Government / Politics

A Superior Court Judge has ordered the jailing of the builder of an elaborate and eccentric set of unpermitted buildings in the exurbs north of Los Angeles.

July 13, 2011 - Salon

Despite a budget significantly smaller than his predecessors had, Los Angeles Planning Director Michael LoGrande is hoping to bring about major changes in the way the city gets things done.

July 13, 2011 - LA Downtown News

Six pilot cities are selected for the launch of a new federal, interagency initiative know as 'Strong Cities, Strong Communities': Fresno, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis and Chester, PA.

July 12, 2011 - The White House blog

Increasingly seen as an ineffective tool, the property tax limiting Proposition 13 has been derided in California for decades. Now, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa looks to be willing to argue against the politically sensitive law.

July 12, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

A group of mayor in the metropolitan Vancouver area have proposed an increase in the gas tax to develop a fund for a long-stalled transit project.

July 12, 2011 - The Globe and Mail

While some have pigeonholed him as anti-business, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is taking the city through the recovery of the economy in a positive but potentially hard-to-swallow way, according to this column.

July 12, 2011 - The Seattle Times

Rail projects throughout the U.S. are hard hit by the downturn in the economy. The agencies behind them are trying to find ways to keep the projects from falling apart.

July 12, 2011 - Architect Magazine

Legislation in California that officially dissolves its redevelopment agencies offers them the chance to stay alive -- but at a cost that may be too high for some.

July 12, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

The sometimes decades-long gap between cause and effect makes it difficult to reverse long-standing transportation & planning policies, says Ben Brown.

July 11, 2011 - PlaceShakers

George Skelton of The Los Angeles Times contends that one of Schwarzenegger's biggest blunders as governor of California was lowering the vehicle license fee to 0.65%.

July 11, 2011 - The Los Angeles Times

Making urban data available is important, but not as important as presenting that data in a digestible way, according to this piece from Change Observer.

July 10, 2011 - Change Observer

The emergent urbanism of informal settlements has posed problems to governments in the Third World, and some are looking to address equality issues by issuing land titles. But one approach skips the titles and focuses on simple zoning.

July 10, 2011 - Old Urbanist

A new study from the nonprofit research center Good Jobs First looks into how relocation tax breaks for businesses have encouraged sprawl in the Cleveland and Cincinnati metropolitan areas.

July 9, 2011 - Crain's Cleveland Business

The well-heeled foundation that's been pumping money into civic projects in Detroit is now reconsidering the role it's playing and how much it wants to contribute.

July 9, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal

A proposal to cut transportation funding by chairman of the House transportation committee John Mica (R-Fla.) received wide criticism from the Democrat counterpart.

July 8, 2011 - The Washington Post

Leading urban thinkers weigh-in on a debate of the merits of European and US approaches to urban planning, with a specific focus on the place of automobiles in cities. Ed Glaeser, Ellen Dunham-Jones, and Sam Staley are among the contributors.

July 8, 2011 - The New York Times

California Report previews 25 miles of new express or high occupancy toll lanes coming to LA as a pilot project paid from the competitive value pricing grant program under President Bush. The lanes currently are reserved for high occupancy vehicles

July 8, 2011 - The California Report

At a town hall meeting this week, President Obama proposed a new initiative that would give unemployed homeowners more wiggle room on their late mortgage payments.

July 8, 2011 - The Washington Post

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) says that the US economy could lose up to 600,000 jobs if a transportation reauthorization bill is not passed by September 30.

July 8, 2011 - Streetsblog

A discrimination lawsuit filed against the federal government and the state of Louisiana was settled this week in favor of homeowners who claimed that the way funds were distributed was biased against the poor.

July 7, 2011 - The New York Times