Ryan Avent at Streetsblog calls Randal O'Toole's anti-transit arguments "transparently foolish."
"A recent post at Cato's @ Liberty blog provides a nice example. In it, he quotes George Will's description of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as 'Secretary of Behavior Modification' en route to calling LaHood a 'central planner in waiting.' This is one thing I've never understood about the libertarian love affair with highways; they seem utterly blind to the fact that it has required and continues to require massive government action to build and maintain the road network. The interstate highway system is perhaps the single largest government intervention in the economy in the 20th century. Reading O'Toole you'd think it was a wonder of the free market.
The source of his blindness on the issue seems to be due to his belief that roads pay for themselves, and that congestion exists only because governments shift gas tax revenue to pay for transit and other smart growth projects. Nothing could be farther from the truth."
FULL STORY: Randal O’Toole: Taking Liberties With the Facts
O'Toole, Cato Institute Part Ways
Randal O'Toole, who resisted contemporary progressive planning trends by supporting the unfettered expansion of automobile infrastructure and single-family residential development, is no longer employed by the conservative-leaning Cato Institute.
Does Sprawl Make People Libertarian?
Criticizes the idea that suburbanization has made Americans more libertarian.
Solutions to Fixing the Gas Tax Crisis
The Wall Street Journal published a 10-page energy section with the declining gas tax problem on page 1. Five solutions are offered: taxing the miles, taxing the roads, indexing the gas tax, taxing the oil, and taxing the cars. Each has challenges.
Depopulation Patterns Get Weird
A recent ranking of “declining” cities heavily features some of the most expensive cities in the country — including New York City and a half-dozen in the San Francisco Bay Area.
California Exodus: Population Drops Below 39 Million
Never mind the 40 million that demographers predicted the Golden State would reach by 2018. The state's population dipped below 39 million to 38.965 million last July, according to Census data released in March, the lowest since 2015.
Chicago to Turn High-Rise Offices into Housing
Four commercial buildings in the Chicago Loop have been approved for redevelopment into housing in a bid to revitalize the city’s downtown post-pandemic.
Ohio Lawmakers Propose Incentivizing Housing Production
A proposed bill would take a carrot approach to stimulating housing production through a grant program that would reward cities that implement pro-housing policies.
Chicago Awarded $2M Reconnecting Communities Grant
Community advocates say the city’s plan may not do enough to reverse the negative impacts of a major expressway.
New Park Opens in the Santa Clarita Valley
The City of Santa Clarita just celebrated the grand opening of its 38th park, the 10.5-acre Skyline Ranch Park.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
