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The Planetizen News Brief - 5/17/07

17 May 2007 - 7:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

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Full Transcript

America’s public schools are big institutions. They’re big because almost every state in the union has acreage requirements that keep them big. But a movement is gradually gaining momentum that looks to reduce or eliminate those acreage requirements in an effort to create more compact schools. New Urban News reports that since 2003, the states of Rhode Island, Maine, and South Carolina have tossed out these requirements for all new schools. South Carolina’s governor Mark Sanford reasoned that by creating smaller schools, it would be easier to acquire the land to place them in existing neighborhoods. This, he said, would reduce the development of schools on the outskirts of towns, which has made the students in many states dependent on cars to get them to school. With the Environmental Protection Agency currently looking into plans to help state officials reduce their schools sizes, many states could soon follow suit.

In suburban Chicago, homeowners are joining forces to defend their communities from a proposed new addition to their neighborhoods – one they fear will threaten their very security. But it’s not a casino, or a Wal-Mart. It’s not even low-income housing. The threat these homeowners fear is a sidewalk. The Chicago Tribune reports that hundreds of residents in rural suburbs have signed petitions opposing local plans to build sidewalks in some neighborhoods. Many of those opposed argue that the whole reason they moved to the suburbs was to enjoy their neighborhood’s rural feel. They say sidewalks are not necessary and will bring all kinds of negative impacts to their community. Of the most concern to residents is the impression that these sidewalks will act as welcoming mats to potentially dangerous strangers, allowed – even encouraged — to walk into their neighborhoods.

And finally, a city-wide ban on outdoor advertising has been in place since the beginning of the year in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and for the city’s residents the change has been a little weird. NPR’s On The Media recently interviewed a reporter from Sao Paolo’s largest newspaper about the new ad-free experience, and he said it is like living in a whole new city. Areas formerly covered up by billboards and digital signs are now revealed to the public, which at times is noticing things for the first time. For example, to the surprise of many, huge shantytowns formerly under the cover of ads are now out in the light. And while the advertising industry is obviously complaining, the city’s residents have shown broad support for what has ultimately been referred to as a citywide cleanup effort.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

Super-Sized Schools Are Getting a New Land Diet

Suburbs Tell Sidewalks To Hit The Road

What Happens When A City Bans Advertising?

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At a much larger economic scale, however, one mustn’t avoid calculating the tremendous and exceptional externalities of automobile dependency.
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