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Housing and Oxnard

ByRoy

Oxnard has a severe housing shortage. Earlier this year SB 827 attempted to help communities build more housing. If the direction of SB 827 is correct the “fixes” relate mostly to zoning that incentives sprawl and makes it almost impossible to build in city cores. I will not go into the failure of SB 827…

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The Issue for Boomers Won’t be ‘Aging in Place’

ByRoy

The real question will be, ‘How do I get out of this place?’ LLOYD ALTER   August 13, 2018, 12:58 p.m.    You can only do this for so long. (Photo: Mick Tinbergen via Wikipedia) The oldest baby boomers have just turned 70, and most can drive to their birthday parties. They’re being followed by 70…

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Barcelona’s Superblocks: Change the Grid, Change your Neighborhood

ByRoy

Over two years ago, Barcelona set the transportation world aflutter when it announced it would be attempting to reinvent parts of its city by developing a Superblock system by transforming targeted street grids to prioritize people over cars. On selected small street networks large parts of intersections and roadways would be taken back for parks…

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From Vision to Policy, Making New Urbanism Work

ByRoy

“Brilliant podcast on placemaking, public policy, planning departments and the public. I cannot recommend this podcast highly enough.” Editor.   JULY 26, 2018   BY STRONG TOWNS This is our sixth dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations…

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Mapping The Effects Of California’s Prop 13

ByRoy

JULY 23, 2018  BY CONNOR NIELSEN 40 years ago this summer, voters in California approved Proposition 13, a law that initiated sweeping changes to the California property tax system and permanently re-shaped the dynamics of property ownership in the state. Prop 13 is known in California and beyond as the rule that protects low-income, elderly property owners…

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Making Cities More Dense Always Sparks Resistance. Here’s How To Overcome It.

ByRoy

“NIMBYs are not necessarily the problem. They are behaving normally for humans. The problem is politicians and other decision-makers who know better, who don’t do the right thing because of NIMBY fear. If you’ve had a long process, heard from thousands of people, investigated and understood the technical issues, know your aspirations as a city,…

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What Does It Mean To Build A Vibrant Community?

ByRoy

JULY 12, 2018  BY STRONG TOWNS “Our country was built on place, built on neighbors, built on people helping each other… I think people are yearning for that again and that’s what a downtown does.”— Quint Studer Quint Studer is the founder of the Studer Community Institute, a nonprofit organization in Pensacola, FL focused on improving…

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Twelve Steps of Sprawl Recovery

ByRoy

Image courtesy of the Village of Providence Twelve steps of sprawl recovery In communities across America sprawl is giving way to more diverse places. Here are a dozen keys to that trend. STEVE MOUZON    FEB. 13, 2018 The storm clouds of sprawl addiction had been gathering for years, but it took the Meltdown and the ensuing…

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It’s Time to Take the Keys Away from Granddad

ByRoy

June 7, 2018 By Howard Blackson III Today, San Diego is failing to accommodate our growth demands. Due to NIMBY (people who oppose any new building with a “Not In My Backyard” attitude) pressure and fear, only downtown towers and greenfield sprawl sites are far enough away from them to secure any development permits. And these aren’t…

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APA: Policy Principles for the Nation’s Housing Crisis

ByRoy

Planning policy is changing. The American Planning Association Board of Directors on March 29, 2018 released the following document… Policy Principles for the Nation’s Housing Crisis Our nation is confronting a housing crisis. This crisis varies in scope and specifics from city to city and market to market, but the reality remains that current policies are…