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The Planetizen News Brief

29 November 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.

Full Transcript

The city of Chicago recently announced an innovative plan to reduce its water waste. By retrofitting it’s nearly 2,000 miles worth of alleyways with permeable and porous pavements, the city will allow stormwater to actually drain back into the earth instead of into a gutter. The New York Times reports that the city will have reworked 46 of these green alleys by the end of 2007, and expects to install the same permeable pavements in all alleys needing refurbishing. The costs of this plan are taking some heat from residents, especially those who note that the city’s recycling program is practically nonexistent. But proponents argue that prices for permeable pavements have gone way down in recent years, making them competitive with traditional asphalts, and representing a passive way for the city to conserve and treat water naturally, as opposed to the millions it takes to treat this drain water in a wastewater facility.

And while Chicago looks to reclaim its water, residents in Central Ohio are trying to reclaim their neighborhoods. Groups of residents are pooling funds in the Ohio communities of College Hill and Springfield Township to buy up foreclosed properties. They are doing this, they say, to prevent real estate prospectors – or flippers – from coming into town and snatching up properties only to redevelop them and resell them for a quick profit. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that these community groups are moving first, buying up properties from sheriffs auctions in the hopes that keeping the properties locally- and sometimes publicly-owned will prevent unwanted uses and possible future foreclosures due to the shortsighted investments of these prospectors.

And in Fresno, California, recently rediscovered underground tunnels have sparked a blaze of interest in preserving the intricate system and debunking the mystery about why it was made. Fresno’s tunnels were built beneath the city’s historic Chinatown in the early part of the century, and as the Los Angeles Times reports, similar underground passageways have been rumored to exist in the Chinatowns of other California cities as well. Though the history of Fresno’s Chinatown tunnels has no comprehensive documentation, some say the tunnels were used as portals to brothels and speakeasies. Others, however, dispute those rumors, arguing that they were merely used as convenient avenues for transporting and delivering goods from building to building. Whatever their true purpose, Fresno’s tunnels will continue to be explored, toured and preserved as a relic of early Chinese immigrant culture in the city.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

Chicago Takes Sustainability To The Back Alley

Ohio Residents Buy Properties To Fight 'Flippers'

Tunnel System Sparks Interest, Rumors

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