Community / Economic Development

Why New Affordable Housing Draws the Short Straw in Los Angeles
Cecilia Estolano, former Executive Director of Los Angeles’s Community Redevelopment Agency, diagnoses why the region has been unable to provide housing for working-class citizens.

Critiquing the $1.9 Billion Project to Widen I-5 in Los Angeles County
Streetsblog slams Caltrans for wasting $1.9 billion on futile freeway widening projects.

Leadership Shakeup at the Atlanta BeltLine
All is not well at the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, after two prominent board members, including Ryan Gravel, who originally proposed the idea for the BeltLine, resigned this week.

Downtown L.A.'s Chinese Real Estate Cycle
Chinese developers are pouring money into high-rise housing projects in Los Angeles. But will these be pieds-a-terre for absent buyers? And how are developers dealing with the American regulatory environment?

Tale of Two Cities: A U.S.-Mexico Bike Trail
Election rhetoric aside, towns on the U.S.-Mexico border share common urban challenges. A proposal is in the works to connect Brownsville, Texas and the Mexican city of Matamoros via bike path.

'The Well-Tempered City': An Epic Book, and Why
In a review of Jonathan F.P. Rose's new book, 'The Well-Tempered City,' Chuck Wolfe enthusiastically endorses Rose's refreshing world view.

Clean Power Plan Showdown in U.S. Appeals Court on Tuesday
The Obama Administration's most powerful environmental initiative, the Clean Power Plan, was put on hold by the Supreme Court last February. It was heard by 10 judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on September 27.

London Housing Prices Drive 30-Year-Olds Out of the City
Study finds 30-somethings in London leaving the city in increasing numbers.

Geographers Seek Patterns and Solutions to Help Declining American Cities
Geographers publish results of a two-year study on declining cities around the country in a new book, "Shrinking Cities: Understanding Urban Decline in the United States."

Cleveland–East Cleveland Merger Plan Overlooks Main Issue
East Cleveland, a struggling suburb of Cleveland, has ended up in so much fiscal distress that it is considering allowing Cleveland to annex it as a desperation move. We may need to rethink our decades of assumptions about home rule in the Northeast.

There Goes the Neighborhood: Oh No, Not Burning Man!
Ben Brown unpacks the components of polarization. Recognizing some people are really pissed off for some really good reasons doesn’t seem to help us make better decisions, whether we’re talking about electing a president or planning a park.

In Brooklyn's Navy Yard, a New Manufacturing Incubator
New Lab repurposes a gritty shipbuilding warehouse, giving manufacturing startups the support that software firms get from your typical incubator.

101 Small Actions With Big Effects in Cities
The Curbed team has compiled a laundry list of creative and effective ways for people to give some love to their cities.

Corruption Charges Sully Economic Development Scheme in Upstate New York
Though he was elected while promising to clean up corruption in the state government, recent corruption charges are hitting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's inner circle.
California Transit Agencies Bring Affordable Housing to Scale
From developer incentives to swapping parking for housing units, two transit systems have come up with plans that tackle the region's housing shortage and its economic inequality. What have they agreed to do, and who will hold them accountable?

Friday Fun: 50 Ways to 'Play Everywhere'
KaBOOM! announced the winners of the Play Everywhere Challenge this week.

Aspen's Workforce Housing Buckling Under Weight of Aging Population
As residents of Aspen, Colorado's limited supply of workforce housing begin to retire, they're staying put, creating a new affordable housing crunch for younger workers.

L.A.'s Grand Central Market at a Turning Point, Faces Gentrification
The historic Grand Central Market has ridden the ups and downs of Downtown Los Angeles better than most retail locations, but can it retain its heart in the face of gentrification.

St. Louis Leading Large Metros in Immigration
Of the 20 largest metropolitan areas in the country, St. Louis had the largest percentage increase in foreign-born immigrants between 2014 and 2015.

Tech Shuttles: The Bay Area's Seventh Largest Transportation Provider
A new survey has found that every day more than 800 tech buses are traveling on the region's roadways, carrying around 34,000 passengers daily
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