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The Planetizen News Brief - 2/19/09

19 February 2009 - 5:00am
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 official. The $787 billion dollar federal economic stimulus package has been signed into law. It’s a major part of the Obama Administration’s plans to generate more than 3 and a half million jobs and resuscitate the sputtering economy. While the stimulus has been controversial from the start, now that money’s being divvied up, open hands across the country are anxious to get the cash rolling. A recent article from Business Week took a look at some of the highlights of the legislation to examine where money would be headed and for what. Transit and infrastructure funding have caused a stir in the planning community, with about $29 billion heading out for road and bridge improvements and only $8 billion for investments in public transit. Another $8 billion will be dedicated to high-speed rail, however, which is seen as a welcome win for transit advocates. On the infrastructure side, more than $30 billion has been allocated to create a quote smart power grid, improve energy efficiency and increase investment in battery improvement research. Another $18 billion has been set aside for water quality and flood protection projects, as well as environmental restoration efforts. And $4 and a half billion will be invested in greening federal office buildings to reduce energy consumption. So sustainability and smarter development ideas are included in the stimulus plan, though not as much as many people were hoping. Planners and urbanists can only wait and see if that funding actually results in any physical improvements to the built environment.

Meanwhile on the housing front, The Obama administration announced this week a plan to combat the plague of mortgage foreclosures that has spread across the country. According to a recent article from the Wall Street Journal, preliminary estimates were putting somewhere between $50 and $100 billion into a fund to prevent foreclosures by helping homeowners right on the line. Payments on troubled mortgages would also be reduced as part of the plan, and judges are expected to be allowed more wiggle room in reducing mortgage payments during bankruptcy hearings. These judicial changes, however, will require congressional approval, while other provisions are straightforward executive decisions. But regardless of how they are approved, officials are calling the provisions of this plan only one aspect of a broad and long effort to counteract the worst housing market seen in decades.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

Lots to Plan for in the Stimulus?

Obama About to Announce Housing Plan

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Instead of demeaning so-called "third world cities", we would do well to observe, understand, and adapt such approach on a much more widescale basis.
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