The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The campaign for the Sound Transit 3 ballot initiative is underway in Seattle, after local officials released a draft plan that charts a $50 billion build out of light rail in the region.

March 27 - The Seattle Times

The MS4 Permit was designed as a way to clean up urban stormwater runoff in Southern California. Many of the smaller cities in the region, however, are struggling to pay the bill to cover the permits costs.

March 27 - San Gabriel Valley Tribune

The U.S. and Canada have come to an agreement that it's time to renegotiate a treaty that governs the management of dams and water along the Columbia River—one of the largest rivers on the continent.

March 27 - The Tyee

The U.S. ranked 19 out of 20 for countries with high speed rail service according to a new survey by GoEuro.

March 27 - Grist

In the hopes of letting some air into the congested rush hour commute, BART is considering a social-media focused program to entice riders onto trains at times other than the peak commute.

March 26 - The San Francisco Chronicle

The much-needed Amtrak Gateway project to replace the century-old railroad tunnels under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan received its first financial injection plus some good planning news that will expedite the $20 billion project.

March 26 - NJ.com

A unique partnership is making it easier to construct and own a home in the Cleveland neighborhood of Ohio City, located in Cleveland..

March 26 - Cleveland Plain Dealer

The "Inequality Chronicles," now in their third installment by Places Journal, are essential reading.

March 26 - Places Journal

Lean Urbanism recently released a "lean" guide to sprawl repair—focusing on how to bring struggling shopping malls back to life.

March 26 - Lean Urbanism

The overhaul of the U.S. energy grid is already well underway.

March 25 - Fusion

The Guardian Cities details how the Kaogong Ji brought an ancient order to the sprawling city of Beijing.

March 25 - The Guardian Cities

Having launched a pedestrian safety campaign focused on education, legislators may go a step further to tackle another 'E'—enforcement. But rather than drivers, pedestrians looking down at their smart phones will be the targets.

March 25 - NJ.com

Mark Lamster has eviscerated the city of Dallas for its plans to build the Trinity Toll Road before—and he'll probably do it again.

March 25 - The Dallas Morning News

Reading The Onion's latest satire of the built environment is a bit like the experience it describes: watching as a crane moves a large object on a construction site, otherwise known as being easily distracted by harmless fun.

March 25 - The Onion

After purchasing the naming rights of the streetcar line formerly known as M-1 for $5 million, Dan Gilbert made a big reveal Thursday in Detroit.

March 25 - Detroit Free Press

TomTom's annual traffic congestion rankings predictably generated horrified, self-pitying headlines about awful congestion in top-ranked cities. But there are big problems with their methodology.

March 25 - City Observatory

In a much-hyped address earlier this week. Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose the title "Building on Burnham" to describe his survey of the Chicago's ongoing and future plans to develop parks and open space.

March 25 - Chicago Tribune

It remains to be seen if the ambitious changes in toll pricing around New York City proposed by AO9633 has the support it needs for approval, but at least the tolling agenda proposed by Move NY is now up for consideration by the State Legislature.

March 25 - StreetsBlog NYC

It's almost like the Great Recession and the Great Urban Renaissance never happened, as Americans are moving to the suburbs and the Sunbelt than to the nation's urban areas.

March 25 - Jed Kolko

In an interview, Atlanta BeltLine visionary Ryan Gravel discusses the ongoing project and how it fits an emerging, multidisciplinary understanding of what good infrastructure can be.

March 24 - Streetsblog USA