local control
California State Sen. Ben Allen has authored SB 961 to finance optional neighborhood infill TOD districts, with support from fellow legislators. Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand is considering an initiative to protect local zoning.
The Planning Report
Though the California housing bill was a high-profile failure for pro-development activists, there are initiatives all over the country that carry its spirit.
CityLab
Blog post
Why local governments can not always be trusted to run housing policy.
Even before the bill was defeated, it exposed a major generational divide between anti-development environmentalists and their pro-density, pro-housing heirs.
San Francisco Magazine
SB 827, the controversial housing bill proposed by State Senator Scott Wiener, had a very brief run in the California State Legislature.
Curbed LA
Earlier this week, the Louisiana State Senate approved SB 462, which preempts local authorities from approving inclusionary zoning.
The New Orleans Advocate
Despite the increasing number and intensity of natural disasters, some vulnerable states are relaxing building regulations and leaving the federal government to pick up the tab when tragedy strikes again.
Bloomberg
Republicans in the Tennessee State Legislature made sure Nashville will never know if its inclusionary zoning policy would have delivered affordable housing in the city.
Tennessean
The effect of SB 35 on development projects in California might be more significant than YIMBYs have imagined, after a second project forges ahead confident in the support of state law for a large development.
The Mercury News
The mission of the National League of Cities is to advocate for cities—and the organization is now gathering evidence to push back on growing amount of state preemption of local control.
CitiesSpeak
Most deployment of 5G "small cells" won't get any resistance from federal regulations.
VentureBeat
Conor Dougherty, a Bay Area-based New York Times economics reporter, and Brad Plumer, a Times climate reporter, team-up to tackle the controversy surrounding SB 827 that has hit a raw nerve with groups that purport to support the bill's goals.
The New York Times
Questions of mayoral power verses council prerogative were the subject of conversation in New York earlier this month.
Crain's New York Business
Another bill under consideration by the California State Legislature would take land use control away from local agencies near transit stations. In this case, the new authority would be regional.
The Mercury News
Amendments are circulating for one of the most-closely watched, and passionately debated, pieces of housing legislation in the country.
Medium
Michigan voters decided that the Detroit City Council shouldn't have as much power to limit marijuana in their city, so the Detroit City Council shut it all down.
The Detroit Free Press
While the city determines where to place parking meters and how much to charge, when it comes to charging tolls to drive in Manhattan, the city's elected leaders are excluded from the political process.
The New York Times
This list is a wishlist of the most ambitious possible YIMBY political platform.
Urbanize LA
Creating a new version of the "haves" and the "have nots," Richard Florida distinguishes cities struggling against state-level anti-urban policies from cities that get more support from the state.
CityLab
A bill designed to streamline the implementation of 5G Internet infrastructure onto public poles and lights has been vetoed by California Governor Jerry Brown.
Los Angeles Times
