City manager of Phoenix Frank Fairbanks talks about how the city created a program to advise residents on how to effectively and creatively reuse old buildings.
"Here at City Hall, we're well aware of the challenges that small businesses face when trying to remodel an existing building into a new use. It can be quite difficult to update a building and improve a site from decades past into a contemporary use that meets current development codes. Time and again, we encountered small-business owners who had invested time and financial resources into buying or leasing older or historic buildings, only to discover that the buildings they selected could not easily be converted to their intended purpose without adding substantial costs and time to the project. We wanted to find ways to help these small-business owners realize their vision and achieve success in the neighborhoods they'd chosen. By studying best practices and consulting with small business owners, artists, cultural, neighborhood and community organizations, we developed an adaptive reuse pilot program for downtown-area buildings that were up to 2,500 square feet in size and at least 25 years of age."
FULL STORY: New Lives for Old Buildings

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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