created Home Price Monitor ranked suburban Warren-Troy Farmington as among the top ten U.S. metros with the largest home price increases this past year...

Read On

International: Project Revives Guatamalan Downtown

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Guatemala's capital is a bleak and violent place, a city of dark, claustrophobic streets blighted by abandoned cars. The wealthy hide behind barbed wire and concrete walls, hiring rifle-toting guards to fend off armed robbers...

Read On

Blogosphere: Census Bureau Releases Urban Area Take

The Urbanophile

We are used to dealing with jurisdictional boundaries when assessing and comparing cities. These are often either municipal areas or metropolitan statistical areas (which are based on entire counties)...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:02:00 -0400

"I guess the second Renaissance was built around the U.S. Steel Building. Certainly it's a symbolic loss if we lose [the corporation]"
Read On

News: JFK On Transit, Influencing Mode Choice, SMART In Santa Rosa, Cities Lead Growth, US Steel & Pittsburgh

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:46:13 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

National: 50 Years Ago, JFK Talks Transit

Transportation Nation

Really interesting post from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today on his fast lane blog, which we're reprinting here, in it's entirety. LaHood is using the post to push Congress to pass an actual transportation bill, but still, history buffs, have a look...

Read On

Research: Built Environment Influence on Mode Choice

TRB TRIS

The Five Ds of the built environment - density, land use diversity, pedestrian oriented design, destination accessibility and distance to transit - are suggested by Ewing and Cervero as the built environment factors that can reduce car use in favour of public transport, walking and cycling...

Read On

Bay Area: SMART Construction to Start in Santa Rosa

Press Democrat

Santa Rosa residents living along the railroad line can expect some noise, dust and disruption when construction begins in three weeks to rebuild the line for commute trains, transit officials said Thursday...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Is Sprawl on the Skids?

USA Today

Almost three years after the official end of a recession that kept people from moving and devastated new suburban subdivisions, people continue to avoid counties on the farthest edge of metropolitan areas, according to Census estimates out today...

Read On

International: The Cities that Are Leading Growth

Reuters

India, China, Nigeria, Indonesia and the United States are set to lead the world's growth in urban populations during the next four decades, sparking challenges in providing jobs, housing, energy and infrastructure, the United Nations said on Thursday...

Read On

San Francisco: City Backs Giants Development Plan

San Francisco Chronicle

The Mission Rock development the San Francisco Giants plan to build on the bleak parking lot across from AT&T Park could provide a missing piece for the massive Mission Bay development, city officials said Wednesday...

Read On

Pittsburgh: U.S. Steel Looking to Move From Downtown

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Its lease won't expire for more than five years, but the talk that U.S. Steel could be leaving its longtime Downtown headquarters, perhaps for the suburbs, already is sending shock waves through local political and business circles...

Read On

Blogosphere: Young Dump Cars, Caring About Suburban Transport, Kindness Of Cities, Demand For Parks, Neighborhood Effect

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:20:41 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: PIRG - Young Americans Dump Cars

DC Streetsblog

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group has been crunching the numbers on travel preferences among young Americans - and the news is not good for auto makers...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why I Care About Suburban Transport

Cap'n Transit

If you read my posts you'll notice that I live in the city, but I talk a lot about transit and roads in suburban counties like Rockland and Bergen. You might be wondering: why do I bother?..

Read On

Blogosphere: First Look at Farmer's Field Traffic EIR

LA Streetsblog

Earlier today, AEG announced the completion of the first draft of environmental documents for Farmers Field, the proposed football stadium for Downtown Los Angeles...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: The Kindness of Cities

The Atlantic Cities

The summer after I graduated from high school, I got my first real job, selling ice cream from a pushcart on 45th Street in Manhattan. It was a great gig. I was outdoors all day long, I was making decent money, and I was selling something that everybody loves...

Read On

Blogosphere: Growth Creates Demand for Parks

City Parks Blog

The Brookings Institution recently released a comprehensive report on metropolitan demographic changes over the past thirty years, which highlighted the increasing concentration of the U.S. population in major metropolitan areas...

Read On

Blogosphere: Enduring Effect of Neighborhoods

The Atlantic Cities

For a long time we've heard that globalization has weakened the bonds of community. In his book Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam mapped the traumatic decline in social capital across America...

Read On

Blogosphere: Sustainable Town in Middle of Nowhere?

The Atlantic Cities

Its developers are holding it up as one of the greenest, most sustainable plans for a new town development, but it's also being attacked by environmental groups for its unlikely - and historically unlucky - location...

Read On

Blogosphere: European-US Planning Processes

GMF Urban Current

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with former URP fellow Steve Wertheim (whose work has appeared on this blog here, here, and here) about some of the broader takeaways from his fellowship and their applicability to Steve's work in the Central Corridor district of San Francisco...

Read On

Blogosphere: Tool Encourages Sustainable Buildings

This Big City

Australia, like pretty much every other country, is facing some pressing sustainability issues. As well as committing to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, energy prices in the country are on the up, with Sydney expecting prices in its central business district to be 83% higher in 2013 than they were in 2008...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:04:29 -0400

"It's disappointing to see that the proposal has gotten diluted over time. And the seven-year affordability is ludicrous. You'll blink your eyes, and the affordability will be gone." Read On

News: Pittsburgh Transit Cut Protest, AC Transit Buys American Finally, LA Transpo Blueprint, Urban Walking In Tehran, Slime Mold Cities, Apartment Glut

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:42:32 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Pittsburgh: Planned Cuts to Transit Inspire Protest

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Transit advocates in Pittsburgh and across the nation marked the 44th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination with a day of protests today against public transportation service cuts...

Read On

National: Geithner Presses for Long Term Bill

The Hill

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday pressed lawmakers to pass a long-term funding bill for transportation and not "limp forward" with more temporary extensions...

Read On

Twin Cities: Rail Lines Contemplate Next Moves

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Ridership on the Northstar commuter rail is up. A new train station is scheduled to open in Ramsey this fall. Talks about a passenger-rail line from Minneapolis to Duluth continue, as do discussions of a commuter-rail line from Cambridge to the Target Center station in Minneapolis...

Read On

Twin Cities: Cedar Ave Busway Moving Forward

Minneapolis Star Tribune

The people planning the future of Twin Cities transit are hoping that in two years, they'll be hosting the premier national convention in the field of urban rail transport. Why 2014? Because that's the year when the Twin Cities transit system might finally start to feel big-league:..

Read On

Oakland: AC Transit Finally Buys American

East Bay Express

For more than a decade, AC Transit made a mockery of federal Buy American rules. The cash-strapped transit agency routinely wrapped itself in financial knots, funneling US taxpayer funds through various accounts in order to buy expensive foreign-made buses..

Read On

Los Angeles: Construction Starts on Gold Extension

Los Angeles Times

The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority has begun construction of the roughly 11.5-mile Pasadena to Azusa light-rail line, officials announced...

Read On

St. Louis: Loop Trolley Moving Forward

St. Louis Today

The Loop Trolley project, having amassed almost all the $43 million it needs, is ready to move into high gear. Construction is expected to begin late this year, with the trolleys in operation about a year later...

Read On

California: HSR Plan Still Relies on Federal Funds

Modesto Bee

A streamlined California high-speed rail plan still relies on serious federal funding, even as skeptics try to sidetrack the project on Capitol Hill. Federal grants and loans would account for about $42 billion of the total project cost now pegged at $68.4 billion, the revised business plan released this week shows...

Read On

Los Angeles: Planners Unveil $500B Transpo Blueprint

Los Angeles Times

Southern California's regional planning agency passed a 25-year transportation investment strategy Wednesday that officials said accounts for millions of future residents and a changing environment...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Urban Chickens Bring Too Many Eggs

New York Times (via @mattyglesias)

FOR newly hatched chicken enthusiasts, the first egg from your own hens is a small miracle. "You want to dip it in gold," said the writer Susan Orlean, who keeps nine hens at her home in Columbia County, N.Y...

Read On

Research: Attitudes to Urban Walking in Tehran

Environment and Planning Journal (Abstract)

There is a growing interest in increasing walking in urban areas, partly to reduce pollution and other problems related to transportation by cars, and partly to improve public health (through reasonable exercise such as walking). In this study several factors that influence the amount of pedestrian movement in Tehran (Iran) are explored...

Read On

Research: A Positive Theory of Network Connectivity

Environment and Planning Journal (Abstract)

In this paper we develop a positive theory of network connectivity, seeking to provide the microfoundations of alternative network topologies as the result of self-interested actors. By building roads, landowners hope to increase their parcels' accessibility and economic value...

Read On

Research: Slime Mold Cities

Environment and Planning Journal (Abstract)

Inspired by the behavior of slime mold cells, Paul Krugman developed a simple one-dimensional model in which moving firms self-organize into cities. In this paper I show that extending the model into two dimensions significantly improves its realism...

Read On

Research: Simulating Deomography and Demand

Environment and Planning Journal (Abstract)

After the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, demographic decline and urban shrinkage brought massive changes in the housing stock in East German cities. Urban planners and policy makers face complex problems caused by the resulting vacancies and demolitions and the handling of urban brownfields in the inner city...

Read On

Houston: Sugarland Residents - No More Apartments

Houston Chronicle

Once a sleepy sugar plantation turned tranquil suburb, Sugar Land has exploded into a vibrant city, complete with a minor-league baseball stadium, museums, a university campus, the Southwest's top corporate airport and a walkable city center...

Read On

Seattle: Is There a Glut Risk on Apartments?

Business Week

The biggest surge of Seattle-area apartment construction in a quarter century is threatening to undercut the growth in rents, a trend that's also emerging in such U.S. cities as Washington and Houston. ..

Read On

New York: Is Urban Hub Tax Credit Being Used Wisely?

New York Times

Panasonic received $102.4 million in tax credits to move its headquarters nine miles within New Jersey. Goya Foods picked up $81.9 million in credits to build offices and a warehouse in Jersey City, two miles from its current complex. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Frequent Network Maps, HSR Politics, Death Of Expansion, Demolishing Detroit, Hottest Urban Housing Trends, City Of Bubbles

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:16:23 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: How/When to Do Frequent Network Maps

Human Transit

When a transit agency first sits down to do frequent network mapping, this always comes up. Not all services are frequent over the same exact span. Many are frequent all day but not evening or weekend. This the the normal outcome of a history of route-by-route and hour-by-hour service analysis...

Read On

Blogosphere: HSR Political Context

Transport Textbook

This instalment looks at the political and institutional context of HSR in Australia and compares the relative failure of HSR in Australia with other jurisdictions where HSR has been successfully developed...

Read On

Blogosphere: Thoughts on Death of Expansion

Second Avenue Sagas

When it comes to transit planning in 2012, not too many people in America are dreaming big. We can't seem to get a national high-speed rail plan off the ground, and while some cities - notably Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. - are working hard to expand their subway systems, most urban areas are content with incremental improvements...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Demolishing Detroit

The Urbanophile

The Detroit Free Press ran a story this week called "With so much space, so few options - Detroit's vast vacant lots are a burden" highlighting the sheer scale of the vacant land problem in Detroit. As they note:..

Read On

Blogosphere: Shoes Over Telephone Wires, What Gives?

