Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Government / Politics
Angie Schmitt and Charles T. Brown make nine arguments against the criminalization of jaywalking.
Bloomberg CityLab
Andre M. Perry’s "Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities" reveals the web of historical and contemporary socioeconomic barriers that maintain the racial wealth divide.
Shelterforce Magazine
The medical community is sounding the alarm in North Dakota, where hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID patients. With the governor opposed to issuing a statewide mask mandate, physicians are asking local governments and the public for help.
Grand Forks Herald
A new toolkit shares 22 actions governments should take to get the economy restarted, including the regulatory or policy tools needed to implement the actions.
PlaceShakers
Another corruption scandal involving a Los Angeles city councilmember highlights the urgent need for major planning changes in the city.
Los Angeles Times
A golf course formerly owned by "legendary sports bettor-turned-convicted insider trader" Billy Walters finally has the residential zoning that created so much controversy in the past.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Blog post
What’s good for our forests and planet can also be good for our jobs, communities, and the economy. That’s why we’re writing this together—an ex-Democratic political operative and an ex-Republican staff member who want to see mass timber flourish.
A trio of epidemiologists from Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Oxford have joined the president's new coronavirus medical advisor, Scott Atlas, in promoting an alternative approach to dealing with coronavirus infections.
The Washington Post
A report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General calls out state environmental agencies for a lack of civil rights enforecement and makes recommendations for resolving shortcomings.
Grist
A September 2 memo by the Trump administration warned of punitive actions against New York City, Seattle, Portland, and Washington, D.C. A recently announced federal funding opportunity makes good on the threat.
The New York Daily News
India could be on track to overtake the United States in the number of COVID-19 cases. The surge is explained by a sharp and growing urban-rural divide in the ability and willingness to follow public health measures.
The New York Times
Hospitals in parts of Wisconsin are experiencing a medical crisis reminiscent of New York and Arizona—they are running out of beds due to a surge of COVID-19 patients. The outbreak is statewide, showing no relationship with density.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Pilot programs can offer useful insight to decisionmakers, but they need to be done for the right reasons and with clear goals and plans.
Smart Cities Dive
As California moves to hold local governments accountable for housing production goals, a report finds a 900,000-unit discrepancy. Offered here is the Embarcadero Institute's response to criticism received regarding the report's conclusions.
The Planning Report
California voters will consider a landmark reform of its infamous property tax system this November. Prop. 15 would remove property tax caps on commercial properties established by Prop. 13 in 1978.
CALmatters
The Midwest has been the epicenter of coronavirus since late August, led by North and South Dakota. Masks have the potential to significantly reduce viral transmission, but neither state mandates their use. Will a public health campaign help?
Grand Forks Herald
A new Airbnb Portal gives cities a much-requested glimpse into the short-term rental company's books. Now operating in 15 cities, the Airbnb City Portal is poised for implementation on a global scale.
Bloomberg CityLab
A midwestern commuter rail line found a unique, if controversial way to achieve 100 percent mask compliance on its trains: Set aside one car, though preferably not the bike car, for riders who opt to travel maskless.
Streetsblog Chicago
It's been eight months since the first confirmed infection from the novel coronavirus in Washington state. As deadly as COVID-19 is, Americans should reflect when 200,000 died in a single month from a far deadlier virus 102 years ago.
The New York Times
A heated dispute over a $5 billion Metro transportation funding ballot measure has erupted between climate activists and a group representing Portland's big business interests.
The Portland Mercury
