The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>By denying that the American housing market was artificially inflated, and by keeping interest rates low and encouraging risky mortgage lending, the Federal Reserve contributed significantly to the inevitable bursting of the housing bubble.</p>

September 9 - Common Dreams

<p>This column criticizes the recently-passed Kansas City ordinance that restricts billboard advertising within the city, claiming it will disproportionately harm local small businesses that are already having trouble getting noticed.</p>

September 9 - The Kansas City Star

<p>In what is arguably the most important environmental bill in California since last year's Global Warming Solutions Act, SB 375 attempts to reduce global warming by addressing land use and transportation through better regional planning.</p>

September 8 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>For those developers and planners frustrated by not being able to push projects past local opposition, writer Garret Keizer offers his formula for getting nearly any project approved.</p>

September 8 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>This article from <em>Metropolis Magazine</em> looks at how New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's broad environmental plans will serve to redefine civic virtues for the 21st century.</p>

September 8 - Metropolis Magazine

<p>A high-profile advertising campaign/contest is looking to bank on the coolness of historic preservation by inviting Chicago residents to vote for their favorite crumbling landmarks. The winner of the contest will receive $1 million in rehab funds.</p>

September 8 - The Chicago Tribune

<p>With ambitious environmentally-conscious building requirements and the cooperation of the state government, the California Capitol city Sacramento is looking to edge past Chicago as the nation's greenest city.</p>

September 8 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Proponents of the "creative class" theory argue that hip cities will be the most successful because they lure highly educated professionals who are essential in today's economy. But detractors say this is simply an argument for bread and circuses.</p>

September 7 - California Planning & Development Report

<p>This audio report discusses the creeks of Seattle and how years of neglect, abuse, and pollution have endangered fish species, destroyed wetlands, and caused big problems for the area's storm drainage.</p>

September 7 - KUOW

<p>Sicily's forests are being ravaged by fires many suspect are being set by the Mafia, who plan on reaping financial benefits when the land is rezoned for construction.</p>

September 7 - The Globe and Mail

<p>The Kansas City Council has passed an ordinance that will tightly restrict outdoor billboard advertising within the city. The ordinance effectively bans new billboards from all city streets.</p>

September 7 - The Kansas City Star

<p>Columnist William Blackburn laments school trailers and their effect on the psyche of America's youth.</p>

September 7 - The Charlotte Observer

<p>Water agency officials in Florida are considering a plan to pump 262 million gallons of water per day from local rivers to satisfy a high population growth rate. But many are calling the plan short-sighted and a futile attempt to control nature.</p>

September 7 - The Florida Times-Union

<p>Developers of an oceanside resort and housing complex in Hawaii have significantly reduced their project's scope in an effort to win over wary neighbors and public officials. But the project is slated for a plot where "resorts" are prohibited.</p>

September 7 - Honolulu Star-Bulletin

<p>A ruling in California is expected to greatly reduce the amount of water the state can pump from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta -- a water source for nearly half the state's residents and much of its farmland.</p>

September 7 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Urbanization is threatening and consuming forests in New England more rapidly than in any other place in the nation.</p>

September 7 - The Christian Science Monitor

<p>This report from <em>NPR</em> looks at a homeowner who has transformed her house's plumping to reuse its "gray water" -- non-potable water from sinks that can be rerouted into gardens and toilets. Some lawmakers are discouraging this method.</p>

September 7 - NPR

<p>U.S. cities such as Chicago, San Francisco, and Sacramento are becoming more energy efficient in an effort to attain the title of the nation's greenest city.</p>

September 6 - The Sacramento Bee

<p>Scientists who studied pollution from a pair of major cities in both the U.S. and China urge the rapidly developing nation to learn from the past environmental mistakes in the U.S.</p>

September 6 - AP via Forbes

<p>Protests, lawsuits, and accidents have caused big delays in the construction of the controversial Atlantic Yards mixed use project in Brooklyn, New York. But the developers say the project will be completed on time.</p>

September 6 - The New York Observer