YIMBY News for 3/2

[Eric Budd]

A once-blighted riverfront property is helping Grand Junction spur economic activity — just not exactly as envisioned

Colorado Sun

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.58. apartment, condo, construction, development, downtown, house, mixed-use, parking, rent, transportation, walk

*GRAND JUNCTION — *On a sunny late-winter morning, the Las Colonias riverfront development is, surprisingly, bustling. City workers wrangle loose tumbleweeds along the development’s winding streets. Walkers and their dogs amble and sniff around a pond shaped like a butterfly. Campers in vintage Airstream trailers on the outskirts of the development pump up bike tires to get ready for a chilly spin on the trail along the Colorado River. Vehicles nose into parking spaces outside a pot shop and a hair salon. This is all that city leaders and business visionaries envisioned two decades ago when th

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Building and Fire Safety Codes Save Lives. Why Are States Weakening Them?

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 21.31. affordable, affordable housing, construction, development, housing, occupancy, zoning

A New Year’s celebration in the Swiss Alps turned tragic when a fire broke out at a bar. Forty-one people lost their lives. Reports suggest the fire started from sparklers placed on champagne bottles, positioned too close to the ceiling’s flammable soundproofing foam. Investigators are examining whether the venue had adequate fire protection systems, sufficient exits and appropriate building materials, and why safety officials failed to perform annual safety inspections for five years. For those of us who work in fire and life safety, this tragedy felt devastatingly familiar. The 1942 Cocoanut

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In Two Kentucky Cities, Two Different Models To Erasing Medical Debt

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.05. affordable, house, income, rent, urban, walk

Lexington-based musician Lucy Becker is one of thousands of residents who received a letter from Undue Medical Debt stating that the city had paid to wipe out part of their medical debt. (Photo courtesy Becker) *This story was produced as part of Next City’s joint **Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship for Rural-Urban Issues** with **Kentucky’s **CivicLex* *.* When Lucy Becker got the letter, she had a hunch it was about. Just a couple of weeks prior, she had read an article in CivicLex about her local government’s new initiative to erase $90 million in medical debt for residents. “My mom alw

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