Creative urbanism: Yesterday was PARK(ing) Day and Seattle Bike Blog took us on a little tour of the cool parklets. A free Scotland may have failed, but folks took to chalk graffiti to show their support! Lisbon’s got a dancing crosswalk light. The Washington Post reimagines the Union Station area of DC. A gondola idea has been making the rounds for New York City, but Second Avenue Sagas pretty much sums up that this is stupid idea, because you know, it’ll only carry three subway trains worth of passengers per hour (can we have that problem?!).
What you should know: Millennials love transit the most, cuz duh. The new Amtrak bill may not be all that bad; in fact, there are some reasons to cheer. The politics of America are pretty stark between renters and homeowners. What you should know about “road diets”. The future of supermarkets might be no packaging for food. Cap’n Transit talks rent control and why it’s not so good.
San Fran: Uber has decimated the taxis industry in San Francisco to the tune of 65% loss in taxi ridership. The future of BART trains and a refurbished system looks pretty slick. A trial of red-painted bus lanes turns out to help buses flow freely and keep cars out. And, the city is slated to get the first café made just for cats…
The environmental front: Strategic reforestation could be a solution to fight pollution and ozone depletion. The EPA puts the kibosh on funding New York’s greenwashing of its CO2-oriented Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project.
Stark contrast in Seattle developments: The Rainier Valley continues to suffer with overparked projects and lack of good design. Meanwhile, a Capitol Hill developer has a pretty sympathetic neighborhood-oriented design for their project.
City Hall issues: The Mayor supports the expansion of car sharing in Seattle, and thinks that SDOT should be the decider for permitting, not the Council. A fight is brewing between progressives over the pre-kindergarten measures. John Fox continues his development hypocrisy by demanding no new growth, but saying that he wants impact fees that comes with it. The Council has a big idea on Linkage Fees and Publicola has all the details.
Transpo local: Metro’s financial outlook improved, a little. So cuts are slightly less than originally planned. The good news is that we still have Prop 1 to save and add service. Bertha tops the highway boondoggle list. It appears that the First Hill Streetcar will be ready for service in November, maybe. Beacon Hill is getting some much needed street rechannelizations that will benefit bikes and peds. Seattlish takes Danny Westneat’s car-free trolling article to task.
A trio of maps: An interactive map of languages spoken in Orange County zipcodes. Map the housing inequality due to the Great Recession. You might be a bit surprised where all of America’s geniuses are living. What DC might look like if it became a state.
Stephen is a professional urban planner in Puget Sound with a passion for sustainable, livable, and diverse cities. He is especially interested in how policies, regulations, and programs can promote positive outcomes for communities. With stints in great cities like Bellingham and Cork, Stephen currently lives in Seattle. He primarily covers land use and transportation issues and has been with The Urbanist since 2014.