New trip planner: King County Metro has significantly updated its online trip planner system.
Pedestrianize BOS and YYZ: Should Boston move to heavily restrict cars in the city center? And should Toronto pedestrianize its Yonge Street?
Pedestrianizing AUS and SAN: Meanwhile, Austin looks at restricting cars from a popular street on weekends and San Diego explores pedestrianizing its Gaslamp district.
SJC has lessons: San Jose is building out a really great, safe bike network.
Greenest muni building: Santa Monica will build the world’s greenest municipal building using the Living Building Challenge standards.
Robo bus: A robotic bus that has been operating ins Espoo, Finland has won a design award from the Museum of London.
Denied: In Los Angeles, a proposal for nearly 600 multifamily units has died on the vine amid gentrification fears and planning commission opposition.
Model railroader: Sir Rod Stewart is a big fan of urban model railroads, having his own model at home.
Ticket out of town: King County will spend an extra $100,000 next year to give people experiencing homelessness a ticket home to be reunited with family.
Another bikeshare dies: Denver’s public bikeshare system is the latest to fully end service.
Goodbye free parking: Will New York City eliminate free on-street parking ($)?
Vacancy remains: A Detroit proposal for $250 million in bonds to remove vacant buildings in the city failed at the ballot box.
New projects: Tacoma has approved property tax exemptions ($) for two more large, market-rate multifamily projects.
PDX mobility hub: In Portland, the local energy company is looking to construct a mobility hub in the city center.
GND for housing: What does a progressive trillion-dollar national housing plan look like?
Philly: Philadelphia has secured a federal grant that will pave the way to reopen and modernize a downtown subway station.
Shade on I-976: Sound Transit will continue to collect car tab fees for the time being ($). And a judge from King County has temporarily blocked the measure entirely.
Eyman’s victims: But a King County Metro bus driver worries about his job in the aftermath of Tim Eyman’s anti-transit initiative passing. And rural, conservative county is taking on Eyman to save their entire transit system from disappearing.
Sprawling to urban?: Walmart wants to build its new headquarters as a walkable space near Bentonville’s city center.
Equity battleground: CityLab explains why transit is an equity battleground.
Avoiding their duty: Big banks are fighting Washington State so that they can avoid paying taxes.
Ordering parking: Why does Amazon’s HQ2 in Virginia come with so much parking?
New planning effort: Vancouver, British Columbia has kicked off a citywide planning process.
Decarbonize buildings: Architects want politicians to focus on carbon emissions associated with buildings to combat climate change.
Devil’s in the details: The governors of Washington and Oregon have vaguely agreed to rebuild the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River.
Regulating rent: Politicians in Berlin want to freeze residential rents for five years, but can it?
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.