A state bill requiring landlords to allow tenants to install portable air conditioners comes with a raft of exemptions that could restrict the most affordable options.
A new Oregon law, Senate Bill 1536, offers some relief to renters seeking to install portable air conditioning units in their apartments. According to a report by Connor McCarthy for KPTV, the bill “requires landlords and property management companies to allow their tenants to have portable air conditioning units in their apartment units.” The bill is a response to the deadly heat wave that swept the Northwest last June, when roughly 100 Oregon residents died from heat-related causes. Most of the victims lived in non-air conditioned housing, the article notes.
The bill offers a range of reasons why landlords can restrict the installation of units, however. These include building code violations, damage to the window or building, or excessive amperage. “Landlords can also ask their tenants to remove their air conditioning units between Oct. 1 and April 30.”
The could prove an obstacle for many residents of older buildings. According to a separate article by Pat Dooris for KGW8, the bill’s exceptions make it “nearly impossible” to install window units, which are hugely popular and affordable, costing at $100 less than the least expensive rolling floor unit.
Read the full story: New Oregon bill makes it easier for renters to install A/C units
The Pacific Northwest is an unlikely front in the fight for cooling
A 2021 heat dome killed over 250 people in the Pacific Northwest, bringing into sharp focus the potential of extreme heat to have deadly consequences even in historically cool climates.
Temperatures in Subways Can Soar Well Above 100. What Some Cities are Doing About it.
Extreme heat can be even more dangerous in confined subway cars and stations.
NYC Lawmaker Proposes Mandatory Cooling Law
Despite hundreds of heat-related deaths every year, the city has no regulations on cooling in residential units.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
Satanic place names
From streams and lakes to valleys and canyons, I mapped more than 1,000 places named after the Devil.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority