Despite dire warnings from transit officials, the Illinois General Assembly ended its legislative session without a solution.

The Illinois state legislature ended its session without closing a massive, looming budget gap for the Regional Transportation Authority of Northern Illinois, the oversight and financing authority for Chicago-area transit agencies.
As Dan Zukowski explains in Smart Cities Dive, the three agencies say they will be forced to make service cuts of up to 40 percent and eliminate almost 3,000 jobs without new funding. “Service on at least four CTA rail lines could be suspended on all or a portion of their routes with train frequencies across the network cut by 10% to 25%. As many as 74 of its 127 bus routes could be eliminated. Metra commuter rail service would be cut by 40% and all weekend service on the suburban Pace bus network could be eliminated, the RTA said.”
The state legislature could take up transit funding again in the fall, but the agencies must start planning for cuts “because they legally cannot plan service based on funding they aren’t certain to have,” according to a source from Better Streets Chicago. Transit officials warn that the cuts will impact the most transit-dependent Chicagoans and could, in some cases, double commute times.
FULL STORY: Chicago area public transit faces up to 40% service cuts

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

San Francisco's School District Spent $105M To Build Affordable Housing for Teachers — And That's Just the Beginning
SFUSD joins a growing list of school districts using their land holdings to address housing affordability challenges faced by their own employees.

Can We Please Give Communities the Design They Deserve?
Often an afterthought, graphic design impacts everything from how we navigate a city to how we feel about it. One designer argues: the people deserve better.

Engineers Gave America's Roads an Almost Failing Grade — Why Aren't We Fixing Them?
With over a trillion dollars spent on roads that are still falling apart, advocates propose a new “fix it first” framework.

The European Cities That Love E-Scooters — And Those That Don’t
Where they're working, where they're banned, and where they're just as annoying the tourists that use them.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”
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.
Borough of Carlisle
Smith Gee Studio
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)