The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Artist Edgar Arceneaux is the man behind the Watts Towers Project, a collaboration of international artists to make the poverty-stricken neighborhood facing on the famed folk art structure into works of art in their own right.

November 4 - Los Angeles Times

The James Bond films have featured some of the most memorable built environments in all of cinema. Too bad Bond invariably blows them up.

November 4 - Guardian (UK)

Democratic insiders have mapped out the possible face of an Obama presidential cabinet. Shortlisted for Secretary of Transportation are Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar.

November 4 - Politico

A grassy median in a tony Santa Monica neighborhood has been a hotspot for local fitness buffs looking for a nice place to workout for years. But residents tired of the constant outdoor gym that invades their street are complaining to the city.

November 4 - Los Angeles Times

This piece from the <em>Pittsburgh Tribune-Review</em> looks at the rising amount of wildlife being seen in urban Pittsburgh. According to local experts, this trend has both good and bad implications.

November 4 - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Democrats are in cities and Republicans are in rural areas, according to the results of recent elections. But with two metropolitan candidates in this year's election and an increasingly urbanized populace, that split may become obsolete.

November 4 - Citiwire

By planting in under-utilized backyards, farmer Trevor Paque has brought small-scale farming to more than 50 homes across San Francisco -- a decentralized farm expected to feed more than 150 families come spring.

November 4 - USA Today

Sixty years after twenty people died from air pollution spewing from a steel and zinc mill in Donora, PA (just outside Pittsburgh) in perhaps the worst air quality tragedy in the U.S., a museum has opened to commemorate and learn from the tragedy.

November 4 - The New York Times

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors recently approved a package of green building ordinances that may be the most comprehensive and far reaching green building legislation at the local level in the country.

November 4 - The Planning Report

Entrepreneurs do better in smaller cities than larger ones, according to a new study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

November 3 - Financial Post

With rising energy prices, lights are dimming in New York City. Legislation in the state seeks to reduce the city's glow even more.

November 3 - The New York Times

In a privately-owned plaza designed by Mies van der Rohe in Toronto, owners have sliced into benches to dissuade skateboarding. Some call it an affront to the legendary designer's work.

November 3 - The Globe and Mail

David Brooks is dismayed at all the failed 'stimulus packages' and those yet to come. Instead, he points to short and long term infrastructure plans, mostly in transportation, that will help the country in addition to any stimulus to the economy.

November 3 - The New York Times

A federal judge has put the kibosh on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to require taxi companies to use mostly hybrid vehicles by 2012.

November 3 - New York Times

The foreclosure scourge has moved its way into Oregon, causing some of the highest rates of loan defaults since the 1980s.

November 3 - The Oregonian

New York City has released new bicycle counts that demonstrate a 35% increase from 2007 to 2008. Many believe this dramatic rise has much to do with the city's renewed commitment to alternative transportation.

November 3 - The New York Times

High Occupancy Toll lanes, long derided as 'Lexus Lanes', may have to be re-dubbed. Statistics kept by the Washington State DOT on a new Hwy 167 HOT lane show that most users are not driving fancy luxury cars.

November 3 - The News Tribune

While home values in the rest of the region decline, homes near Denver's light rail system have experienced an increase in values over the past two years.

November 3 - The Denver Post

Stimulus packages are nothing more than an "economic sugar rush", according to columnist David Brooks. He argues that the country needs to create a larger-scale transportation-based infrastructure project to really bail out the economy.

November 3 - International Herald Tribune

FEATURE

November 3 - James Rojas