Bailout transit: Amtrak needs more than $1 billion from the federal government to cover costs associated with the pandemic. Local transit agencies across the country are looking for another $24 billion in aid.
Criminal landlording: A landlord who tried to evict tenants against Washington’s moratorium order has to pay about $300,000 for affected tenants ($).
Streetcars pay off: Streetcars were everywhere in Kansas City during its heyday, but is the city still benefiting from those investments now?
Culture ripped away: Albania’s historic national theater in Tirana has been demolished to make way for a new space, but that has led to cultural protests.
Box in COVID-19: Could hotels play a pivotal role in boxing in COVID-19 epidemic?
Scrapped: JUMP appears to be scrapping most of their bikes after shutting down.
Travel safely: How can you travel safely on mass transit in the COVID-19 era?
Missing payments: Many major commercial renters are missing their rent payments even in America’s financial heart ($).
MFTE in Kent: Kent has adopted a multifamily tax exemption program for Midway and Downtown, urban areas near transit, but developers seeking long-term exemptions will need to provide affordable units and skip surface parking.
Left at the curb: Edmonton, a major city in Alberta, could end up shutting down transit service over the summer due to the epidemic.
Tax measures: Wha tax measures are in and out for King County this year ($)?
Go by rail: Brightline could end up operating a commuter rail line in Miami-Dade County in addition to the private service the company operates.
PDX opens streets: Portland is moving forward with an open streets program for dining and retail.
Permeable policy: All new parking lane and sidewalk projects will need to use permeable pavement in New Orleans to reduce flooding.
Equity-minded: How can decongestion pricing be accomplished equitably?
Redesigning restaurants: A design group has come up with recommended designs for restaurants to use during the pandemic.
Safe Start: Washington Governor Jay Inslee is moving ahead with economic recovery in the state ($), but workers will need to wear face masks.
Gaslighter: Trump is known to want funding cuts to transportation generally, but what are the politics behind him tweeting about transit funding grants?
Peak Cali: California’s population may have peaked.
Corrupt governance: Trump sacked a federal transportation watchdog looking into the misdeeds of Elaine Chao, the federal transportation secretary and wife of the ruthless Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
Eeeeek: Murder hornets may be spreading across the Puget Sound ($).
Bike biz: How can people convince skeptical business owners to support bike lanes?
Inducing congestion: The federal government is recklessly encouraging people to drive amidst the interim pandemic recovery despite safe practices internationally to continue using transit.
Bankruptcies ahead: Many small farmers could end up going bankrupt by year’s end.
Death Star cult: Trump has led to a massive body count from COVID-19, but even acting a week earlier could have saved 36,000 lives ($).
Not lifting all boats: Poor communities are following a long trend of becoming even poorer.
London’s Train Daddy: New York City’s Train Daddy, Andy Byford, has left the city after being pushed out by New York’s feckless governor and has landed a job in London.
Post-pandemic society: How could our behavior change in a post-pandemic world?
Closed: It looks like the end of the Cinerama and for now Re-Bar.
Changing decade: Did the 2010s live up to the “decade of the city”?
Go by public: Austin is looking to have the city transit pass fully integrated with public bikeshare this fall.
The great heist: Washington has been able to recover $300 million in stolen unemployment insurance money.
Suburban costs: When suburban corporate campuses close up shop, who ends up footing the bill of the vacancy?
Map(s) of the Week: CityLab explains how to detect distortions of maps.
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.