Calfornia's Dept. of Housing and Community Development recently dubbed a number of developments as "catalyst projects." Paul Shigley says they're well chosen, but money would have worked better than medals.
Shigley says that these are "promising, progressive projects" that "attempt – to varying degrees – to de-emphasize the automobile and improve the public realm."
Meriam Park in Chico, California, a proposed 2,300 unit development, is one of the designated projects. Shigley investigated how the project was coming along, and found that only 90 units are currently under construction because of the economy.
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