How does a rapidly changing news media affect big city planning? Badly, according to this post from Next American City.
"It's the dirty little secret of every city built on water that poo sometimes ends up in the water. Even in those places blessed with modern sewerage treatment, ie, the developed world, poo still ends up in the water when it rains a lot. In old cities, where the storm and sanitary sewers run through the same lines, heavy rains can overwhelm the system, requiring the release of untreated wastewaters into the waterways. It's a problem that continues to plague cities throughout the developed world."
"Modern engineering has hit upon an ingenious, though expensive, solution to this nagging problem: massive underground tanks that hold overflow wastewater until it can be treated, thus preventing its release into the waterways."
"Milwaukee is the first large Great Lakes city to adopt this technology. In the 1980s the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) embarked on a multi-billon dollar project, dubbed the Deep Tunnel, which essentially resulted in a series of massive tunnels bored deep beneath the city."
"But these facts don't matter. In a public sphere heavily influenced by talk radio and other media outlets, such as local blogs, where there is no clear line between fact and opinion, where outright falsehoods are presented as legitimate opinions, (often in the form of 'regular joe' commentary) the billons of dollars in investment in the Deep Tunnel are now deemed a massive waste."
Thanks to Dave Steele
FULL STORY: Solving Civic Problems in a Post-Fact Society

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

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

The French Solution to Congested Tunnels: Make Them Car-Free
Bay Area transportation officials keep expanding car capacity. Lyon’s Croix Rousse Tunnel offers a different way.

Missouri Governor Reverses Anti-Discrimination Housing Policies
A new state law bars cities from prohibiting source-of-income discrimination against tenants using Section 8 housing vouchers.

USDOT Launches Unfunded 'SAFE ROADS' Program
The program targets “distractions” and “political messages or artwork,” and paves the way for autonomous vehicles.
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.
City of Fort Worth
planning NEXT
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie