Lax enforcement of standards created to limit exhaust from idling diesel-powered vehicles and buses shows that there is still work to be done in Mayor Richard Daley's quest to position Chicago atop the list of the nation's greenest cities.
A recent investigation by The Chicago Tribune has found that plenty of vehicles around the city are being allowed to idle on city streets, even though a tough law was passed over four years ago to severely limit such behavior. According to the investigation, Chicago police have not written a single ticket for violation of the anti-idling law. Diesel exhaust is a well-known trigger of asthma attacks, and has been labeled as one of the single most dangerous types of air pollution by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Studies have shown that miniscule particles of soot in diesel exhaust often become lodged in the lungs and penetrate into the bloodstream, even in areas of low concentration.
As Michael Hawthorne of The Tribune reports, "To leave diesel-powered vehicles idling for more than three minutes is illegal in Chicago, yet the Tribune observed dozens of violations in the last three months. The fumes are more than an acrid nuisance; testing by the newspaper found the amount of lung- and heart-damaging soot in the air next to idling buses soared up to 30 times higher than normal street levels."
FULL STORY: Lots of smoke, noise - but not much action on diesel engine idling

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.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
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