An op-ed column discusses benefits and costs of wind energy -- the newly developing industry behind it, the tax breaks it receives, and the logic or NIMBYism of opponents.
Are windmills eyesores, or signs of modernity? Do they affect property values? Should government mandate siting standards for wind generators?
Although recently rising energy costs have created a buzz in the market for alternative and renewable energy sources, some players are not yet convinced. Opponents of windpower call it "...an aesthetic blight, a source of noise pollution, a murderer of birds and bats. As for the still-young wind industry, it is an environmental plunderer, with its hirelings and parasites using a few truths and the politics of wishful thinking to frame a house of lies."
Op-ed columnist Anne Applebaum argues that such oppositions "...reflect a deeper American malady. The problem plaguing new energy developments is no longer NIMBYism, the 'Not-In-My-Back-Yard' movement. The problem now, as one wind-power executive puts it, is BANANAism: 'Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.'"
Will other greener alternatives face the same opposition?
Read the full story: Tilting at Windmills
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Record-breaking wildlife overpass in Colorado brings 91% reduction in animal collisions
Prior to the overpass, vehicles were hitting one deer per day on Colorado’s Interstate 25.
Detroit to transform waterfront with $2.2 billion investment
Developers will convert about 18 acres of unused parking lot space into civic spaces.
‘Going backwards:’ Baltimore mayor, students rally against state's transit funding plan
Maryland's proposed six-year plan provides no funding for Baltimore’s BMORE bus program and reduces its road maintenance funding.
Trump wants to cancel nearly 98% of funding for HUD housing support program
Multiple housing groups are suing the administration in an effort to preserve the funding.
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 Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello