After spending 72 hours in New Orleans, Charles Shaw finds a city in "desperation."
"Downtown, the streets of the Quarter are empty, What is normally a vibrant and festive street scene of red-lit bars blaring Dixieland jazz and gift shops packed with beads, stuffed alligators, and Café du Monde now seems cartoonish and in bad form, a hustle as cheap as trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. Every third or fourth business is closed or for sale, and "50% off!" signs hang in the windows of the mostly empty shops that are still hanging on. Inside the music is too loud, and the shopkeeps stare out the narrow French doors across the rain swept cobblestones.
It makes you wonder how they can continue to sell kitsch when they know in their hearts that the whole world has seen the real New Orleans now, and the Mardi Gras shtick isn't cuttin' it any more. They're going broke trying to sell a memory.
...[On] the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks...no one in New Orleans seemed to be paying attention. And why should they? While the rest of the nation was glued to a tiny plot of land in Lower Manhattan they call "ground zero," an entire city lay in ruins like the real Nagasaki, and hundreds of thousands are still homeless. And while the populace is bludgeoned to death about the "evil" that we face from those abroad, there is no talk of the those that were left to die here, or the "evil" that exists when a government is so over-mortgaged in people and expenses that they can't even take care of the mess in their own backyard."
FULL STORY: NOLA Lost: 72 hours in America’s other Ground Zero

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

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

In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?

Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.

What Happens if Trump Kills Section 8?
The Trump admin aims to slash federal rental aid by nearly half and shift distribution to states. Experts warn this could spike homelessness and destabilize communities nationwide.

Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts
Despite evidence that colorful crosswalks actually improve intersection safety — and the lack of almost any crosswalks at all on the nation’s most dangerous arterial roads — U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy is calling on states to remove them.
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.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie