What City Observatory did this week 1. Portland’s teachable moment: time for a little housing economics 101. There’s a big debate going on in Portland right now about whether using discretionary land use approvals to
The Week Observed, March 23, 2018 Read Post »
Our planning processes and land use decisions have a huge impact on housing affordability. Editor’s Note: Today we’re publishing an open letter from Ethan Seltzer to Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish. Portland is the midst
An Open Letter on Housing Affordability to Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish Read Post »
What if we could make parking spaces in high-demand areas more widely available, while also making better use of under-used parking spaces elsewhere? Think of it as Uber’s “surge pricing,” but for parking. (Though it
Parking meters and opportunity costs Read Post »
Understanding how housing markets really work is essential to crafting solutions to our affordability problems Regular followers of City Observatory will know two things about us: We’re keenly focused on the problem of housing affordability,
Portland’s brouhaha over housing market economics 101 Read Post »
What City Observatory did this week 1. Portland doesn’t really want to make housing affordable. Portland’s City Council has officially declared a housing crisis, and has passed strong renter protection measured and an ill-advised (and
The Week Observed, March 16, 2018 Read Post »
Journalists: Stop repeating phony congestion cost estimates. They’re just weak arguments disguised with big numbers. This month The Economist has an excellent special report exploring the prospects for autonomous vehicles. They seem to be coming faster
Cloaking a weak argument in big—but phony—numbers Read Post »
