James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row. Prior to joining Planetizen, James worked at the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, as an editor at Curbed LA, as editor of The Planning Report, and as a freelance contributor for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Urban Land Institute – Los Angeles Chapter, FORM, KCET, and the California Planning & Development Report.
Texas High Speed Rail Proposal Gaining Momentum
An article by Amy Crawford details the prospects of a plan to build a private rail connection between Houston and Dallas—the Texas Central Railway—that would be modeled on lines in Japan, and funded by Japanese interests.
Friday Funny: How Automatic Toll Technology Could Have Saved Sonny Corleone
In a fake editorial on the satirical site The Onion, Charles J. Galvin, CEO, E-ZPass Group, pays homage to the alternative path the Corleone family would have taken in The Godfather if only Sonny Corleone had been driving a car equipped with E-ZPass.
Agenda 21 Opponents Under the Microscope
Writing for Fortune magazine, David Morris examines the influence of the Anti-Agenda 21 movement, especially one of the movement's figureheads, Rosa Koire, who wrote the book "Behind the Green Mask: U.N. Agenda 21."
Light Rail Success Story for Houston's Red Line
With two new rail lines, serving east and southeast Houston, due to open later this year, early returns have been positive for the "North Line" extension of the city's Red Line.
Is the Innovation Economy a Cover for Gentrification?
According to Kyle Chayka's critique of "The Rise of Innovation Districts" report by the Brookings Institutions, "all is not right in this innovation ideology."