Blogosphere: Bigger Cities
The Bellows
Today is the day that new county level and metropolitan population estimates come out, which is a day I look forward to for months. I was tweeting random notes, and Yglesias demanded a blog post, so here you go...
(March 24, 2010)
Denver: The Future of the Denver Region
5280 Magazine
The Mile High City is consistently hailed as one of the best places to live in the United States-and who are we to argue? But with an additional 1.5 million people expected to move to the Front Range by 2035, our treasured lifestyle may be at risk.....
(December 3, 2009)
Blogosphere: Walkable Urbanism Good for Seniors
Greater Greater Washington
This Thanksgiving, I visited my grandparents in their new apartment in a senior community in New Jersey. Heath Village is a quiet, suburban retirement community, similar to Leisure World in Olney. My grandparents' new home is a good facility with more than adequate staffing and opportunity for recreation. It also has plenty of parking...
(December 1, 2009)
National: Trading Suburbs for City Life
Wall Street Journal
I love cars, and I love to drive. Other people dread commuting. My daily drive to work was precious "me" time, when I cranked up my guilty-pleasure music or collected my wits. Now, for the first time in 30 years, my sanctuary is gone. I don't have my own car anymore, and I don't drive to work.....
(October 28, 2009)
Blogosphere: Together For Smarter Development
NARP Blog
Expert panelists call attention to the burgeoning demand for homes that are convenient to transit and the challenges to making such housing widely available and affordable. ...
(October 15, 2009)
Report Finds Thousands Living In Affordable Housing Near Transit Could Face Higher Rents
Study by AARP, Reconnecting America and National Housing Trust explores impact of expiration of contracts for federally subsidized units
In the next five years as many as 160,000 renters in 20 metro areas could lose their affordable apartments near transit because the contracts on their privately-owned HUD-subsidized rental units are due to expire. The renewed popularity of urban living means that properties in walkable neighborhoods near transit have increased in value, and that property owners are likely to opt out of the HUD program and convert the housing from affordable to market rate. These are the results of a recent study by AARP, Reconnecting America and the National Housing Trust.
(September 30, 2009)
Quote of the Day
New York Times
The problems of taunting and harassment, known as eve teasing, are so persistent that in recent months the government has decided to simply remove men altogether.....
Read On
(September 18, 2009)
Blogosphere: Some Neighborhoods Change Faster
Crosscut
In the 1930s, my father had a paper route in the Rainier Valley that included the Courtland neighborhood, a residential area tucked between Mount Baker and Columbia City. It gave him a view of the "other side of the tracks." In an oral history I recently came across, he described the area as giving him "glimpses of poverty, drunkenness, the difficulties of old age, people who were irresponsible with their children, people who were mean, and people who were beautiful, and people who faced the Depression with great dignity and courage." ....
Read On
(September 9, 2009)
Phoenix: Green Homes on the Corridor
Arizona Republic
Ernesto Fonseca and Philip Beere see the economically ravaged Metro light-rail corridor of west-central Phoenix as the perfect laboratory for their green experiment. The hypothesis Fonseca and Beere are out to test is that older homes in foreclosure-heavy neighborhoods along the rail line could be converted into energy-efficient and environmentally low-impact "green" homes without adding much cost....
(September 8, 2009)
National: Sust Dev Dogged by Gentrification Fears
IPS News
As U.S. cities consider the urgent need for sustainable public transportation options, advocates are looking for ways to achieve the environmental benefits of such projects without displacing residents through gentrification of surrounding areas.....
Read On
(September 1, 2009)
