By no means authoritative or comprehensive, here's a collection of noteworthy phrases, paragraphs, commentaries, observations, and more from the recent week in the planning and urbanism discussion.

"While serving as acting mayor, he noted that a neighborhood newspaper headline had called him 'Action mayor Tom Menino,' and said that if elected he would try to live up to the typo." From "Thomas M. Menino, Boston’s longest serving mayor, dies at 71" by Bryan Marquard and Jim O'Sullivan for The Boston Globe.
"If the last few decades have proved anything, it’s just how much the city’s welfare depends on green space." From "Mayor de Blasio’s Plan for Parks Needs to Grow" by Michael Kimmelman for The New York Times.
"While the Beverly Hillbillies were exceptional outsiders, the characters in Slums are commonplace—the true stuff of the city. The dingbat represents their specific anyplace." From "The Veneer of Nostalgia Dingbat Life in Slums of Beverly Hills" by Joshua G. Stein for MAS Context.
"But as I talked to podcasters, they told me that the biggest reason for the podcast renaissance has nothing to do with the podcasts themselves, or the advertisers funding them….It's actually about cars." From "What's Behind the Great Podcast Renaissance" by Kevin Roose for New York.
"The New Yorker’s 2014 Halloween cover should look something like this: high angle on a shadowed cul-de-sac, pools of light illuminating the street. In those pools, row after row of tiny Elsas — the heroine of 'Frozen' — snowflake crowns glimmering, blue skirts shimmering, hands on hips in Wonder Woman’s power pose." From "Elsa or Else" by Alexandra Lange for Medium.
"He carefully posed his aging parents in snapshot tableaux and staged Latino day workers in empty fields among new tract houses to recapture the half-finished, half-raw terrain of his boyhood. In novels and movies, those suburbs are conventionally regarded as either appalling or ridiculous. Sultan showed them without any irony." From "Extra Ordinary Life" by D.J. Waldie for The California Sunday Magazine.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Congressman Proposes Bill to Rename DC Metro “Trump Train”
The Make Autorail Great Again Act would withhold federal funding to the system until the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), rebrands as the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (WMAGA).

The Simple Legislative Tool Transforming Vacant Downtowns
In California, Michigan and Georgia, an easy win is bringing dollars — and delight — back to city centers.

The States Losing Rural Delivery Rooms at an Alarming Pace
In some states, as few as 9% of rural hospitals still deliver babies. As a result, rising pre-term births, no adequate pre-term care and "harrowing" close calls are a growing reality.

The Small South Asian Republic Going all in on EVs
Thanks to one simple policy change less than five years ago, 65% of new cars in this Himalayan country are now electric.

DC Backpedals on Bike Lane Protection, Swaps Barriers for Paint
Citing aesthetic concerns, the city is removing the concrete barriers and flexposts that once separated Arizona Avenue cyclists from motor vehicles.
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Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)