National: Community Investment in TOD
San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank
This issue of Community Investments explores the growing practice of transit-oriented development (TOD) and its implications for community development. The articles provide an introduction to basic TOD concepts and also explore issues such as how transit affects economic opportunities for LMI workers and the interrelationship between transit and schools. We also examine equity issues in TOD and transit funding, and highlight models for protecting the interests of LMI communities affected by TOD...
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(August 30, 2010)
National: Portland Streetcar Fuels Interest Elsewhere
USA Today
A decade ago, the Pearl District in Portland, Ore., was a dicey warehouse area. A streetcar line that opened in 2001 helped transform it into a lively neighborhood with boutiques, condos and restaurants...
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(August 30, 2010)
Research: TOD in Suburban Areas
TRB TRIS
This paper will present the project efforts of a project analyzing the largest TOD development effort underway in Connecticut. Being undertaken by several developers in the South End of Stamford Connecticut, this program would rebuild a major area of Stamford which had deteriorated over the years from a manufacturing center to location of vacant factories and buildings being occupied by temporary uses...
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(August 30, 2010)
National: Family Urban Apts Would Help Smart Growth
Washington Post
If you are a middle-class family with school-age children interested in urban rather than suburban living, and if you prefer an apartment rather than a house, then your chances of finding a dwelling that meets your needs are practically zero...
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(August 30, 2010)
Blogosphere: American Appetite for Big Homes Waning
Grist
Trulia just released some very compelling charts and graphs based off of recent opinion research suggesting it might be the end of the McMansion -- the huge, mass-produced housing form associated with sprawl.
Their data, together with the drop in lot sizes for single family homes I wrote about last month, might point to a slackening in the demand for homes with lots of square footage...
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Their data, together with the drop in lot sizes for single family homes I wrote about last month, might point to a slackening in the demand for homes with lots of square footage...
(August 26, 2010)
Sacramento: Railyard Project Up in the Air
Sacramento Bee
A major deadline involving the future of the downtown Sacramento railyard - and of its financially troubled owner - passed with hardly a peep Monday....
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(August 25, 2010)
National: Are 20 Somethings Less Likely to Drive?
Capital Times
There were many interesting comments on my last post, which compared the costs of major rail and highway projects, but I was most intrigued by a link to an Advertising Age article sent by a commenter who goes by "BigWheel."...
(August 25, 2010)
Quote of the Day
Oregonian
"Rather than trying to place the burden on a particular area, we ought to be able to look at this on the aggregate and figure out how to achieve density goals,"
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(August 24, 2010)
Blogosphere: Housing Fetish Kill American Dream?
Real Clear Markets
The question of what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- the two government-created enterprises that have backed massive loans to the housing market -- involves much more than finance or real estate. It marks the end of an era. The relentless promotion of homeownership as the embodiment of the American dream has outlived its usefulness...
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(August 24, 2010)
Blogosphere: Parking Minimums Encourage Sprawl
Market Urbanism
Although we at Market Urbanism are big fans of Donald Shoup's work on parking minimums, we have to admit that rigorous econometric evidence that parking minimums mandate more parking than the market would otherwise supply has been a bit lacking. Randal O'Toole at The Antiplanner quite rightly asks to see empirical proof that parking minimums are binding...
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(August 24, 2010)
