The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Once hailed the transit-pay mechanism of the future, the cards have become one of Bay Area transit's biggest flops. Yet the money keeps flowing while the costs keep rising.

June 4 - The Contra Costa Times

Strategic Hotels & Resorts has proposed a plan to build a 20-acre national jazz center and park in the center of New Orleans, to be designed by Pritzker Prize winner, Thom Mayne.

June 4 - New Orleans Times-Picayune

Extracting oil from Canada's tarry sand has lead to large incomes and huge environmental tolls for the holder of the world's second-largest oil reserves.

June 4 - The Washington Post

Indiana's governor explains how he solved his state's transportation budget gap using private capital rather than public funds -- by leasing the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road for $3.8 billion to a foreign consortium.

June 4 - The New York Times

Displaced residents tell the City Council that they will return to their 7th Ward housing complex this weekend and will tear down any fences in their way, refusing to wait any longer for official action on permission to return.

June 4 - The Times-Picayune

Phoenix and Tucson are building up, not out, but is it enough to slow desert development?

June 3 - The Christian Science Monitor

The popularity of mixed-use suburban town centers is threatening the viability of older, traditional downtowns. While many tout their urban-style amenities, the suburban centers often lack transit and -- sometimes -- even sidewalks.

June 3 - The Wall Street Journal

The federal government has granted permission for construction of Maryland's Intercounty Connector (ICC) outside the nation's capitol.

June 3 - The Baltimore Sun

Alfred Runte, author of "Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation", calls on the United States to revive its passenger rail service in order to conserve energy and preserve the natural landscape.

June 3 - The Seattle Times

Formed with the help of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and legions of African Americans discriminated against during the Civil Rights era, the agency that helped pass the federal Fair Housing Act will close.

June 3 - Chicago Sun Times

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has produced a spoof political ad to mock the preservation of the city's controversial Alaskan Way Viaduct, although he may run into ethics violations for using a City Hall production crew.

June 2 - Seattle Weekly

Water privatization brings a flood of problems in U.S. cities. Is this a preview of a global issue?

June 2 - The Los Angeles Times

Interesting mapping applications are emerging from museums and other organizations dedicated to education and conservation.

June 2 - The Christian Science Monitor

Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and other big box stores could pay Chicago employees a "living wage" as early as next month.

June 2 - The New York Times

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Ralph Martire says that the project warrants careful analysis before the state decides to sell-off a profit-making asset to reduce deficit.

June 2 - Chicago Sun-Times

Frank Gehry, Herzog and de Meuron, Cesar Pelli, Richard Meier, and Enrique Norton are all working on projects in Miami.

June 2 - The New York Times

Pataki plans to require drastic cuts in mercury emissions from the state's power plants, going further than Bush's new standards, and angering the business community, which fears the tough standards may force coal-burning plants to close.

June 2 - The New York Times

Fearing that one memorial may lead to many more in the wake of the Big Dig, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is not supporting the placement of an Armenian-American memorial on the yet to be completed Rose Kennedy Greenway.

June 2 - The Boston Globe

After the much anticipated unveiling of the first quadrant in the Miami 21 project on May 13th, the public is now taking the opportunity to react to the City's most ambitious urban planning effort to date.

June 2 - Miami Sun-Post

It's been well documented that San Francisco has few households with children, and locals know that schools are closing because of declining enrollment. Yet pre-schoolers are on the rise -- why are families leaving the city before kindergarten?

June 2 - The San Francisco Chronicle