One of the sickest paradoxes in American law has got to be the arduous environmental review that's applied to transit and dense building projects, but I didn't think it was this bad. From an article about San Mateo County residents bitching about being asked to pitch in for the roads they use: The … [Read more...]
Seattle’s land use liberalization
It's not often that I find a plan that I can wholeheartedly agree with, but this one from Seattle sounds damn near perfect, at least in terms of marginal change (my emphasis...apologies to Publicola for stealing their content!): 1. Instead of the current generic land-use standards, the new … [Read more...]
Reinflating the housing bubble through the FHA?
I'd like to believe that, at least for another ten years or so, no amount of government money will be able to override investors' memories of the most recent housing bubble. But we may soon find out what lessons we really learned: While everyone has been watching Fannie and Freddie, the … [Read more...]
A question and a link list
Hey guys, before I start this link list, I wanted to ask: Has anybody had trouble posting comments here with Disqus lately? Either you can't post them, or once you do they disappear? I've gotten two complaints in the last few days, so if you've been experiencing any problems please don't hesitate … [Read more...]
How local property taxes discourage density
In yesterday's post about a proposal in Philadelphia to mandate adherence to certain "visitability" standards in new residential construction, but only for multifamily units, I asked if anyone knew of any other burdens that are heaped unfairly on apartment-dwellers. Regular commenter Alon Levy rose … [Read more...]
NoMa’s missing parks
David Alpert at GGW asks us what we think about the up-and-coming DC neighborhood of NoMa and its lack of parks: And in the future, all cities and towns should avoid making the same mistake. Libertarian-leaning urbanists like Market Urbanism have recommended fewer development restrictions and … [Read more...]
Empirical evidence that anti-density zoning breeds racial segregation
With nothing quick to blog about and not being in the mood to write something long, I dug into the Google Scholar pool for some interesting empirical work, which is something this blog hasn't featured in a while. This paper shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but it's interesting empirical work … [Read more...]
Mandates that fall only on multifamily development
So I'm reading a PlanPhilly article about a proposal to mandate half-baths on the ground level and front doors without steps for new residential units ("visitability," they call it), and while I don't think that it's a bright idea to begin with, this part struck me as particularly dumb, albeit very … [Read more...]