Because the rails to trails project left housing up to the market, rising rents were inevitable, claims a new report.

Logan Square rents and property values have been on the rise, particularly in the part of the neighborhood around the 606. Whether or not the trail and its planners deserved any of the blame for that has been a subject of debate in the area for some time. A new report argues that it was a cause of rising costs and its were to blame. “Lower-cost housing was bound to be pushed out of neighborhoods along the 606 trail by more expensive replacements because of the way the rails-to-trails project was planned, a pair of academics claim in a scholarly journal,” Dennis Rodkin reports in Crain’s Chicago Business.
University of Illinois Professor Alessandro Rigolon contends that the project’s builders were content to see it as a purely parks and infrastructure venture and to leave housing prices to ride the market. Rigolon and his co-author, Professor Jeremy Nemeth of the University of Colorado, even titled the piece after a quote from a representative for the Trust for Public Land that did much of the work on the project who said, “We're not in the business of housing.”
Critics of the report (from the Trust for Public Land and elsewhere) point out that the neighborhood was already gentrifying and that some of the rising land value came from the neighborhood recovering from the great recession. Useful context to be sure, but not enough to convince observers that the trail didn’t force out residents.
FULL STORY: Was gentrification around the 606 inevitable?

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie