Streetsblog.net
The Decline of the Suburban Office Park
Is the suburban office park going the way of the shopping mall?
April 4, 2014
The Split Between Pragmatic Conservatism and Anti-Transit Extremism
In the final installment of a three-part series on Wisconsin's sputtering tech sector, Bruce Thompson at Urban Milwaukee notes that his home state ranks near the bottom of Democratic-leaning states on the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’s "New Economy Index." If a strong start-up economy is linked to Democratic voting patterns, as ITI's data shows, then what's gone wrong in Wisconsin?
April 3, 2014
HUD Expected to Loosen Restrictions on Mixed-Use Financing Soon
As Smart Growth America showed us earlier today, the costs of sprawl are high. So it's a bitter irony that federal rules have made it more expensive to build compact, mixed-use development by tightly limiting the share of commercial space in projects that receive financing from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
April 2, 2014
Are Sidewalks Really Necessary?
A lot of big, surprising revelations are happening in the livable streets movement around the country today. Here's a sample of what Streetsblog Network members are reporting.
April 1, 2014
Walkable or Easily Drivable? Communities Can’t be Both
There's a contentious debate happening in greater Portland about a highway expansion. Suburbanites are in favor, writes Scott Johnson at Portland Transport, and Portland residents are just as adamantly opposed.
March 31, 2014
A Hard-Fought Legislative Victory for Indianapolis Transit
Indianapolis might not be known as a transit city -- yet -- but a legislative breakthrough at the statehouse this week opens the door for dramatic improvements to its transit system.
March 28, 2014
Philadelphia Pedestrian Plaza Welcomed by 98% of Neighbors
Inspired by New York City, Philadelphia has created its own pedestrian plaza program. Unfortunately, Philadelphia's ambitions have so far been hindered by some pretty zealous restrictions, like one that would require 100 percent of adjacent property owners to agree to the change.
March 27, 2014
Catching Hit-and-Run Drivers With Amber Alerts
A Portland woman whose son was killed by a drunk hit-and-run driver has proposed a new method to apprehend motorists who flee the scene of a deadly collision. She hopes to bring an Amber Alert-like notification system to Portland to help nab the bad guys. The proposal is based on a system that's already up and running in Denver, reports Michael Andersen at Bike Portland:
March 26, 2014
Graphed: While Gas Tax Erodes, Transit Fares Climb
This is an illuminating chart, produced by Richard Bose at Network blog NextSTL. It shows how Missouri electeds have let the gas tax steadily erode in real dollars while transit riders have been subjected to repeated fare increases.
March 25, 2014
Amtrak’s Marketing Overture to Millennials
Chalk up a win for the Amtrak marketing team, which has drummed up a tonofmedia coverage with its new residency program for writers.
March 24, 2014