The Atlantic Cities

Every citygoer has at one point or another spotted a pair of shoes hanging like mistletoe from telephone wires. Ghost shoes are a staple of urban decor; they propagate furiously in innercities..

Read On

Blogosphere: Great Cities in Shadow of Teotihuacan

Civic Innovations (via @thegreengrass)

Great cities have always had an influence beyond their borders. This is true not only of contemporary cities like New York, Paris and Beijing but also of ancient cities. The influence of Rome can still be seen today in the form of ancient roadways and aqueducts. ..

Read On

Blogosphere: Charlotte to Take Look at Aging Code

Plan Charlotte

Twenty years after the last revamp of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's zoning ordinance, a politically fractious episode, the city planning department is preparing to study whether - and how - to update it once more...

Read On

Blogosphere: Hottest Trends in Urban Housing

The Atlantic Cities

I was privileged to participate along with some very smart urban thinkers in a recent program on the resilience of cities. The subject of the Great Recession came up, and I volunteered that the persistent economic slump had hurt both good and bad development...

Read On

Blogosphere: Etiquette of Altering a Park

The Next American City

Fifteen years ago I had the distinct pleasure of working with Bob Murase, who was one of the Pacific Northwest's greatest landscape architects. Murase's persona perfectly matched the Zen-like quality of his body of work. His voice was so soft that one had to lean forward to hear him. Time slowed as he measured out thoughtful observations...

Read On

Blogosphere: Green Infrastructure Goes Large in NY

ASLA Dirt

In 2010, New York City released an ambitious green infrastructure plan to spur investment in green roofs and streets, bioswales, and other natural systems to manage stormwater...

Read On

Blogosphere: The End of Big Box Dominance

Bloomberg (via RR)

When Best Buy Co. (BBY) said yesterday it was closing 50 big stores and opening 100 smaller ones, the world's largest electronics retailer was adjusting to reality: The era of big-box retail dominance is coming to an end...

Read On

Blogosphere: Mayor Heralded as Smart Growth Leader

Urban Cincy

Smart Growth America recently produced a series of video interviews with mayors from around the United States. The series, officials say, is intended to highlight prominent elected officials that are taking on leadership roles in promoting smart growth...

Read On

Blogosphere: Urban Living as Antidote

Urban Indy

The national conversation that has surrounded the most recent gas price jumps has been predictably frustrating. A whole lot of finger-pointing, but little self-analysis...

Read On

Blogosphere: City of Bubbles

Pop Up City

Cloud Cities is an exhibition that ran until 15 January at Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof. The exhibition offered an unusual vision on architecture, ecology and the way we experience life in general. ..

Read On

Quote of the Day

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:25:30 -0400

"Experts agree there's a color line developing in Twin Cities transit: While lots of places fantasize about future transitways, the serious projects are those that are far enough along to have been assigned a color-coded name as part of the Met Council's so-called "Metro" system. If you have a color, that means you have a line." Read On

News: Maryland Sales Tax Hike, Triangle LRT EIS, Rahm's Infrastructure Plan, The Urbanology Show, Belin's Lost City

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:07:20 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

Maryland: Governor May Try for Sales Tax Increase

Baltimore Sun

Gov. Martin O'Malley says he still hopes to convince the legislature to raise money for highway and transit projects - possibly by adding another penny to Maryland's six-percent sales tax and dedicating the extra revenue to transportation...

Read On

Norfolk: Councilmembers Want Nov Election for LRT

Virginian Pilot

Two councilmen want the City Council to decide as early as next week whether to hold a referendum in November on extending the Norfolk Tide light rail line into Virginia Beach...

Read On

Charlotte: City Seeks Developer for Central Station

Charlotte Observer

Local and state leaders have put out a call to developers interested in designing a transit-oriented development that would include a transit center for trains and buses - billed by one official as Charlotte's Grand Central Station...

Read On

New York: No 7 Line to NJ Ever

Transportation Nation

MTA chairman Joe Lhota says a proposed extension of the 7 train subway line from Manhattan to New Jersey is "not going to happen in our lifetime. It's not going to happen in anybody's lifetime."..

Read On

Triangle Region: Intent to Prepare LRT EIS

Federal Register

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority, dba "Triangle Transit," intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to study a proposed premium transit service corridor in Durham and Orange Counties, North Carolina...

Read On

Chicago: Rahm Wants Quick Approval of Infra Plan

Chicago Sun Times

Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he's all for aldermen asking questions, but it's imperative that they approve his plan to have five financing giants bankroll $1.7 billion in projects to help rebuild Chicago's crumbling infrastructure...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

International: How Bolivia Lost Its Hat

New York Times Borderlines

In 1867, the British ambassador to Bolivia fell afoul of its dictator, Mariano Melgarejo, by refusing a glass of chicha, a cloudy drink based on fermented maize...

Read On

Metroplex: The Urbanology Show

Fortworthology

Urban activists and city thinkers Kevin Buchanan (of Fort Worthology) and Patrick Kennedy (of Walkable DFW) present The Urbanology Show, an ongoing conversation about walkable urbanism, city-building, transportation, urban culture, and other topics from the Dallas/Fort Worth region and the world...

Read On

International: Berlin's Lost City

Der Spiegel (via @urbanphoto_blog)

Centuries ago, a settlement named Cölln formed the core of what is now the German capital. However, it was subsequently subsumed by the growing city of Berlin and disappeared without a trace. Spectacular finds are now helping archaeologists reconstruct the history of the village and its inhabitants...

Read On

National: The Missing Middle Housing

Better Cities and Towns

The mismatch between current US housing stock and shifting demographics, combined with the growing demand for walkable urban living, has been poignantly defined by recent research and publications ..

