October 24 – 30, 2009
News & commentary about urban policy in America’s cities.
Save the Date
June 10-12, 2010 – the 8th Annual Preserving the American Dream Conference, Orlando, Florida
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** Talk of the Town Interview – Tom Rubin, American Dream Coalition **
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Mobility & Transportation
Dude, Where’s My Car? – Wall Street Journal
Revenge of the Electric Car – Daily Beast
How does weight affect a vehicle’s efficiency? – Autoblog Green
Bay Bridge closure shows drivers are resistant to transit – San Francisco Examiner
Creating a Canadian Autobahn – Canada Free Press
Amtrak loss comes to $32 per passenger – Associated Press
Light rail service planned for Philadelphia – Courier-Post
Monterey chooses light rail for transit line, rejects enviro study request – Monterey Herald
Pr. George’s looks to rely more on transit, HOV – Washington Post
New Gold Line extension raising safety concerns – Pasadena Star-News
The Definition of Failure: Houston’s Light Rail – The Antiplanner
Census survey: It’s a long, lonely commute – Washington Post
Is Portland sharing the road too much? – Mother Nature Network
Do ‘smart’ transport policies just cater to white people? – Dallas Transportation Blog
Arlington Eyes Regulation of Pedicabs – NBC, Dallas-Fort Worth
Sins of Emission: The Ethanol Boondoggle – Wall Street Journal
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Housing & Land Use
New York Migration Study, the State Continues to Lose Residents – Wendell Cox, New Geography
Escape >From New York – Wall Street Journal
Behind NY’s small-business drop – New York Post
Can Smart Growth Be Codified? Miami Thinks So – Next American City
What Jane Jacobs Can Teach Us About the Economy – Miller-McCune
Washington area is short 40,000 homes affordable to average earners – Washington Post
Supreme Court Refuses to Protect Inclusionary Housing – BeyondChron, San Francisco
U.S. Cities Use Inclusionary Zoning as Housing Costs Climb – IPS News
Renters get little relief as demand increases – Boston Globe
U.S. House Prices Could Fall Another 10% – Seeking Alpha
Housing affordability eroding, study says – Globe & Mail, Canada
San Jose to pay $2 million to acquire parcel and settle lawsuit – Mercury News
Property eyed for Durham town center, fire station – Foster’s Daily Democrat, North Carolina
Business owners say the city cheated them out of their property – WTKR.com, Virginia
Reasons for using TIFs getting away from origins – Hilton Head Island Packet, South Carolina
The TIF tell – Chicago Journal
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Freedom & Grassroots
The Carless Kids – Edward Niedermeyer, Truth About Cars
Proposition 11 means protection of private property – Peggy Venable, Austin American-Statesman
Eastside light rail: Kemper Freeman and Dow Constantine debate (video) – PNW Local, Washington
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Three Cheers!
The Week New Urbanism Died? – Wendell Cox, New Geography
Congress for the New Urbanism-Another non-profit seeking to change you – Collecting My Thoughts
Council to forego eminent domain – Daily Herald, Tennessee
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Too True To Be Good
Parking garages eyed as affordable housing – Columbia Spectator, New York
All aboard, urp, Metrorail! Our next stop: The Queasies – Washington Post
Heavy drinking on the light rail – In Denver Times
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The European Model
UN Agenda 21 – Coming to a neighborhood near you – American Thinker
Left-wing activists held over Stockholm car fires – The Local, Sweden
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High Speed Rail
Weighing The Future Of High Speed Rail In America – Ken Orski, Cascadia Prospectus
Speed-Riding the Rails: National Network Could Cost $600 Billion – Bond Buyer
Others leave U.S. in the dust on high-speed rail – Baltimore Sun
High-speed rail’s price tag doubles – Crain’s Chicago Business
Leaders agree to push for high-speed rail into Norfolk – Hampton Roads News, Virginia
Tallahassee heads for high-speed clash – Sun-Sentinel, Florida
High Speed Ohio rail plan moving forward – Toledo On The Move
High-speed rail spending to be a boon to freight rail companies – State Journal-Register, Illinois
Amtrak’s Losses – Matthew Yglesias, Think Progress
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Across the Trenches
Copenhagen meet must pave way for sustainable development – Daily Star, Dhaka
UN investigates whether Chicago housing violates human rights – Medill Reports
Affordable? U.N. Puts a Questioning Eye on New York’s Housing – New York Times
Metropolitans in the Middle – Brookings Institute
Sustainable development- an alternatives to economic growth – Honolulu Advertiser
Ideas to create affordable housing, use land efficiently – Morning Call, Pennsylvania
Township, NJ Transit study transit village – CentralJersey.com
In Miami, a Step Forward for Pedestrians – StreetsBlog
Slow Down, You Move Too Fast — Twenty Is Plenty – Huffington Post
Imagine the smart city – Financial Post
‘Tsunami’ of City Dwellers a Global Threat – The Tyee, Canada
Move to urban core takes root – Orlando Sentinel
Arlington goes its own way in lawsuit over HOV lanes – Washington Post
APTA: Investment in transit creates U.S. jobs for new green economy – The Hill
How can Seattle make transit-oriented development work? – Post-Intelligencer
Linking a sustainable Portland with how fair it is to all – Oregon Live
Proposed climate bill supports clean transportation – Metro Magazine
Suburbanization meets the Crises of Climate Change – World Changing
Urban sprawl no fun for kids – Vancouver Sun
(“Adopt Smart Growth … for the children!” – ed.)
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Quote of the Year Nominees*
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“Though many recent graduates will talk endlessly about alternative energy, new urbanism and other anti-car values, the underlying reality is that carlessness is a state of blissful irresponsibility. Principle is only the window dressing.” Edward Niedermeyer, on the anti-car peer pressure among certain groups of college-age Americans.
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“She said, ‘They have stolen our property with the point of a bayonet in Greece. Here, they steal it with white gloves.’ ” Harry Pappas, quoting his mother Carol Pappas, who spent many years defending her family’s business and fighting eminent domain abuse in Las Vegas.
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“Think a 1930s movie about a fantasy 19th century city–no cars, happy people chatting on street corners, and ordering from the butcher personally.” Norma, on how the vision of New Urbanist planners is unmoored from reality.
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* Comments? Send your feedback to me at ed@americandreamcoalition.org.
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* This Communicator sponsored by Happy Smart Growth *
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