The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Comedian Drew Carey takes a straight-faced look at eminent domain and how the land acquisition practice has gone from beneficial to abusive in National City, California in this video from <em>Reason</em>.</p>

November 16 - Reason

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Transcontinental flights are a great time to catch up on reading, and a recent flight from San Jose to Chicago inspired this blog post. As I was reading book #1 (below), I realized that a number books have been published recently that have important things to say about cities although they might be dismissed too easily as reactionary, ideological, or simply not relevant to urban planning. </font></p>

November 15 - Samuel Staley

<p>Joseph Clement reports on the New York City's new "Class 1" bike lane on 9th Avenue.</p>

November 15 - Spacing

<p>Plans to bring chain outlets such as Starbucks and Subway to a small California town have locals up in arms over what they see as a threat to their town's historic character.</p>

November 15 - Telegraph

<p>How computer-aided design (CAD) changed manufacturing, architecture and engineering.</p>

November 15 - Wired

<p>Congestion is one of the most common complaints about a city, whether it's L.A., New York, Beijing, or Sydney. This article takes a look at how congestion is important to making a city what it is.</p>

November 15 - The Sydney Morning Herald

<p>Honda, Ford, and GM will put hydrogen fuel cell cars on the road in Southern California.</p>

November 15 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Developers plan to continue with a major project in downtown L.A. despite a slowing market, confident in demand for environmentally-friendly homes and walkable, urban neighborhoods.</p>

November 15 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Vancouver looks to its people to help chart out the city's future growth strategy.</p>

November 15 - The Vancouver Sun

<p>Business owners in Mesa, Arizona are worried that a planned light rail extension will harm their businesses if it passes through their street -- a plan they have been vocal in opposing.</p>

November 15 - East Valley Tribune

<p>Facing water restrictions, a North Carolina homeowner has paid to have a water well drilled on his property so that he can water his lawn -- a trend that is increasing and posing a potential problem to the common supply from the area's water table.</p>

November 15 - NPR

<p>West Los Angeles neighbors of the Museum of Tolerance are opposing a planned addition to the popular Holocaust education center due to increased traffic and noise, and late-night private functions.</p>

November 15 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Road designers in Japan have created a system of specialized grooves on highway pavement that produce melodies when cars drive over them at certain speeds.</p>

November 14 - The Guardian

<p>Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has announced a broad plan to build affordable housing for the city's poor and low-income, as well as to impose measures that make it more difficult to convert buildings to luxury condos.</p>

November 14 - The Washington Post

<p>Economist Peter Gordon reflects on a recent tour of San Jose, California -- where the so-called "revitalized" downtown is dead and nearly one-third of the city is blighted.</p>

November 14 - Peter Gordon's Blog

<p>Plans to reconstruct a New York school with a high-rise condo development on top have riled neighbors, arguing that the plan would grossly violate zoning restrictions.</p>

November 14 - The New York Times

<p>The New Frontier, the first themed casino in Las Vegas, was imploded to make way for a Plaza-branded luxury resort, continuing the trend of landmark-razing, price-pushing new development.</p>

November 14 - Associated Press

<p>This editorial from <em>The Oregonian</em> argues that even though Measure 49 passed, it is only a slight step backward on an irreversible path towards more property rights in Oregon.</p>

November 14 - The Oregonian

<p>A city councilman in New York City is looking to counteract the city's pigeon problem by charging a $1,000 fine to anyone caught feeding the birds.</p>

November 14 - WCBS

<p>A dispute over two possible routes for California's high-speed rail line has elevated to members of Congress formally opposing federal funding for a route that does not include their districts.</p>

November 14 - San Jose Mercury News