The city of Santa Rosa, California, has “cut against the trend” by implementing a safe parking program at the county fairgrounds lot. What has your surface parking lot done for you lately?
Lee Romney reports on Santa Rosa’s safe parking program, which allows homeless individuals with cars—which amounts to an estimated 20 percent of the 3,300 homeless residents of Sonoma County, where Santa Rosa is located.
“The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors created the safe parking program in late January as an emergency response to freezing weather, making it one of just a handful on the West Coast. (Similar programs operate in Santa Barbara County, San Luis Obispo and San Diego County.)”
“But lawmakers here went one step further. In what Sonoma County advocates for the homeless called a "pinch me" moment and a "watershed," supervisors removed a ban on the "use of vehicles for human habitation" from the county's anti-camping ordinance.”
FULL STORY: In Sonoma County, a heartwarming safe-parking program for the homeless
Denver Suburb Bans RVs From Parking on Streets Citywide
Lakewood is taking an aggressive approach to homeless people sleeping in cars on public streets.
Wine Country Wildfires Put Spotlight on Transmission Lines
No cause has yet been attributed to California's deadliest wildfires, but the connections to fallen power lines and exploding transformers, maintained by PG&E, have been exposed in a series of reports by the Bay Area News Group.
New Commuter Train Comes Through for Fire-Ravaged Santa Rosa
Sonoma-Marin Rail Transit (SMART) has been operating almost continuously at full schedule, collecting no fares since the epic wildfires began in Sonoma County on Oct. 8. Two stations in the fire-zone are shut down due to lack of access.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Coming Soon to Ohio: The Largest Agrivoltaic Farm in the US
The ambitious 6,000-acre project will combine an 800-watt solar farm with crop and livestock production.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
California Grid Runs on 100% Renewable Energy for Over 9 Hours
The state’s energy grid was entirely powered by clean energy for some portion of the day on 37 out of the last 45 days.
New Forecasting Tool Aims to Reduce Heat-Related Deaths
Two federal agencies launched a new, easy-to-use, color-coded heat warning system that combines meteorological and medical risk factors.
AI Traffic Management Comes to Dallas-Fort Worth
Several Texas cities are using an AI-powered platform called NoTraffic to help manage traffic signals to increase safety and improve traffic flow.
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
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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.
