The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Legislation up for consideration in Wisconsin looks to make it easier for towns in the state to legally change their municipal status to avoid being annexed. The bill hopes to reduce the amount of cross-town border disputes incited by annexations.</p>

March 26 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

<p>Plans for a light rail system in Kansas City may move forward only by sacrificing the city's bus system. Federal funding currently supporting the buses would have to be diverted to the proposed light rail system, adversely affecting bus service.</p>

March 26 - The Kansas City Star

<p>A recent survey reveals that more than two-thirds of Ohio residents are opposed to the state's eminent domain law, and would be in favor of throwing it out.</p>

March 26 - The Cincinnati Enquirer

<p>Americans prefer traditional architecture. Is Modernism dead?</p>

March 26 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Medford Oregon's newly opened public library is about to close its doors -- but it is just one of 15 across the region suffering from a loss of federal subsidies.</p>

March 26 - Voice Of America

<p>Transportation problems and needed improvements are expected to cost the state of Oregon billions in the next 20 years. A new report is also estimating costs of nearly $2 billion a year in lost productivity due to the transportation problems.</p>

March 26 - The Portland Tribune

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">As one of my favorite colleagues says, all anyone ever cares about at any public meeting is “where do I live and where do I park?” Public process, in short, asks people to accept changes to their homes and lives. And people generally do not like change. </font></p>

March 26 - Barbara Faga

<p>As part of a series of opinions about traffic and transit, The Los Angeles Times gives one transit advocate the fantasy situation of having $100 billion to spend on rail, buses, and a host of other transportation improvements.</p>

March 26 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Mayor Livingstone's sledgehammer approach to congestion management lacks imagination, and travel in the UK capital isn't that much better, according to a recent commentary.</p>

March 26 - Spiked

FEATURE

Evacuating people after Hurricane Katrina revealed chronic shortcomings of local and regional evacuation planning. The barriers that hindered efforts in New Orleans apply not only to evacuation planning, but to planning in general.

March 26 - Thomas W. Sanchez, Marc Brenman

<p>The first of its kind development is hoping to transform the booming interest in all things green into, well, green.</p>

March 26 - Business Week

<p>With many single family neighborhoods unhappy with the encroachment of large apartment complexes, one city councilmember is backing new guidelines to limit the number of apartments in the city.</p>

March 26 - KHOU 11 Houston

BLOG POST

This week, the <em>Economist</em>’s cover story, &quot;The trouble with the housing market,&quot; details the downward-spiraling &quot;subprime&quot; mortgage market and its potential effects on the U.S. economy.<span> </span>The collapsing market certainly poses problems to Wall Street traders and taxpayers in general, but what about the physical toll it&#39;s taking on our cities?<span> </span>Abandoned, foreclosed homes now increasingly dot the nation&#39;s inner ring suburbs, helping spread neighborhood decline out from inner cities, while developers build more homes farther into the urban periphery.

March 25 - David Gest

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">How important are the names we use?<span> </span>As Shakespeare said, </font></font><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">&quot;</font></font><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">What&#39;s in a <span>name</span>? That which we call a <span>rose</span> by <span>any</span> <span>other</span> name <span>would</span> <span>smell </span>as <span>sweet</span>.&quot;<span> </span>I’ve been struck by this thought recently as I’ve been considering the myriad of organizations and stakeholders trying to have their particular term for stormwater management techniques be more widely adopted in the nomenclature.<span> </span></font></font></p>

March 25 - Anonymous

<p>The city's government is requiring that high-ranking officials use transit at least one day a month.</p>

March 25 - Shanghai Daily

<p>Bruce Sterling gives an insightful tour around the city of Belgrade and explores the transformation and pressures brought about by globalization.</p>

March 25 - YouTube

<p>The results are in and tongues are still wagging -- about buildings that Americans both love and hate. The AIA released the winners and losers of its survey to discover America's favorite architecture.</p>

March 25 - ArchitectOnline.com

<p>A baby boom in Manhattan is largely being led by white, well-to-do couples who traditionally might have left for the suburbs, but are now staying put.</p>

March 25 - The New York Times

<p>Plans for condominiums and senior housing in downtown Pasadena may create traffic and aesthetic problems.</p>

March 25 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>With her new role as the head of the Office of Planning, Harriet Tregoning, a pioneer of the smart growth movement, is set on molding Washington D.C. into a more livable city.</p>

March 24 - Washington Business Journal