The price of long commutes can't just be measured in lost hours. Income segregation, job sprawl, and the resulting negative feedback on families eats into overall economic and social well-being.

"Working multiple jobs is one way to have less time with your kids; a long commute is another." In this article, Whet Moser explores the economic losses that go hand-in-hand with that social truth. Income segregation and job sprawl are the main challenges.
The Metropolitan Planning Council's Marisa Novara remarked, "When low-wage workers have to pay a huge amount of their paycheck just to get to work, or when they're located in places that public transit doesn't go, it's not just a detriment to an individual low-wage worker, it actually negatively impacts the whole economy. Higher skill work needs the lower skill work in order to thrive."
Moser pulls from work by the economist Raj Chetty, who concludes that poor access to jobs directly hinders social mobility. "By Chetty's numbers, commute time is up there with the fraction of single parents in terms of correlation [...] But among the factors he did study—family structure, race and income segregation, school quality, social capital—[commute time] doesn't get a lot of attention for its effects on social outcomes."
FULL STORY: Bad Commutes Make an Economy Worse

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

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

The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.

Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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