Thousands of New Orleans businesses and residents have relocated to the 'New Baton Rouge', 75 miles to the northwest.
"Commercial and housing markets are among the most hotly contested. Professional firms chased from New Orleans are setting up offices in former grocery stores. Housing prices are soaring as evacuees bid them up with all-cash offers. Apartments and other rentals are nearly impossible to find.
...City officials acknowledge this burgeoning city also will inherit the urban headaches often associated with breakneck growth, including crowded schools, overtaxed municipal services and gridlocked traffic. Just going five miles across town these days takes 20 minutes.
..In a city running short on space, housing is the most precious commodity. Several homes have been sold sight unseen, for $400,000 and $500,000 cash. One went for $1 million in cash, real estate agent Dorsey Peek says. 'It's like nothing I've seen in 29 years,' she says."
Thanks to The Practice of New Urbanism Listserv
Read the full story: Baton Rouge rises to boomtown challenge
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
This MA town is drowning in its own sewage — and residents like it that way
Susan Murcott, a waste water expert, said if Carlisle didn't address their leaking sewage, the problem could turn “deadly.”
Iowa taxpayers are paying thousands to clean manure out of their water
While the Clean Water Act makes states responsible for regulating factory farms that discharge pollutants, Iowa has turned a blind eye to the polluting farms.
Amtrak cuts ribbon on Seattle Airo maintenance facility
The $250 million, nearly 100,000-square-foot building can house an entire Cascades Airo trainset.
To power data centers, Google seeks autonomous control of thousands of homes’ electricity
The tech company has signed a deal to indirectly pay Mid-Atlantic residents to reduce their power demand when the grid is strained.
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
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello