Government / Politics
Megaregions and Megaproblems
As America's metropolitan areas meld into "megaregions", officials and policymakers will need to figure out how to deal with their shared and growing infrastructure problems. Consider the ball rolling.
Joining Up Transportation, Housing, and Environmental Policy
Robert Puentes argues that a new federal interagency partnership, debuted before the Senate this week, could provide the federal leadership necessary for a unified vision of transportation, housing, and environmental policy designed to tackle our interrelated economic, energy, and climate challenges.
Reinventing America's Cities: Discovering Opportunities by Challenging Biases
Dr. Aseem Inam takes writers on urbanism and architecture to task for spreading stereotypes about "third world cities", particularly when used to generalize about urban form.
Baghdad's Changing (U.S.) Demographics
The population is falling -- the population of U.S. troops stationed in Baghdad, that is.
The New York Times
New York's Legislative Lock Down Leaves Cities Hanging
As a power struggle between legislators in New York drags on, statutes in the state are expiring, leaving many cities with procedural headaches and tied hands.
The New York Times
Supreme Court Nominee's Eminent Domain Experience
Back in 2006, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor had a role in a controversial eminent domain ruling. Reason magazine takes a look at the decision and what it might mean for property rights if she's confirmed to the Court.
Reason
Can A County Become A City?
Fairfax County, Virginia is contemplating making the switch. Officials say the goal is to have control over local funding decisions, particularly in regards to road maintenance.
TheCityFix
EPA OKs California's Plan to Regulate Emissions
The Environmental Protection Agency has reversed a decision by the Bush Administration that will allow California to create its own set of vehicle emissions standards.
Los Angeles Times
Majority of Stimulus Spent on Roads
States are spending the vast majority of federal stimulus money on building or repairing roads and highways, according to a new study.
Reuters
Climate Change's Barometer Has No Climate Change Plan
The Florida Keys are likely the most vulnerable places to sea-level rise in America. Despite this danger, officials there have set no plans for counteracting or dealing with climate change.
Miami Herald
New Power Grid Would Slice Through Rural Areas
Expanding America's power grid to connect wind and solar power plants to the urban areas they fuel will require thousands of miles of transmission lines. Most of it will be built in rural areas where locals are not likely to be very welcoming.
The Daily Yonder
Rainwater Collection Rules Evolving in the West
Two new laws in Colorado make legal the formerly prohibited act of collecting rainwater. Other states aren't so lenient.
The New York Times
Cash-Strapped Cities Ditch Fourth of July Fireworks
Tight budgets are causing cities across the country to skip fireworks displays for their Fourth of July celebrations.
Los Angeles Times
Breaking Out of Silos and Across Borders
With interdepartmental cooperation blossoming within the Obama administration, Neal Peirce wonders how things will shake down when policies hit metropolitan regions -- and the municipal borders that can impede and confuse policy.
Citiwire
Ownership of Bus Arrival Data Disputed
The story of how an iPhone application charting public transit arrival times led to as-yet-unanswered questions about who owns this public data -- or whether it can be owned at all.
SF Appeal
City People Do-It-Themselves
This post from The New York Times' blog examines how city government's are increasingly relying on automated services to keep order and boost revenue, and how citizens are reacting.
The New York Times
Squatters to Gain Legal Land Rights in the Amazon
The Brazilian government has just approved a measure that would grants legal land rights to squatters in the Amazon.
Guardian
Getting Solar Power Rolling
This profile from Miller-McCune looks at a Berkeley, California official who made use of a 100-year old funding mechanism to take the city solar.
Miller-McCune
















