The other day I was stumbling around Wikipedia when I found pictures of what was apparently the first iteration of New York's Grand Central train station, called Grand Central Depot. The "depot" opened in 1871 and was built in the neo-Renaissance style that was popular back then (as opposed to the … [Read more...]
Look beyond Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn for solutions to a lack of retail
Robbie Whelan's got a column in today's Wall Street Journal on Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue, which is something I've been thinking a lot about since I moved to Brooklyn earlier this year. If you don't recall, last year the City Council passed a zoning amendment to require new residential developments on … [Read more...]
New York transit officials grudgingly consider using existing track more efficiently
Now that Chris Christie killed the ARC project, which would have built another rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan, Transportation Nation is reporting that MTA boss Joe Lhota is asking the different New York area railroads to do what they were supposed to do half a century ago when they … [Read more...]
TRD: Bushwick is staying industrial – no residential rezoning for East Williamsburg!
The Real Deal says that Bushwick, a neighborhood on the L that's seeing a lot of housing demand spill over from Williamsburg, is not getting a residential rezoning.TRD describes how the "sought-after northwestern area [...] is zoned for manufacturing, so residential building is largely banned … [Read more...]
Randal O’Toole: “If you didn’t have those suburban restrictions, you wouldn’t have that pressure for density in DC”
Earlier today I posted the video of the Cato discussion on housing with Randal O'Toole, Ryan Avent, Adam Gordon, and Matt Yglesias, but I wanted to transcribe one segment towards the end. (Like I said, it's hard to skip to the end of the streaming video because you can't scroll beyond what's already … [Read more...]
Market Urbanism vs. Market Suburbanism smackdown at Cato: “The Death and Life of Affordable Housing”
The debate you've been waiting for! Randal O'Toole, Matt Yglesias, Ryan Avent, and Adam Gordon participated yesterday in a discussion at the Cato Institute moderated by Diana Lind from Next American City/Forefront. (How had this never happened before??)Randal O'Toole did not disappoint, arriving … [Read more...]
APA California hints (strongly) at opposition to parking minimum reform bill
Minimum parking requirement reform bills have been floating around the California legislature for a while – last year it was AB 710, and this year it's AB 904, both authored by East Bay Asm. Nancy Skinner.This email blast to members from the American Planning Association's California chapter … [Read more...]
In Defense of Chicago
First of all, I should start out by saying that I've only ever been to Chicago once, and I really don't remember anything but the inside of my aunt's house. I remember asking them if there was good mass transit, and they said Metra is good, but the L, which is near them, is not something they'd … [Read more...]