Years of wishful talk and hopeful planning among city leaders are finally yielding physical change in this Broward County city.
Public investment, new land-use regulations, and developers who see a neighborhood on the rise are fueling a comeback of Oakland Park's formerly dreary downtown district. Street improvements, utility upgrades, land acquisition, and redevelopment incentives in a nearly 150-acre area north of Oakland Park Boulevard along Dixie Highway are helping to replace industrial gloom with a thriving Main Street atmosphere: apartments above shops, tree-shaded sidewalks, outdoor seating, street-side bustle. The city's investment has been boosted by an $18.5 million loan from the Florida League of Cities. ''We have taken a city in a bad financial situation and turned it into one of the hot spots in Broward County right now,'' Mayor Layne Walls said.
Thanks to Silvia E. Vargas
FULL STORY: Dowdy downtown gets an extreme makeover
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
Conservatives’ Decongestion Pricing Flip-Flop
When it comes to solving traffic problems, the current federal administration is on track for failure, waste, and hypocrisy.
Research Shows More Roads = More Driving
A national study shows, once again, that increasing road supply induces additional vehicle travel, particularly over the long run.
Can Progressive Planners Appeal to Conservative Principles?
Trump’s approach to policies like NYC’s congestion pricing isn’t just irrational and wasteful — it defies the tenets of conservatism. But there are ways to reframe the issues.
Oak Park Plans Earth Month Events
Join Oak Park, Illinois, for a series of Earth Month events highlighting the importance of community engagement and education, integrating sustainability into local plans, and planning for the most vulnerable, such as birds, bees and butterflies.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Florida Atlantic University
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
City of Piedmont, CA
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland