Month: September 2023
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The Week Observed, September 15, 2023
What City Observatory did this week This is what victory looks like. Freeway fighting is hard, drawn-out work. StateDOTs and their allies have vast funding for public relations campaigns to sell giant projects; citizen activists work from a shoestring budget, and have to attend interminable meetings that are invariably organized by project proponents. In general,…
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This is what victory looks like, Freeway Fighters
Bad projects die with a whimper, not a bang Freeways are promoted with extravagant—and usually false—p.r. campaigns, but their death is just a bureaucratic footnote Freeway fights are often long, drawn-out affairs, that involve challenging poorly conceived and wasteful projects at a seemingly unending series of public meetings. In practice, freeway fighters generally lose every…
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The Week Observed, October 27, 2023
What City Observatory did this week More climate fraud in Portland Metro’s proposed regional transportation plan. We branded Metro’s proposed Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) a climate fraud because in falsely claimed the region was reducing greenhouse gases, and falsely claimed its transportation investments were on track to meet adopted state climate goals. Metro’ staff has…
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The Week Observed, October 13, 2023
What City Observatory did this week Britain’s Caste system of transportation. In a cynical ploy to revive the Conservative Party’s flagging electoral hopes, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has engaged in some blatant pro-motorist posturing. Saying that drivers “feel under attack” Sunak has declared that Britain is “a nation of drivers.” Sunak’s claim highlights what we’ve…
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The Week Observed, October 20, 2023
Must Read Portland: Four Floors and Corner Stores–Upzoning for urban development and housing affordability. A coalition of community, enviornmental and social justice groups is advocating for a YIMBY strategy for more housing in Portland’s close-in Eastside neighborhoods. Like many US cities, Portland faces tight housing markets, affordability challenges. This strategy aims at improving affordability by…
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The Week Observed, October 6, 2023
What City Observatory did this week What if we regulated new car ownership the same way we do new housing? Getting a building permit for a new house is difficult, expensive, and in some places, simply impossible. In contrast, everywhere in the US, you can get a vehicle registration automatically, just for paying a prescribed…
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The Week Observed, September 8, 2023
What City Observatory did this week What apartment consolidation in New York tells us about housing markets and gentrification. A new study shows that over the past several decades, New York City lost more than 100,000 homes due to the combination of smaller, more affordable apartments into larger, more luxurious homes When rich people can’t…
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Gentrification and Housing Supply
New York lost more than 100,000 homes due to the combination of smaller, more affordable apartments into larger, more luxurious homes When rich people can’t buy new luxury housing, they buy up, and combine small apartments to create larger homes. This is a negative sum game: the number of housing units gained by high income…