The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Los Angeles City Council hopes to slow gentrification of downtown by approving a moratorium on conversion or demolition of low-cost hotels.

May 11 - The Los Angeles Times

The "median" planner is 42 years old, has been in the field for 13 years, specializes in community development and redevelopment, and earns $64,000. States with highest salaries are D.C., California and New Jersey.

May 11 - American Planning Association

An intact 19th century neighborhood has been placed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of the nation's Top 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

May 11 - The Cincinnati Enquirer

While so far only a "white-collar movement," the growing trend of biking to work is leading many cities to provide new amenities to bike commuters, and the federal government to propose employer tax breaks for each employee cycling to work.

May 11 - The Wall Street Journal

In Buckhead, a 6,000 square foot Norman-style house dwarfs its 2,700 square foot neighbors, while the City Council's Zoning Committee defeats the moratorium on "McMansions".

May 11 - Creative Loafing

Since 1975, environmentalists and their allies have fought to raise fuel efficiency standards in new vehicles. On Tuesday, another attempt was made. Meanwhile, an academic think tank testifies for an alternative approach, albeit an unpopular one.

May 11 - The San Francisco Chronicle

A U.S. foreign policy magazine and think tank have released a ranking of 146 nations by their degree of failure. Sudan tops the list.

May 11 - BBC News

A small Florida town is the center of another eminent domain controversy -- one that could displace nearly 20 percent of its population.

May 11 - Associated Press

In the face of skyrocketing house prices, some lenders are offering unprecedented 50-year mortgages.

May 11 - CNN Money

How a $10 gallon of gas would revolutionize life in America.

May 11 - The San Francisco Chronicle

An interview with Mike Davis, best-selling author of "City of Quartz" and his latest book, "Planet of Slums".

May 10 - Mother Jones

Latino population growth accounted for nearly half of the nation's population increase last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today. But growth is is led by births, not immigration.

May 10 - The Los Angeles Times

Leah Shahum, 34, is executive director of the politically powerful San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. She was just appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to fill a vacancy on the city's Municipal Transportation Agency's board of directors.

May 10 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Jane Jacobs brilliantly dissected the destruction of "inner areas" of "great cities," but she passed over the city districts that needed attention the most: less dense working and middle class neighborhoods, the ones that emptied out for the suburbs.

May 10 - The Santa Monica Lookout

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson tells a minority real estate forum that prospective contractors should keep their political views to themselves.

May 10 - Dallas Business Journal

Writing about nature in L.A. reflects the California dream and nightmare, and urban nature across the United States.

May 10 - The Believer

A developer wants to raze the old Buckingham Village apartments in Arlington County, to replace them with pricey new townhomes. Should "neighborhood guardian" Lillian Veney and her dog, who have lived in the complex for 12 years, be forced out?

May 10 - The Washington Post

How a Montreal university has embraced the city around it.

May 10 - Maisonneuve

Hot new 'old style' neighborhoods protect northwestern Michigan's beauty and prosperity.

May 10 - Michigan Land Use Institute

With millions of tons of smashed homes and other debris to dispose of, Louisiana State officials are turning to a new landfill site -- across a canal from the largest urban wildlife refuge in the country.

May 10 - The New York Times