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The Planetizen News Brief

21 February 2008 - 6:00am
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

It’s an election year and, as could be expected, there has been a flood of discussion amongst politicians about what’s wrong with the country. But as a recent New York Times editorial points out, this discussion about the shortfalls and major problems in American society has hardly even approached the realm of urban issues. With the latest statistics chalking more than 65% of Americans in urban areas, the editorial argues that the candidates are virtually ignoring a huge chunk of the people and votes they’re so eagerly trying to get behind their ticket. Republican candidate John McCain has made little mention of cities in his campaigning thus far, and Democratic hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have similarly spent scant time discussing the afflictions of urban America. National leadership on these issues will be crucial, according to the New York Times, and hearing about how these candidates propose to provide that leadership should become a more prominent focus of their campaigns to run the country.

And while national leadership on urban issues is being seen as seriously lacking, it is local city leadership that has been especially active in proposing new ideas and solutions – even if they aren’t very popular. In L.A., Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is pushing forward with controversial plans to convert two of the city’s most used cross-town arteries into mostly one-way streets. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, Villaraigosa’s plan involves removing one lane of street parking from each of the two streets during the morning and evening rush hours, allowing three lanes to run down the streets when traffic is heaviest. Local businesses are opposed to the plan, and city councilors had been fighting hard to nix the proposal. The new rule is set to take effect March 8, and Villaraigosa has announced plans to further increase the one-way conversions within the next year by converting a lane on each of the streets to handle the morning westbound rush and the evening eastbound exodus. Opposition to this expansion of the plan is expected to be even more fierce.

And in New Mexico, opposition to another transit project is growing in numbers and volume, as planned extensions to a regional commuter rail project are being blamed for shortfalls affecting the rest of the state’s transportation budget. The Associated Press reports that state lawmakers are calling on Governor Bill Richardson to hold off on $400 million plans to expand the Rail Runner Express commuter rail system, blaming it for a nearly $500 million shortfall in highway project funding. They say the project is poorly conceived, as the populations of the towns it serves are too low to justify the spending. But despite the vocal charges of the state’s lawmakers, officials of the Richardson administration claim there is no connection between the Rail Runner’s budget and the shortfalls experienced by the state’s highway projects. Plans to continue the expansion are expected to move forward.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

The Missing Urban Discussion

One-Way Plans Move Forward in L.A.

New Mexico Critics Say Transportation Projects Suffer as Rail Runs

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