Read On

Cincinnati: Urban Blight Begins to Blossom

Cincinnati Enquirer

Andrew Salzbrun's anticipation is growing daily as steel beams and concrete rise for Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, set to open downtown next spring. Salzbrun is among a growing number of investors who purchased property in nearby Pendleton, where sales last year totaled $3.2 million...

Read On

Oregon: Residents Want New Land Left Out of UGB

Oregonian

Clackamas County and West Linn officials say they will not support an urban growth boundary expansion proposal from Lake Oswego. The development could later prove to be a roadblock in Lake Oswego's plans to have Metro approve bringing in 93 acres of city-owned, Stafford-area property into the UGB this year. ..

Read On

Denver: River North Area Taking Off

Denver Post

Developers have started construction on two apartment projects in Denver's River North neighborhood, providing a fresh signal that the area is poised for rejuvenation - nearly a decade after the city approved a plan to set a renaissance in motion...

Read On

International: Baghdad - A City of Mirages

Wall Street Journal

In 1958, Baghdad was featured in Time magazine-not as a hotbed of revolutionary, civil or sectarian strife, but for its ambitious plans for the world's most famous architects, among them Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, to recapture through their modern buildings the city's former glory...

Read On

National: Chinese Buying Expensive US Homes

USA Today

China's great wall of cash is pouring into the struggling U.S. property market, from multi-million-dollar mansions on the West Coast to venerable hotels on the East Coast...

Read On

Blogosphere: Federal Vs. State Transpo Funding, Great Parking Lots, Benefits Of Bus Expansion, City Constellation, Imposturbs

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:31:56 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Pros and Cons of Moving Funding to State

Urban Planning and Transportation Blog

When the Republican controlled House of Representatives came out with their budget proposal a few months ago many called it a doomsday budget. Among the items in the budget that had transit advocates scared was the elimination of dedicated transit spending...

Read On

Blogosphere: Winning Speed and Reliability Battles

Human Transit

Major San Francisco transit lines take longer than they did a century ago, as they have been obstructed by traffic and slowed by heavy passenger loads using (until recently) inefficient pay-as-you-board methods...

Read On

Editorial: Rail Must Be Part of Region's Plan

Davidson News

Recent discussion of the Red Line Regional Rail Project has been intense - and so has the dissemination of misinformation about the project. This discussion is the result of the Red Line Task Force's referral of a draft business and finance plan for review by the communities along the line...

Read On

Blogosphere: Can Parking Lots Be Great?

How We Drive

The parking lot is one of those forms so visible that we no longer see it (or indeed, what lies beneath: Everything from Hitler's bunker to Henry VIII's "lost chapel" has been covered by parking). Of course, another reason we do not see it is there is not much to see...

Read On

Blogosphere: Community Orgs Comments on New Starts

@ The Horizon

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently closed the comment period for its Proposed Rule and Policy Guidance for Major Capital Investment Projects (also known as New Starts/Small Starts)...

Read On

Blogosphere: Medellin - Transport Capital

Street Films

For many who have heard of Medellín, Colombia, the name brings to mind the drug-related violence of the 1980s and 1990s, when it was often described as the most dangerous city in the world...

Read On

Blogosphere: Expanding Bus Service Boosts All Transit

Soap Box Media

With help from the Rockefeller Foundation, Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls is taking a closer look at the city's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) strategy...

Read On

Blogosphere: When Mobility is the Enemy of Commerce

Cap'n Transit

For many years, Icelandair has been offering flights between Europe and North America, connecting in the main Keflavík airport. A friend who flew through there in the sixties pointed out that somehow there was always engine trouble or something else delaying the connecting flight, leaving travelers with time on their hands..

Read On

Blogosphere: Brief History of the Parking Meter

The Atlantic Cities

Imagine the plight of the urban planner, circa 1930. What was once the transportation mode for the rich has become de rigueur for the masses. Streets meant for horse and buggy now needed to transport hundreds of cars to and from work every day...

Read On

Blogosphere: Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Autos

City Builder Book Club

The frame of the question is striking: "Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles?" Both key terms, erosion and attrition, warn us of a gradual process, a process we might not notice as we focus on the shiny revolution of the moment...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: 1940 Data Reveals Chrono Neighbors

Burrito Justice

The 1940 US Census data just came online! Needless to say it is rather fascinating. Here's a sample sheet for the west side Mission St between 29th and Valencia:..

Read On

Blogosphere: Time to Tell Congress About HUD Plans

DC Streetsblog

I don't know how many RSVPs a HUD conference call usually gets, but everyone seemed pretty floored that a stakeholder teleconference yesterday got upwards of 400. Officials said it was a testament to the popularity of HUD's Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities...

Read On

Blogosphere: The City As a Constellation

Polis Blog

Matthew Gandy is an urbanist and academic who writes and teaches about cities, landscapes and nature. He directed the Urban Laboratory at University College London (UCL) from 2005 to 2011 and has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University, Humboldt University, Newcastle University and UCLA...

Read On

Blogosphere: Vegas Misadventure Bad for Green GSA

ASLA Dirt

The Washington Post reports that General Service Administration (GSA) administrator Martha Johnson resigned after two of her top deputies were fired and four other managers placed on administrative leave following the release of a report detailing a very pricey junket in Las Vegas...

Read On

Blogosphere: Curious Case of Imposturbs

The Atlantic Cities

We can imagine ourselves in a lot of disparate places. We see ourselves leaning against a classical column overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, or meandering through an archway out into the Tuscan twilight, or under the swaying shadow of a Southern California palm tree...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:38:15 -0400

"You look at the cuts at HUD, which could be 15 to 20 percent of their budget, and you add on top of reduced spending on housing in most states. Projects are getting a triple whammy." Read On

News: California HSR Business Plan, Open Rail Data, Paying For Transpo Bill, City With Most Global Clout, Housing Affordability & Density

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:25:55 -0400

Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news.

TRANSPORT

California: State Updates HSR Business Plan

Reuters

California officials on Monday unveiled a major overhaul of a controversial plan to build a high-speed rail system in the state, slashing the cost by some $30 billion, to $68.4 billion, and addressing other criticisms of the massive project...

Read On

Boston: 40% in Survey Want to Bail Out MBTA

Boston Globe

A state bailout of the cash-strapped MBTA won the backing of 40 percent of Massachusetts voters surveyed in a new Boston Globe poll, outstripping those who said they would categorically oppose an infusion of aid...

Read On

International: Student Beats Pros With Open Rail Data

Guardian UK

How useful is open government data really? How much can you use to build things that make a difference to people's lives? It turns out that some of the most useful is the least dramatic. Recently, the Association of Train Operating Companies opened up its own data vaults to the world. ..

Read On

National: Paying for a Transportation Bill

National Journal Transportation Experts Blog

Last week was a high-drama in Washington as lawmakers ticked down to the final days before the federal highway authority was set to expire. They extended it. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Congress went home for two weeks...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

National: Congress Could Slash Dev Tax Credits

Twin Cities Finance & Commerce

Popular tax credits used in development are on chopping block. Developers in Minnesota and around the country are watching closely to see if Congress closes the nation's budget deficit and delivers tax cuts by ending subsidies they have used to build housing and workplaces...

Read On

National: Servers Crash Under Weight of 1940 Census

MSNBC

Embarrassed by a computer system that crumbled under public demand, the National Archives and Records Administration said Monday that it's working to add more servers for the release of 1940 Census records. For more users the wait to see records on family members from the Great Depression era will go on for a while longer...

Read On

National: Metro to Spend $750K to Save MLK Tree

Houston Chronicle

In 1980, when the Metropolitan Transit Authority was two years old and a world away from laying light rail tracks, activists called upon the Houston City Council to erect a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the esplanade of MLK Blvd. at Old Spanish Trail...

Read On

National: New York Beats London w Most Global Clout

Bloomberg

New York ranks first as a global business center in a worldwide survey of cities, the fourth such recognition of its influence in the past five months. London, Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong trail New York on the Global Cities Index, released today by Bloomberg Rankings. ..

Read On

Vancouver CA: No Housing Affordability w/o Density

Vancouver Sun

Vancouver is a victim of its own success. Its remarkable natural beauty, resilient economy and geographic location continue to attract newcomers to the city from within Canada and abroad. And there's no sign that this influx of new residents will slow over the next 30 years...

Read On

Blogosphere: Congress' Transpo Failure, Seattle Parking Rates, Urban Ghost Towns, Land-Use Planning By Lawsuit, Miami Zoning Lessons

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:08:10 -0400

TRANSPORT

Blogosphere: Congress Again Fails on Infrastructure

Washington Post Wonkbook

On Friday, President Obama signed the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012. Odds are you didn't hear about it. There wasn't a signing ceremony in the Rose Garden, and no one on the Hill rushed to the cameras to take the credit...

Read On

Blogosphere: Revenue After Parking Rate Increase

DC Streetsblog

Parking reformers, this is one you're going to want to bookmark. The announcement that Seattle would be raising parking rates in certain neighborhoods was greeted with a good bit of teeth gnashing - and that continues, especially among some business owners...

Read On

Blogosphere: Proposed Fed Safety Regs Under Scrutiny

DC Streetsblog

In June 2009, a fatal crash on the D.C. Metro prompted federal lawmakers to consider adding a new layer of transit safety oversight. Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, introduced the National Metro Safety Act of 2009 to establish national safety standards for transit systems...

Read On

Blogosphere: Everything You Wanted to Know About BRT

The Atlantic Cities

If you're a Bus Rapid Transit believer, here's the dream - a commute around town that is as efficient as a train without the cost of finding the land, laying the tracks, acquiring the train cars and building the stations...

Read On

Blogosphere: Return of Private Passenger Rail Service?

National Review

The Florida East Coast Railway, a legendary company that played a key role in spurring the state's population boom in the first decades of the last century, has announced ambitious plans for passenger rail service between Miami and Orlando..

Read On

Blogosphere: Aotea Station Redevelopment

Auckland (NZ) Transport Blog

This post is the first of three that will focus on the proposed stations that are to be constructed as part of the City Rail Link project: Aotea Station, K Road Station and Newton Station...

Read On

Blogosphere: If Washington Can't Go, Chicago Will

The Transport Politic

Though the details are not yet in full view, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposal to spend $7.2 billion over the next three years on infrastructure upgrades represents a truly significant advance in the field of municipal investment in the United States...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: Highlighting Transp/Health Link

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The County Health Roadmaps project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Public Health Institute, includes efforts to build connections within and between local communities and national partners, including grants to coalitions across the U.S...

Read On

Editorial: Land Use Planning by Lawsuit is Wrong

Press Democrat

The five-year saga of a Petaluma couple seeking to relocate their dental practices to another medical building on Petaluma's west side has finally come to a close, underscoring how - with enough resistance, money and lawyers - local land use laws can be trampled and ultimately overridden...

Read On

Blogosphere: Cities Menacing Without People

The Atlantic Cities

When you think of ghost towns, your mind doesn't typically gravitate to New York, Paris, and Beijing. Yet that's what these thriving metropolises have become in the hands of Lucie & Simon, a Paris-based art duo behind the apocalyptic photo series, "Silent World."..

