A San Francisco family faces a 13-year battle with a community design review board. It's a troubling story of how planning ruined a family's life.
"As any developer will tell you, appeasing neighborhood groups can be as time consuming and quixotic as fighting windmills. But according to Savage, Bernal Heights is a particularly egregious example: 'One city planner said we should spend some time going around the neighborhood and really get to know the neighbors. Another neighbor, an architect building her own house, took six months off of work to get permits. That's fine for people who don't have to work. But we were working overtime to pay for the mortgage, and taking care of a new baby.'"
Thanks to Chris Steins
Read the full story: Dream House Lost : Powerful Neighborhood Groups Can Thwart Building Permit Process
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.
Housing is the top priority of Seattle’s sole new councilmember
Jenks campaigned on building 1,000 new units of affordable housing.
New tax cuts may slash $1.5 billion in funding for Miami transit, public parks
Amendment 3 will save Miami-Dade residents homeowners $2,700 in 2028.
Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania hope to finally advance climate goals post-midterms
The three states have spent years under Republican or divided control.
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