The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The gas tax is being spread too thin on a broad range of transportation projects, according to the <em>Reason Foundation</em>. They say the gas-tax should be directed towards its original recipient: highways.

August 6 - Reason

An online map developed by the Lower Manhattan Construction Command Center documents change in New York City, and shows what development and construction is to come over the next eight years.

August 6 - The Architect's Newspaper

An environmental impact study will be launched to look at a possible 9.3-mile light rail line in Detroit. <em>Time</em>'s blog questions whether it's really such a smart move to build the line.

August 6 - Time

OMA proposes to redesign a whole continent along energy saving lines. Called Roadmap 2050, it is a plan that "combines the belief that drastic intervention is required to mitigate climate change, with a desire to give meaning and power to the E.U."

August 5 - The Guardian

New transit facilities attract lots of foot traffic, but while the facility is being built the construction clutter drives potential customers away. A new program in Minneapolis attempts to preserve local businesses through the debris.

August 5 - Next American City

In a recent speech, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown called the people who spoke out against a Bass Pro Shop "obstructionists." One of those obstructionists speaks out about the city's economic development processes, which he calls

August 5 - The Buffalo News

Chief Zoning Administrator Michael LoGrande has been promoted to director just a few short weeks after his predecessor, Gail Goldberg announced her resignation.

August 5 - The Architect's Newspaper

Carbon dioxide is one of the most widespread greenhouse gases produced by humans. Trees can absorb it, but release it when they die. Scientists are looking to build artificial trees to do the job permanently.

August 5 - National Geographic

A town in New York has been using satellite imagery from Google Earth to identify illegally-built pools.

August 5 - Associated Press

Traffic has become thick and widespread throughout Moscow, where long lines of cars harken back to the dying days of the Soviet era.

August 5 - The New Yorker

This feature from <em>Miller-McCune</em> looks at the debate over a dam near Stanford University, and whether it should be removed to restore the ecosystem the area once housed, or maintained to protect the ecosystem that it spawned.

August 5 - Miller-McCune

Three design firms offer new ideas for redesigning New Orleans' levees.

August 5 - Good

The Middle Eastern country of Qatar is bidding to play host to the 2022 World Cup. But some wonder whether the Cup might do better for the area if it were hosted by a regional coalition.

August 5 - The Huffington Post

BLOG POST

<p style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="line-height: 115%; font-size: 12pt">A few years back, I was involved with helping a land owner master plan a 30-acre parcel in Las Vegas just off the Strip, near the MGM Grand Hotel.<span>  </span>The parcel was zoned for casino uses and also had potential for hotel, residential towers and other retail uses.<span>  </span>The land owner paid about $9 million for the underutilized and nearly vacant property and received minor residual income for lower intensity uses that were currently operating on the site.<span>  </span>Initially, the land owner tried to flip the land using a prestigious national real estate brokerage that marketed the property with a glossy aerial photograph, a large red b

August 5 - Rick Abelson

Using the 15-year-old transformation of Rockville, MD's mall-centered downtown to a mixed-use town square as an example, the real estate industry sees the suburban-to-urban lifestyle change spreading across much of the country.

August 4 - Reuters via ABC News/Money

Colorado gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes thinks so. He's telling voters that Mayor John Hickenlooper of Denver's sustainability initiatives aren't as harmless as you'd think. "That's exactly the attitude they want you to have," says Maes.

August 4 - Denver Post

The city of Baldwin Park, California -- purported home of the world's first drive-thru -- is temporarily banning any new construction of drive-thrus to try to combat obesity.

August 4 - The Christian Science Monitor

With the controversial mosque near Ground Zero clearing its last major legal hurdle, Mayor Bloomberg explains why the proposal should never have been opposed.

August 4 - The Huffington Post

Neighbors are in uproar over a 71-unit affordable housing project planned on a bus-turnaround in a residential area of San Francisco because it provides only 7 parking spaces. Is smart growth planning getting ahead of itself by becoming top-down?

August 4 - San Francisco Chronicle

BLOG POST

<p> &nbsp; </p> <p> <em>Burning rainforests. Smog alerts. Gridlocked cities. Seabirds caked with oil. That&#39;s how it was, ladies and gentlemen, as we entered the &#39;90s.</em> </p> <p> This list of environmental peril is familiar still today, although we can cite some success fighting the smog. In this case, the quote is from a TV reporter in 1984, a character in a Ray Bradbury story called &quot;The Toynbee Convector.&quot;  </p>

August 4 - Tim Halbur