The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The Seattle City Council, prompted by pressure from Mayor Jenny Durkan, approved a smaller version of the "Head Tax" that provoked the ire of Amazon.

May 15 - The Urbanist

Despite its immeasurable geographic and cultural distinctiveness, there is perhaps no American city that has embraced Modernist city planning as fully as Honolulu has.

May 15 - Common Edge Collaborative

The San Diego Association of Governments requested that the number of new housing units that the state housing agency assign the state's second largest county be reduced to more accurately reflect what the 18 cities and county can actually build.

May 15 - KPBS

Coal plants will retire faster than analysts had figured under the Clean Power Plan, which the Trump administration is repealing, yet the Department of Energy proposes to make building new coal plants a centerpiece of its energy policy.

May 15 - Forbes

In car-dependent communities, road diets and bike lanes can be a tough sell.

May 15 - CityLab

The epidemic of falling ridership has struck no American city as hard as Charlotte, but there's plenty that could be done to recover.

May 15 - The Charlotte Observer

The number of fatalities from SUVs is up more than 80 percent in the United States since 2009.

May 15 - Jalopnik

The auto industry lobby is meeting with Trump Administration officials to convince them to ease off the throttle.

May 14 - The New York Times

Pretty Prairie has water with very high levels of nitrates, and lots of farmers that need to use nitrates if they want to keep the local economy going.

May 14 - Harper's

In Houston, investors are snapping up damaged homes that will be dependent on flood insurance.

May 14 - Houston Chronicle

Along with a scheme to simplify fares, Metra will roll out a one-day pass and a set of federally mandated safety updates.

May 14 - The Chicago Tribune

The American passenger vehicle fleet is being transformed into bigger, fuel-thirstier, and more dangerous models (for those hit by them). Americans have shown a preference for light trucks, and manufacturers are responding by ditching cars.

May 14 - Car and Driver

Though the California housing bill was a high-profile failure for pro-development activists, there are initiatives all over the country that carry its spirit.

May 14 - CityLab

Take a first look at the fruits of the Boring Company's labor. According to Elon Musk, the tunnel will be open to the public for free rides later this year.

May 14 - Los Angeles Times

New York City is seeing an adjustment in the rental market as landlords struggle to compete for renters in a suddenly crowded market.

May 14 - Bloomberg

The privately funded Brightline "fast-travel" rail system announced an opening day of May 19 for service between Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach.

May 14 - Miami Herald

BLOG POST

Why local governments can not always be trusted to run housing policy.

May 14 - Michael Lewyn

U.S. PIRG wants states to use funding from multi-billion dollar Volkswagen settlements to convert the nation's school bus fleet, 95% of which is diesel-powered, to zero-emission buses to reduce children's exposure to toxic air pollution.

May 13 - U.S. Pirg

Kathleen Pender, business columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, points to two reasons why home prices rise amidst a Bay Area exodus to other states. On a state level, out-migration shows California's strong but dysfunctional economy.

May 13 - San Francisco Chronicle

Once, trains dominated the city’s economy, now it's "brains, bikes and beer," according to city officials.

May 13 - Governing