Senator Mark Kirk presented details yesterday about his plan to lease public transportation assets to private companies or partner with them to expand transit.
The cash generated by the leases or sales be reinvested in infrastructure, writes reporter John Hilkevitch:
"The initiative to loosen the reins on privatization, coming at a time of record federal and state deficits and the prospect of declining government spending on public infrastructure, runs counter to legislation that Democrat Durbin introduced Friday."
Hilkevitch reports on the controversies in Chicago over privatizing public infrastructure such as parking meters.
Read the full story: Kirk unveils plan to ease transit privatization
Chicago to Install New Parking Meters to Lessen Impact of Bad Contract
The city of Chicago will install 752 new parking meters in 2017—but still fall far from the Shoupian ideal.
The Lingering Consequences of Chicago's Parking Meter Privatization
An article examines "Exhibit A for bad public contracting"—a 75-year lease between Chicago a Morgan Stanley-led private consortium for 36,000 parking meters—as a cautionary tale about the lingering impacts of bad deals.
Chicago for Sale
Mick Dumke dives deep on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's ambitious plans to "exchange public space and public rights for private cash." Has the city learned anything from the parking meter debacle?
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority