The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A Smart Growth 'Rent Belt'?

<p>Wendell Cox and Ronald Utt suggest that smart growth abuses are creating a "Rent Belt" of high-Cost areas.</p>

January 25 - The Heritage Foundation

New Orleans Tenants Oppose City's Plans To Demolish Public Housing

<p>Plans to demolish New Orleans' largest public housing complexes face strong opposition from residents.</p>

January 25 - The Los Angeles Times

Regional Plan Causes Infrastructure Concerns In Reno

<p>A proposed regional plan in Reno, Nevada, is looking to make big steps towards increasing the area's density and environmental friendliness. But opponents are worried that a rise in density will create major infrastructure problems.</p>

January 25 - Reno Gazette-Journal

San Francisco A Car-Sharing Mecca

<p>Growing demand for the innovative service is sustaining three competing car-sharing companies.</p>

January 25 - The San Francisco Chronicle

A New LEED Hub In Las Vegas

<p>An 18 million square-foot hotel and commercial resort in Las Vegas is set to become the largest LEED-certified project in the U.S. when it opens in 2009. Other builders are expected to follow the green path in Nevada, where tax breaks are generous.</p>

January 25 - Las Vegas Sun


Outrage Over Pittsburgh Transit Agency Implosion

<p>The city's Port Authority has proposed cutting 25 percent of its bus and rail service and hiking fares by 75 cents to plug an $80 million budget deficit.</p>

January 25 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A Home In The 'Hood

<p>Cheap rents draw many young people into less fashionable neighborhoods -- sparking gentrification -- though sometimes the trade-offs can be more than bargained for.</p>

January 25 - The Wall Street Journal


Metropolitan Asthma Predictions Don't Tell Much

<p>Wendell Cox discusses the "faulty predictions" of a recent report on the prevalence of asthma in 100 U.S. metropolitan areas.</p>

January 25 - From the Heartland

Rocky Mountain West Under Threat Of 'Californication'

<p>Equity refuges from the Golden State are driving up home prices, increasing traffic, liberalizing politics and bringing crime to cities in the Interior West.</p>

January 25 - The Economist

Rust Belt Community Adopts 'Smart Decline' Strategy

<p>The City of Youngstown, Ohio has decided to give up on reviving its industrial era population, and set about the process of shrinking the city down to a size more in line with its economy.</p>

January 24 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Governments Subsidizing 'Server Farms'

<p>Amid a flurry of subsidies in other states offered to companies like Microsoft and Yahoo!, Google plans to open a $600 million data center in Lenoir, North Carolina, population 17,000. The city will offer a generous tax break and a state grant.</p>

January 24 - San Jose Mercury News

Spanish Harlem Losing Its Accent

<p>A wave of gentrification is threatening Manhattan's Puerto Rican enclave.</p>

January 24 - The New York Times

Developer Bringing Panama City's Old Quarter Back To Life

<p>A former New York corporate lawyer turned developer is pouring his love for historic and human scaled urbanism into the city's neglected core.</p>

January 24 - The Boston Globe

Should Amtrak De-Nationalize?

<p>This report from <em>National Public Radio</em> discusses ideas for placing control of federally-funded Amtrak into the hands of a federal-state partnership. Many feel funding for rail should be de-nationalized and governed by regional bodies.</p>

January 24 - NPR

How Schools Teach Sprawl

<p>The planning and placement of schools is making students 'auto-dependent', according to an urban planning academic in Canada. Others also bemoan the architectural design of schools and the potentially harmful building materials used to build them.</p>

January 24 - The Globe and Mail

Planner Moonlighting: Where To Draw The Line

<p>Commissioners in Ada County, Idaho declare planner's private contract with adjacent county violated county ethics statute.</p>

January 24 - The Idaho Statesman

Community Colleges Working To Improve Role As Workforce Pipeline

<p>Though they serve over half of all U.S. college undergrads, two-year institutions have typically focused more on getting students to enroll rather than helping them reach their career goals. But that attitude is changing.</p>

January 24 - The Christian Science Monitor

Housing Boom Revitalizing Small Town America

<p>As more seniors and empty nesters seek to reclaim the downtown lifestyle of their youth, small towns across America are experiencing a second chance at economic vitality.</p>

January 24 - The New York Times

Expansion And Growth 'Reserve' Land Rejected In Kentucky

<p>Planning officials in Fayette County, Kentucky, have approved a plan that will not expand its boundary of growth. The planning commission also unanimously rejected the establishment of an 'urban reserve', in case minds changed about expansion.</p>

January 24 - Lexington Herald-Leader

Out-Of-Touch Planning Blamed For High Home Prices In Australia

<p>Planning and land use regulations are being blamed for Australia's high home prices, and also for the fact that four of its major cities are in a list of the 25 most unaffordable cities. Some feel planners are not planning with the people in mind.</p>

January 23 - The Age

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