In what is almost a real-life caricature of the battle of the single homeowner against the huge corporation, Edith Macefield refused to sell her home to a developer planning a major retail outlet, who then built around. This week Ms. Macefield died.
"It was in 2006. I had written a column about how old Edith had refused to leave her tiny home in a filthy, industrial Ballard neighborhood, saying 'no' to a nearly million-dollar buyout offer from a developer."
"Her house was valued as a worthless tear-down by the government. But to her it was priceless."
"Edith died Sunday, at 86. She died in the tiny cottage she had refused to leave, not for a million bucks."
"'She got what she wanted,' said Charlie Peck, a longtime friend. 'She wanted to die at home, in the same house, on the same couch, where her mother had died. That's what she was so stubborn about.'"
"He said she was never trying to stick it to The Man. Or to make any larger statement against development or money or anything else."
"The tiny house in the industrial flats once was part of a row of picket-fence-lined cottages along a working-class street. That was old Ballard."
"Today it sits walled in on three sides by what will be a five-story health club and a Trader Joe's. New Ballard."
FULL STORY: Edith Macefield and her house were symbols of Old Ballard
Can Progressive Planners Appeal to Conservative Principles?
Trump’s approach to policies like NYC’s congestion pricing isn’t just irrational and wasteful — it defies the tenets of conservatism. But there are ways to reframe the issues.
Vermont Land Use Case Could Go to Supreme Court
Property owners argue that a new law protecting wildlife corridors amounts to an unconstitutional taking of property.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions