Choo choo!: The First Hill Streetcar will get up and running today around noon.
New refuge: The Seattle City Council approves a third homeless encampment and RV parking area.
Corporate welfare: Will Washington rethink the its corporate subsidies to Boeing?
Downtown sticks: Another building on Second Avenue could be built on stilts.
Mow them down: Strong Towns says that tearing down vacant homes amounts to giving up.
Ahead of the curve: $4 billion will go toward US plans to regulate and promote self-driving car technology.
Artists wanted: The City of Seattle wants to hire a live-in poet on the Fremont Bridge.
Change priorities: Some say that the old red fire engine needs a major redesign to fit cities and reduce the excess of fire requirements.
Rise of a new nation: How China became a country of suburbs.
Power the masses: A new study suggests that microgrids for energy production may finally be ready to meet the needs of cities.
Going it alone: Spokane Transit may go the route of Seattle and Bellingham to fund increased transit services within the city.
Struggle over change: Downtown Los Angeles has a major proposal for a new tower, but the breaks could be put on it; Urbanize LA argues that residents are wrongly citing historic preservation.
The new future: Architects says that Rotterdam is the “city of the future.”
The circle: A new circular bridge in Uruguay is meant to slow traffic and show off the beauty of the natural environment to passerby.
Greener Ballard: A University of Washington graduate says that Ballard is ripe for more green space, and identifies exactly where they could be added.
Flexible spaces: Copenhagen is building parks that can turn into ponds for stormwater management.
Incremental progress: Street improvements coming to Roosevelt Way NE could provide better facilities for bikes.
Manage the market: Seattle Councilmember Tim Burgess wants to develop regulations on short-stay vacation rentals like Airbnb and VRBO in order to address housing affordability issues and neighborhood stability.
Wasted pavement: America’s 12 biggest highway boondoogles are out, but surprisingly Bertha did not make the list. Thankfully, Washington still makes the list with the Puget Sound Gateway.
Safer avenue: New signals on Second Avenue make the street less confusing for all, says Seattle Bike Blog.
Map of the Week: Mapping the carbon footprint of New York City real estate.
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.