Government / Politics

Jason Jordan reports on House and Senate subcommittee hearings this week that focused on water infrastructure concerns and a proposed new program to better address funding and financing options.

March 2, 2012 - APA

Stockton, a city of 300,000 in California's ailing Central Valley, may become the largest city in the U.S. to declare bankruptcy. Agreements with public employee unions and major bond creditors may be all that stand in the way of default.

March 1, 2012 - The New York Times - U.S.

The House is working to amend its transportation bill, but what takes its place is far from certain. Burgess Everett reports on speculation that the GOP is aiming to shorten the length to two years, and make a host of other changes.

March 1, 2012 - Politico

Amidst shrinking municipal budgets and a Tea Party led backlash against government spending, Nate Berg reports on one New Jersey town's effort to completely eliminate its Department of Public Works. Is this the beginning of a trend or an aberration?

February 29, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Writing for Alternet, Sara Robinson reports on the Sightline Institute's efforts to compile a list of what she calls "zombie laws" that prevent people from living sustainably.

February 29, 2012 - AlterNet

In another sign of the coming apocalypse, a bipartisan group of House members have devised an entirely sensible way to cut greenhouse gas emissions, grow employment, and shrink the budget deficit in one fell swoop, by placing a price on carbon.

February 28, 2012 - The Washington Post

February 27, 2012 - Jonathan Nettler

East 69th Street is mobilizing to halt the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plan to add subway entrances on their tony block - needed to handle displaced crowd flows from adding required ADA elevators at the 68th Street entrances.

February 27, 2012 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Chuck Wolfe traces the comeback of sandwich board signage in cities, explains how associated regulations work, and offers reasons why such signage should be carefully fostered.

February 24, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

In what may turn out to be a landmark ruling, the right of Dryden, a New York township adjacent to Cornell University to use its zoning code to ban the controversial drilling technique known fracking was upheld by the N.Y. State Supreme Court.

February 23, 2012 - Pro Publica

A well-intentioned new bill that could nudge food trucks out of huge swaths of territory now faces backlash, explains Jonathan Kauffman.

February 23, 2012 - SF Weekly

The battle being waged by Toronto's first-term mayor Rob Ford over the future of transit in the city is getting uglier by the day, as the Toronto Transit Commission voted Tuesday to fire chief general manager Gary Webster.

February 23, 2012 - Toronto Star

Reporting in The New York Times, Michael Cooper examines the ways in which severe municipal budget cuts are impacting cities across the country through the lens of San Jose, which has lost more than a fifth of its employees over four years.

February 21, 2012 - The New York Times

With current federal transportation policy expiring on March 31, House and Senate recesses this week leave only 16 legislative days to craft some sort of transportation deal.

February 21, 2012 - Streetsblog D.C.

Apparently the payroll tax agreement reached on Friday in congress did not extend all tax provisions being considered. The deal allowed a number of tax breaks, including those for wind and solar energy producers, to expire, reports Brad Plumer.

February 20, 2012 - The Washington Post

Christopher Mims reports on L. Brooks Patterson, county executive of Oakland County, Michigan, who is perhaps the country's most vocal advocate of sprawl.

February 17, 2012 - Grist

After moving swiftly through preliminary hearings in the Senate last week, that body's supposedly bipartisan transportation bill has been stopped in its tracks according to its sponsor Sen. Barbara Boxer, reports Keith Laing.

February 16, 2012 - The Hill

In preparation for a series of Los Angeles mayoral candidate forums being hosted by the AIA beginning this Friday, Will Wright singles out the one issue that he would most like to see addressed.

February 16, 2012 - The Architect's Newspaper

Building in the New Economy isn't business as usual. Howard Blackson lays out policy, planning, land assembly and financing tools to help us with our task at hand.

February 15, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Delving into the psychology behind the House transportation bill, Will Doig investigates the reasons why the Tea Party have turned their attention to mass transit as the next culture war battleground.

February 15, 2012 - Salon.com