The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>The debate over McMansionization has pitted neighbor against neighbor across the United States.</p>

July 24 - The Los Angeles Times

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<p>At the opening dinner of an international workshop on building a better national transportation policy, I found myself seated between Charlotte, North Carolina mayor Pat McCrory and Shirley DeLibero, a consultant who headed transit authorities in New Jersey and Houston, and was a deputy in both Dallas and Washington D.C. </p><p>McCrory&#39;s a Republican, Charlotte&#39;s first six-term mayor, first elected mayor in 1995. While his city has grown 20 percent, McCrory&#39;s presided over a shift from an all-roads strategy to a hybrid model adding rail transit to heavily congested corridors radiated from the region&#39;s center. The first line, a south corridor, is scheduled to open this fall, supported by the half-cent sales tax passed in 1998 to build and operate a better transit system. Now in 2007, the mayor finds himself in a serious cross-fire as he ponders re-election prospects.</p>

July 23 - Anonymous

<p>To reduce traffic congestion and parking shortage, Paris launched a bike rental program similar to one implemented in other European cities. After its first week, an average of 45,000 bikes have been rented every day.</p>

July 23 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, has built a Catholic college and a Catholic-focused community in Ave Maria, Florida. The 5,000-acre community will include 11,000 housing units, 1.2 million s.f. of mixed use space, and a 55-foot crucifix.</p>

July 23 - USA Today

<p>By leasing some of its publicly-owned parking facilities to private developers, the city of Minneapolis is taking a large chunk out of its debt and creating a new stream of tax revenue.</p>

July 23 - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune

<p>Already one of the nation's most bike-friendly cities, Portland, Oregon, is looking to update its bicycle master plan to make cycling even more attractive in the city.</p>

July 23 - The Portland Tribune

<p>This year's Chelsea Flower Show in London offers some innovative examples of how gardens can flourish in cities.</p>

July 23 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A new design for mid-rise apartments promises to help make more higher-density projects pencil.</p>

July 23 - Apartment Finance Today

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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">Most people use the Summer months to re-connect with pastimes forgotten during winter months.<span> </span>It is this time of the year that sales soar both at the box office and in bookstores.<span> </span>Most normal people I know take trashy novels with them to the beach or submerge themselves in an entire season of 24 (which thanks to Netflix can be accomplished in a few intense evenings).<span> </span>I tend to lean toward the other extreme (although I have indulged in bad TV from time to time).<span> </span>My wife calls me a design geek because my bedside table is always full of design magazines, books and theory.</font></font></p>

July 23 - Scott Page

<p>Citing the successful examples of transit-oriented development in Portland and Denver, Mayor Tom Barrett says its time for the Brew City to improve its transit system.</p>

July 23 - Small Business Times

<p>Even with the housing slow down, the cost of building a new apartment building continues to rise -- due to increasing prices for materials and a surge of commercial construction projects.</p>

July 23 - Apartment Finance Today

<p>Want a buy a home for less than $100,000? Check out these communities profiled by Money Magazine.</p>

July 23 - Money Magazine

<p>Home to Chinese immigrants before becoming a town known for vice and sin, Garden City, Idaho, is planning a rebirth that leaders and residents hope will transform the community into a desirable and prosperous part of Metro Boise.</p>

July 23 - The Boise Weekly

<p>Director Rita Robinson discusses the Bureau of Sanitation's pursuit of a cleaner, greener, and landfill-free L.A.</p>

July 22 - The Metro Investment Report

<p>A trip to Baja California -- with its ubiquitous taco stands -- inspires one resident of a New Urbanist community to deal with his neighborhood's lack of eateries by developing a plan for a taco stand.</p>

July 22 - A Taco Stand in Every Neighborhood

<p>Politicians in Toronto are looking to large-scale developments centered around casinos to help boost the city's economy. But the provincial legislation in Ontario may prevent the approval of any new casinos.</p>

July 22 - The Toronto Star

<p>The State of California has approved a plan to clean mercury from the San Francisco Bay. Due to the high concentration of the harmful toxin, the extensive effort has a 70-year timetable.</p>

July 22 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>For a host of environmental and aesthetic reasons, roof-top vegetation and gardens are catching on -- though there are still many questions about how and when to apply the technique.</p>

July 22 - The Salt Lake Tribune

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<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">I couldn’t wait to use the new word, <strong>ginormous</strong>, which Merriam-Webster recently added to the Collegiate Dictionary.<span>  </span>My spell checker has been trained and now I can get about the business of saving ginormous amounts of energy.<span>  </span>Recent bouts of ecoterrorism in the form of Hummer vandalism in Washington D.C. and the growing media attention to the environmental hypocrisy of the travel and housing habits of card-carrying carbon footprint club members (take a gander at the 10,000 sq. ft. home of Al Gore or the 28,200 sq.

July 21 - Steven Polzin

<p>New York and San Francisco are the American cities to make the list, compiled by the editors of Travel + Leisure magazine. Florence, Italy tops this year's list.</p>

July 21 - MSNBC