The price tag for the de Blasio administration’s stormwater and sea-level rise plan rose $1.3 billion after some costly additions. Now some city council members are bringing in a second group to examine the plan.
Flooding on the Lower East Side of Manhattan would be very costly for the city of New York, and how much the city should spend to prepare for floods is a matter of debate. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration had revised the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project to speed up construction time and lift East Riverside Park. "The revision raised the estimated price from $760 million to $1.3 billion," according to reporting from Ryan Deffenbaugh.
Pushback from the Manhattan officials led to the decision to have the plan reviewed. "Hans Gehrels of the Dutch environmental group Deltares has already begun a review of the project, which would add a flood barrier up to 13 feet high along a roughly 2.5 mile stretch of coastline between Montgomery and East 25th streets," Deffenbaugh writes. The review will cost the city $20,000 and will be delivered by September 23.
FULL STORY: Officials seek second opinion on Lower East Side flood barrier
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association