San Diego: The "In lieu Fee"
The People's Post
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines "affordable" as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a household's monthly income. Public agencies define affordable housing as units with rent restrictions or price restrictions to maintain affordability...
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(August 17, 2010)
Bay Area: If You Build a Transit Village Will They Come?
Capricious Commuter
A new parking garage is going up at the Richmond BART station as part of a trend of building transit-oriented development near rapid transit stations. Work began Tuesday on a six-story parking garage that will free up space for construction of 100 homes at the station, reports Katherine Tam in the Contra Costa Times....
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(August 16, 2010)
Blogosphere: Cali Dem Blasts HUD Happy Talk
Politico
Rep. Dennis Cardoza doesn't think that Housing and Urban Development Department Secretary Shaun Donovan has any right to tout the administration's successes at preventing home foreclosures in California. ..
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(August 13, 2010)
Sacramento: Light Rail to Airport Faces Uphill Battle
Sacramento Bee
For decades, Sacramento Regional Transit has built light-rail lines through all manner of urban terrain, but its planned line through Natomas to Sacramento International Airport may represent the agency's toughest task yet...
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(August 13, 2010)
Quote of the Day
Forbes
Ultimately the choice to invest in new subways and light rail as opposed to buses reflects both a class bias and the agenda of what may best described as the "density lobby."
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(August 10, 2010)
Los Angeles: Stalled Gentrification Benefits Downtown
Los Angeles Times
Usually the trajectory that neighborhoods go through as they gentrify is entirely predictable -- and more than a little depressing. First a scruffy, down-at-the-heels area welcomes a few urban pioneers drawn by an attractiveand affordable housing stock....
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(August 9, 2010)
MTC’s TOD Policy
On Aug. 9, Allison Brooks and Abigail Thorne-Lyman will be a the kickoff meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s TOD Policy review. More on MTC's current policy can be found here.
(August 6, 2010)
Blogosphere: Will LA Revolutionize Transit Funding?
The City Fix
On Friday, we wrote about value capture strategies as a form of alternative funding for struggling public transit agencies around the nation. Nationwide, transit agencies are exploring non-traditional financing options as federal and state funding for transit remains low....
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(August 5, 2010)
Los Angeles: TOD Summit - Building Transit Culture
ULI (via Neil P)
If the 440 attendees of ULI-LA's TOD Summit, held on June 4, 2010, are any indicators, the real estate and development community of Los Angeles is embracing transit-oriented development (TOD) to a degree unimaginable as recently as five or six-years ago....
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(August 4, 2010)
San Diego: Plans for a Struggling Neighborhood
Voice of San Diego
Five miles east of downtown, amid rolling hills and weathered homes, empty and dusty parcels pock the neighborhood surrounding Euclid Avenue and Market Street in southeastern San Diego -- physical reminders that, for decades, this community has been starving for an economic lifeline....
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(August 4, 2010)