Read On

Blogosphere: Midwestern Economic Miscalculation

The Atlantic Cities

All over the Midwest, cities and towns are embracing new growth in their traditional industries with relief and delight. In northern Minnesota, iron ore has made a comeback. In Youngstown, Ohio, a new $650 million steel plant is under construction...

Read On

Blogosphere: Real Estate Market Segmentation

Seattle Transit Blog

In liberal Seattle, almost everyone agrees that affordable housing is important, although people are as not as quick to speak well of its cousin, reduced housing prices...

Read On

Blogosphere: Revitalize Our Building Stock, Economy

Rooflines

For the same reason that many admire the Flatiron building in New York City, I had a special affinity for one of the original Jos. A. Schlitz taverns in Milwaukee. Some will review the enclosed photos and wonder how one could ever compare the two...

Read On

Blogosphere: Lessons on Zoning from Miami

Metropolis Magazine POV

I've heard zoning called a lot of things: an invisible hand that shapes the city, a legal framework for protecting property investments, and the primary tool for protecting communities and culture...

Read On

Blogosphere: Why China Lags on Innovation/Creativity

The Atlantic Cities

China's rise as an economic power has been staggering. Its manufacturing prowess is well-established, having earned it the moniker, "the world's factory." ..

Read On

News: Toronto Vs. Los Angeles, Privatizing Transpo, Pollution Credit HSR Funding, Las Vegas HSR, Slower Muni Bus Service

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:34:57 -0400

TRANSPORT

Toronto: While Toronto Fights, LA Builds

Globe and Mail

Denny Zane can pinpoint the moment when the famously heavy traffic in Los Angeles changed from slushy to solid. It was the summer of 2007, and the back-ups on the I-10, through the city's west side, snaked back over 20 kilometres and reappeared day after day after day, with no obvious cause...

Read On

National: Are States Making a Mistake by Privatizing?

Washington Post

Say you're a state politician. Your local roads, bridges, and transit systems are all in dire need of upgrades. But there's not much money left. Budgets are crunched. No one wants to raise taxes...

Read On

California: Pollution Credits Could Fund HSR

Sacramento Bee

A new financing strategy is a centerpiece of a revised business plan that state leaders will unveil Monday in Fresno for the proposed high-speed train system. Rather than relying on the uncertainty of future federal transportation funds, money from the auction of air-pollution credits..

Read On

Cincinnati: Development Near and Dear

Cincinnati Enquirer

Some children want to grow up to be astronauts or teachers or professional athletes. Growing up in Detroit during the 1970s and 1980s, Odis Jones wanted to create jobs and provide opportunities to communities like his...

Read On

Twin Cities: Cedar Busway Hits Station Snag

Minneapolis Star Tribune

The road construction is on track. The new buses have been ordered. But a dispute over station design -- and who can get it done as quickly as possible -- is evidence of the time crunch facing Dakota County as the scheduled November launch of the Cedar Avenue busway approaches..

Read On

National: Train to Vegas Stirs Controversy

USA Today

On a dusty, rock-strewn expanse at the edge of the Mojave Desert, a company linked to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to build a bullet train that would rocket tourists from the middle of nowhere to the gambling palaces of Las Vegas...

Read On

Pittsburgh: North Shore Connector is a Transit Boost

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

For a while, there was a joke making the rounds about the North Shore Connector being a train ride to nowhere. Now that it has opened after almost six years of construction, it's time to retire that cynical notion...

Read On

San Francisco: 100 Years Later, Muni Runs Slower

Bay Citizen

The San Francisco Muni is turning 100 this year. And in that century of great technological progress, in which an aircraft broke the sound barrier in 1947 and a supersonic car did the same in 1997, Muni has actually become slower...

Read On

Sacramento: Lawmakers Skeptical About HSR Revision

Sacramento Bee

California lawmakers expressed skepticism Saturday about the timing and magnitude of Gov. Jerry Brown's high-speed rail revision, saying it may take longer than the governor wants to sort through the numbers...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Research: Urban Renewal in Barcelona and Seoul

Asia Europe Journal

Cities have become increasingly autonomous economic and political actors which actively respond to the pressures and opportunities of globalisation. Consequently, the urban management of any particular city is often based on the assumption that the city can improve its position against rival cities...

Read On

Chicago: Old Fashioned Design for the Long Run

Chicago Tribune

Jon and Stephanie Sundock enjoy living in the past. "We like the old-town style here," said Jon Sundock of the couple's house in Rosemary Beach, a master-planned housing development on Florida's Panhandle...

Read On

New York: The Midtown Alternative for Pedestrians

New York Times

First came the bike lanes, creeping like overgrown ivy across the city streetscape.Then there were the open-air pedestrian plazas, sprouting from the concrete in hubs like Times Square and Union Square to make the insufferable clamor of crosstown traffic a little less so...

Read On

International: City Planning at Watershed Point

Brisbane Times

Government planning systems in southeast Queensland are too focused on infrastructure at the expense of demographic change, future productivity and global competitiveness, according to an expert panel...

Read On

International: IKEA's Urban Planning Project

The Globe and Mail

There are feelings you get when you enter an Ikea store. The vertiginous experience of getting lost in their craftily designed labyrinth. The surprise of wandering into something you hadn't intended to buy...

Read On

Quote of the Day

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:34:42 -0400

"You love to write about this being the city of sprawl and how we are not like New York and other cities that are more vertical. This is L.A.'s opportunity to match the growth of our transit system with the jobs and housing that is critical to smart growth." Read On

Blogosphere: KC Streetcar Funding, Calif. HSR Opponents, Woonerf In Santa Monica, Urban Park Benefits, Urban Manifesto

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:02:07 -0400

TRANSPORT

Editorial: Streetcars Require Broader Funding Plan

Kansas City Star

For years, Kansas City has sought the elusive key to rail transit. One proposal after another has been rejected by voters or thrown out as unworkable. Now the city is pushing a different approach for the needed revenue..

