The City of Austin will hire consultants to develop a Downtown Austin Plan to create "one of the best downtowns in the country."
"Austin Mayor Will Wynn and other local leaders believe Downtown can eventually have as many as 25,000 residents and encourages that many parking lots be replaced with multi-level parking and condos, with downtown rail lines to help mobility...[the mayor] announced a City Council resolution to hire consultants to develop a Downtown Austin Plan aimed at turning those parking lots, and other underutilized space, into a more people-friendly, mass transit-navigable, and revenue-generating vertical topography."
In addition to a plan for subsidizing affordable housing downtown, the resolution anticipates "that a critical mass of downtown residents will provide a steady market for retail, restaurants, and (especially) mass transit that all of Austin can enjoy. The 'density begets density' argument is familiar to anyone who paid attention to the city's other recent densification efforts, such as commercial design standards or the transit-oriented development ordinance, and the plan includes many familiar features -- rail and dedicated bus lines, updating infrastructure, and dealing with those pesky height restrictions, to name a few."
FULL STORY: Downtown Density Dreams

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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