News: BRT Rating System, HSR Research, PA Transpo Funding, Trading Lawn For TOD, NY Green Zoning, Student Debt and Home Ownership
| Tracks News - In this section you'll find news from cities around the country as well as interviews and general reporting on issues. It might be from a newspaper or a blog, but it counts as news. |
| TRANSPORT |
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National: BRT Systems Getting Rating Standard Transportation Nation Now it can be told: there are objective standards for measuring how good your Bus Rapid Transit system is. The Institute for Transportation Development Policy has issued new scoring system to see how good BRT systems around the world are... Read On |
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Research: Accessibility Impacts of HSR The Transportationist (Full Article) This paper reviews the state of high-speed rail (HSR) planning in the United States c. 2010. The plans generally call for a set of barely inter-connected hub-and-spoke networks... Read On |
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Pittsburgh: Service Cuts Not Inevitable Pittsburgh Post Gazette Gov. Tom Corbett's remark last week that he might be able to address Pennsylvania's transportation funding shortage by the "end of the calendar year" seemed to suggest that the governor does not think he can get the Legislature to act on revenue-raising bills before the November elections... Read On |
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International: Mayor - Congestion Pricing an Insult The West Australian Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has criticised a proposal to introduce a congestion charge in Perth, saying it is an insult to the city. Economic advisory group Committee for Economic Development of Australia released a paper on Monday saying a congestion charge, where motorists pay a fee to enter the CBD during peak times, should be introduced in Perth to combat traffic... Read On |
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National: Can Road Repair Pay for Itself? Washington Post (via @robpuentes) It's no secret that America's roads need fixing. Of the nation's highways, 17.4 percent, or some 164,000 miles, were in poor or mediocre condition in 2008, according to the Federal Highway Administration... Read On |
| URBANISM/HOUSING/CITIES |
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New Jersey: Trading the Backyard for a Train Station Wall Street Journal Tom and Pat Kelly spent 22 years living what many people consider the American dream: They owned a four-bedroom home with a pool and a big yard in Turnersville, N.J. They traded that in to live near a train station... Read On |
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Atlanta: City Tops in Residents Living Alone Atlanta Journal Constitution Atlantans are likelier to live alone than residents of virtually any other major U.S. city, with nearly half of Atlanta's households having just one person, according to a census analysis released this week... Read On |
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New York: Greening New York's Zoning Rules New York Times On Monday, the New York City Council unanimously approved a package of zoning changes that will make it easier for property owners to undertake energy efficiency upgrades and even produce their own solar and wind power... Read On |
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Milwaukee: Transit Center Plans at 40 Stories Milwaukee Business Journal Redevelopment proposals sent to Milwaukee County for the Downtown Transit Center include a 40-story retail and apartment tower, office high rises, and a hotel... Read On |
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International: Surveys Holding Up Foundation Removal Daily Yomiuri The bare foundations of houses that were swept away by the massive tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake stand out against the devastated landscapes in hard-hit areas of the Tohoku region... Read On |
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International: Demand for High End Paris Real Estate Wall Street Journal (paywall) Storied French mutual insurer Groupama, battered by Europe's sovereign-debt crisis, has put some prime Paris commercial real estate on the block. Fortunately for the firm, demand for top properties has stayed strong even as the crisis has raged on the Continent... Read On |
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National: Student Debt and Home Ownership New York Times (via @dianalindindex) FOR many recent college graduates, the dream of owning a home may have to be postponed awhile as they first grapple with repaying mounds of education loans... Read On |
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Providence: Brown U to Pay City Instead of Taxes Wall Street Journal (via @landpolicy) An agreement dating back to Colonial times provides that Brown University is "freed and exempted from all taxes." How times have changed. With its hometown gripped by the worst fiscal crisis in memory, the Ivy League college agreed Tuesday to voluntary payments of $31.5 million to Providence over 11 years.. Read On |