Read On

Blogosphere: HSR Critics Actually Just Opponents

California HSR Blog

You would think that a plan to build high speed rail that is $30 billion cheaper than the previous iteration and provides desperately needed post-oil travel between California's metropolitan areas sooner would be one that HSR critics would embrace...

Read On

Blogosphere: Senate Bill Rejection Opens GOP Rift

DC Streetsblog

The conservative wing of the Republican Party had their way yesterday in the House of Representatives, refusing to bring up for a vote the moderate, two-year transportation bill passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Senate, going instead with a 90-day extension, the 9th in a row...

Read On

Blogosphere: Congress Kicks the Can 90 Days

DC Streetsblog

Yesterday, before taking off for a two-week recess, Congress passed a three-month extension of SAFETEA-LU, the ninth since it first expired on September 30, 2009. It now only needs the president's signature sometime before midnight on Saturday to become law...

Read On

Blogosphere: Redesign Borrows from Netherlands

LA Streetsblog

This week marks another milestone in new approaches to street design in the city of Santa Monica. A two block segment of Longfellow St. receives a makeover, taking cues from the mixed use woonerf concept from the Netherlands...

Read On

URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES

Blogosphere: The Red Ball Project

The City Fix

The RedBall Project is a traveling installation and a social experiment that started in 2006. Since its inception, the red ball has traveled all around the world, getting wedged in between buildings, being suspended from bridges and floating in urban parks...

Read On

Blogosphere: Parks Boost Cities Competitiveness

City Parks Blog

Last month, Amazon.com spent more than $600 million to acquire three adjacent parcels in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood for its new headquarters campus...

Read On

Blogosphere: Is Tallinn Europe's Most Innovative City?

This Big City

Tallinn is an underdog in the global arena, with cities competing for international business and tourism. But Tallin is doing good, in my opinion. I visited the Estonian capital almost five years ago, and the city was already offering free public WiFi to its visitors and inhabitants...

Read On

Blogosphere: World's First Virtual Supermarket

Pop Up City

Remember that subway platform supermarket in South Korea? Tesco and Samsung are taking this idea to the next level with their virtual HomePlus grocery store that opened its doors in Seoul two days ago...

Read On

Blogosphere: Manifesto Came Before New Urbanism

The Atlantic Cities

Before the buildings of Leon Krier or Robert Venturi, even before the iconic writings of Jane Jacobs, came a 20-year-old's manifesto that rejected the modernist city, but in a particularly absurdist fashion. ..

Read On

Recent News: The Other Side of the Tracks Articles

Quote of the Day

News: Reno Rapid Bus, Best Case Fed Transpo Bill, Twin Cities Central Corridor, Subway Evolution, Urban Suburban

Blogosphere: Light Rail & Racial Justice, Car Sharing Impact, Traffic Fatality & Poverty, Complete Streets For All, Bike Share Parking

Quote of the Day

News: LA's Changing Boulevards, Houston Supercommuters, Transport Bill Talks, Florida's Outsource City

Blogosphere: Bike Score, Evaluating TOD Justice, Census Change Impact, Form Based Code Value, Brazil Urban Development

Quote of the Day

News: Houston Transit Funding, Seattle LRT Copper Theives, Pedestrian Research, Chinese Suburbanization

Blogosphere: Value Capture, Staten Island BRT, Bike Work Day Record, Density More Than High Rise, Death Of Detroit

Quote of the Day

News: SunRail Funding, Tucson-Phoenix Rail, Texas HSR Plans, Rough Road Tax, Austin Rail Plan, Salt Lake Gentrification, High Tech Ghost Town

Blogosphere: Bamboo Bike, Driving & Work, CAHSR State Budget, Bus Rodeo, DC Development Subsidies, Housing & Land Use

Quote of the Day

News: Transit Resiliency, Des Moines BRT Stalls, Bike & Pedestrian Funding, TIF District Benefits, City Allergies

Blogosphere: Unsustainable Gas Tax, State Of Infrastructure, Transit Recession, Copenhagenization, Frequency vs Coverage

Quote of the Day

News: NY Bike Share Cost, Fed. Conference Bill, Seattle Parking Minimums, Private Texas HSR, Healthy Planning, Building Affordable Housing

Blogosphere: Michigan Transit Policy, Bike Share Trips, Expensive Buy America Rules, Obesity Prevention Strategies, Street Hackers

Quote of the Day

News: Planning Megaprojects, Personalized Travel Planning, Encouraging Walking, NY Bike Share, Chicago Train Congestion

Blogosphere: Auto Use Collapse, Cyclist Protection Laws, Kids & Traffic, Parking Lot Trees, Bolt Bus Northwest

Quote of the Day

News: NYC Bike Share, Virtual Twin Cities LRT Tour, Tucson TOD, Privatizing Moscow Metro, Cincinnati Form Based Codes

Blogosphere: Tech Startups & Transit, Bikes & Urbanism, Chicago BRT Push, LA Parking Changes, The Need For HUD, Prosperity Collaborative

Quote of the Day

News: Chicago Bus Lanes, Vancouver BRT, CAHSR Numbers, Caltrain Electrification, Gainesville Transit Taxes, London Smart City Test

Blogosphere: Speeding Cars & Child Safety, TIFIA Loan Value, CAHSR Business Plan, The Vienna Metropolis, Charlotte's Sidewalks

