Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Urban Design

West Hollywood Shows Us How to Use Stimulus Funds to Make a Difference

By Damien Newton | Jan 5, 2010 | 4 Comments

First up for improvements: a before shot of Sunset Plaza. Photo: LA Streetsblog/Flickr Not every transportation reform project needs to bring visionary change to a city to be a good project. Case in point, the beutficiation project recently started on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Instead of just repaving the road, as is done so […]

Environmental Reviews: Helpful (and Hurtful) to Many Ideologies

By Elana Schor | Jan 5, 2010 | No Comments

Writing at the Heritage Foundation’s blog, Nick Loris says that the White House’s pending decision on whether to consider climate change in federal environmental reviews amounts to "more green tape." San Francisco’s newest bike lanes: made $1 million pricier by environmental reviews. (Photo: Streetsblog SF) Citing Republican senators’ concerns that existing National Environmental Policy Act […]

A Message from Copenhagen: Climate Plan Must Include Walkable Urbanism

By Ben Fried | Dec 9, 2009 | 3 Comments

The energy-saving benefits of transit aren’t limited to the transportation sector. Image: Jonathan Rose Companies via Richard Layman. At a panel discussion yesterday at the Copenhagen climate summit, American policymakers and transit experts delivered a clear message: Walkable urban development must be part of any effective plan to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to […]

“The Highway to Play a Vital Role in the Progress of Civilization”

By Matthew Roth | Dec 1, 2009 | 15 Comments

Disney’s Magic Highway USA is one of the more extraordinary examples of the myopic devotion to automobility and its infrastructure I’ve ever seen. It’s probably also required viewing at the Reason Foundation and among Senator James Inhofe’s staff in Washington DC. "As in the past, the highway will continue to play a vital role in […]

Just How Regressive is America’s Federal Housing Policy?

By Chris Bradford | Nov 20, 2009 | 4 Comments

(ed. note. Please welcome contributor Chris Bradford, author of the economics blog Austin Contrarian.) As this recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report reminds us, the answer is "very regressive." Even in lean economic times, the average rent in San Francisco (above) is close to $2,000/mo. (Photo: BinBin.net) The disparity between the federal government’s support for […]

New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars

By Matthew Roth | Nov 20, 2009 | 8 Comments

Click to enlarge: Annual household transportation costs in the Bay Area. (editor’s note: The section with area specific data for Southern California isn’t done yet. When it is, we’ll have a post specific to our region. In the meantime, this statewide article prepared by Matthew Roth in San Francisco is a great read.) California residents […]

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