A Next City article argues that investing in job programs and other public goods would do more to make those communities safe than investing in police departments.
It's often said that budgets reveal what people, governments or companies really care about. Kumar Rao argues that the budgets for cities often reveal garbled priorities. "Most of the cities we profiled devote 25 percent to 40 percent of their general fund expenditures towards policing and criminalization, while shortchanging community investments," Rao writes in Next City.
He pulls numerous examples of cities with well-funded police departments that have histories of bad behavior or cities that need investment elsewhere. "New York City spends nearly $5 billion on a police force that still prioritizes discriminatory and ineffective broken windows policing, even as its decaying public transit system calls out for investment," Rao writes.
Read the full story: Why Rising Police Budgets Aren’t Making Cities Safer
Investment in Public Transit Could Reduce the Need for Police Traffic Enforcement
In Nick Demarsh and Rick Banks' opinion, defunding the police requires cities to reconsider car culture.
Making Space for the 'Invisible Cyclists' in Post-Pandemic Transportation Planning
As biking gains popularity as a transportation mode during the pandemic, planners are called on to elevate the role of "invisible cyclists"—people of color on bikes—in the process of redesigning and re-engineering streets.
'Biking While Black?' You're More Likely to Get a Ticket in Chicago
Majority-white neighborhoods like West Town and Lincoln Park are among the most popular for biking in Chicago, but they’re not in the top ten neighborhoods for bike tickets.
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.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Move over, LA: St. Louis gears up for Olympics, invests millions in downtown redevelopment
The Missouri city will host the 2028 Olympic soccer group stage and knockout matches.
Mass. votes against statewide minimum lot size for single-family homes
Over 2 million residents voted on Question 7; it was decided by just over 30,000 votes.
Maryland’s $15 billion bridge project gains key approval
The Maryland Transit Authority said the project will create over 60,000 jobs and add $23 billion to the local economy.
‘No clear next steps’ for Chicago's permanent festival grounds
Eleventh Ward Ald. Nicole Lee has suggested Soldier Field as a possible location for the permanent event space.
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