Quote of the Day

Blogosphere: Civil Rights & Transit, Toronto Speed Limits, Pricing Travel Behavior, Origin Story of CNU, DC Sustainability Vision

News: Speeding LA Transit Work, Dulles Rail Solution, Chicago Red Line Replacement, Houston Bike Share, Salt Lake Streetcar Park

Quote of the Day

News: BRT Rating System, HSR Research, PA Transpo Funding, Trading Lawn For TOD, NY Green Zoning, Student Debt and Home Ownership

Blogosphere: LA Rail Car Politics, Bike & Walk Investments Pay Off, Affording Affordable Housing, Urban Pollution & Obesity

Researching The Impact of Transit Oriented Development on Public Transportation Ridership

Quote of the Day

News: Fed Transpo Pressure, Enviro Vs. Infrastructure, CA HSR Testimony, Fed Golden Handcuffs, Food Desert Maps

Blogosphere: Fed Transpo Posturing, True BRT In SF, Atlanta 50/50 Mandate, Sterilized Bus Air, Streetlight Budget Drain, Tea Party Vs. Planners

Quote of the Day

News: KC Streetcar Tax Districts, Anatomy Of Transit Vote Defeat, CA Statewide Rail Planning, Strip Mall Parks

Blogosphere: Virginia Beach Rail Vote, Transit Score, Transit-Oriented Burbs, Sustainable Cities, Urban Planning For Dummies, 'Evil' Suburbs

Quote of the Day

News: Tumlin On Congrestion, Houston Transit Funding Vote, Faster HSR, LA LRT Pushes West, Value Capture Research

Blogosphere: No TIFIA For Tappan Zee, TransitScore Rankings, Denver Airport City, Green Garage, Cultural Borders

Quote of the Day

News: Denver Nixes Transit Vote, Bellevue LRT Cost Cutting, Expanding Dallas LRT, Twin Cities TOD Biz Boost

Blogoshere: Copenhagen Difference, Robert Moses Effect, Toronto Green Roof Policy, Really Compact Building

Quote of the Day

News: NY Vs. Megabus, Funding Detroit LRT, LA Mayor Transpo Secy?, Harm In Sprawl, Talking About Gentrification

Blogosphere: Invention Of Jaywalking, SF Livable Streets, Poverty & Road Hazards, Equitable Transit, LA Development Reform

Quote of the Day

News: Transpo Funding Conference, Baton Rouge Transit Tax, Rio Grande Valley Rail, Detroit LRT Funders

Blogosphere: Logic Of Buses, Transit Patent Trolls, NY Rent Control, Floating Cities, Romney Smart Growth Model

Quote of the Day

News: Houston TOD Preference, LA LRT Problems, Oakland BRT Benefits, Italy's Private HSR, Betting Big On TOD, Air Pollution Death Toll

Blogosphere: The Transport Mayor, Dulles Rail Uncertainty, Silicon Valley Bike Movement, Infrastructure Bank, HUD H+T Initiative, McMansion Definitions

Quote of the Day

News: LA Orange Line Testing, Denver LRT Corridor Ideas, NC LRT Extension Funding, Romeny's HUD Comments, Toronto Condo Boom

Blogosphere: Obama Veto Threat, Do Cycletracks Work?, Chicago BRT Investment, NJ Toll Brawl

Quote of the Day

News: LA Tax Extension, Vancouver Anti-LRT, CAHSR Funding, House Transpo Bill, Seattle Monorail Tax, Bike Sharing Economics

Blogosphere: MD Gas Tax Hike Fails, Developer Sidewalk Responsibility, Indianapolis BRT, Boomer Retirees, Giving Mayors More Power

Quote of the Day

News: Rail Vs. Bus In CBD, Hawaii Business Rail Supporters, Analyst Pans CAHSR, New Times Square, Active Living Near Transit

Blogosphere: SoCal Sustainability, Walkability Politics, Atlanta Rail Plans, Fresno TOD Imposter, Metropolitan Revolution

Quote of the Day

News: Transpo Bill Negotiations, A Driving Tax, Impact Of Clustered Development, National Highway Tolls, Romney & HUD, Urban Spatial Strategy

Blogosphere: State Vs. Local In Virginia, Infrastructure Funding Vs. Financing, KC Transit Manifesto, Mapping Space Syntax, White Roof Global Impact

Quote of the Day

News: Pedestrian Lifestyle, Tampa's GOP Bus Convention, Work & Bike Commute, Bus Service Decline, Unplanned Country, Creative Cities

Blogosphere: Transpo Bill Talks, Tucson Streetcar, LA Bike Sharing, SF To Anaheim HSR, Oakland Housing Displacement, War On Suburbia Hoax, Obesity & Postal Codes

Quote of the Day

News: Walkability, Honolulu Rail, Anti-Bus Bus Ads, Light Pollution, Ottawa's Infill Rules, Protecting Dallas Trees

Blogosphere: Accessibility & Capacity, Dutch Driving Off Peak, Seattle Subway Plans, Food Deserts, Hong Kong Underground

Quote of the Day

News: Pedestrian Habits, Biking In Mexico, LA Vs. Beverly Hills, Defending ARC Decision, SF Losing Diversity, Urban Solar Farm

Blogosphere: People & Station Areas, Calif. Transpo Needs, Biking In London, Foodie Cities, Greenwashing Sprawl

Quote of the Day

News: Pedestrian Safety, Transpo Deductions, Expanding Atlanta Rail, Des Moines BRT, Seattle's Newest Streetcar, A Tax For Affordable Housing

Blogosphere: Seattle Parking Minimums & Kids, Low Density Subsidized Market, Denver Equity Atlas, Stories Of Urban Poor, Stars Above Cities