A new program seeks to make restitution for the damage inflicted on Black communities by highway construction and urban renewal.
In yet another acknowledgement of the harm done to predominantly Black communities by more than a half-century of urban renewal and freeway construction programs, the beachside city of Santa Monica "will offer affordable housing to those forced out by freeway construction and those removed in the late 1950s when the city bulldozed another Black area, Belmar Triangle, to build the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium." As reported by Liam Dillon, the program will give preference on the city's affordable housing wait list to qualifying families, including the children and grandchildren of displaced residents.
"Nationwide, more than 1 million people lost their homes in just the first two decades of interstate construction alone. Early on, highway planners targeted many Black neighborhoods for destruction, and displaced families often received little compensation." But while the program is an important step, city leaders acknowledge it can't make up for the loss of homes, livelihoods, and generational wealth caused by displacement.
Elsewhere in the country, the city of Evanston, Illinois has created a reparations program for Black residents, and Portland, Oregon offers priority in the city's affordable housing programs to families who experienced displacement in that city, while a proposed bill in the California state legislature would ban freeway expansion in historically underserved communities.
FULL STORY: Santa Monica’s message to people evicted long ago for the 10 Freeway: Come home
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association