YIMBY News for 4/23

[Eric Budd]

Parking Reform Is Reshaping Housing Policy

Governing

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KEYWORD SCORE: 39.81. affordable, apartment, construction, house, housing, mobility, parking, parking lot, rent, renter, transportation, urban, walk, zoning

The city of Austin, Texas, has made headlines for its construction boom and resulting improvements in housing affordability. In recent years, Austin’s housing construction rate has been nearly triple that of the country as a whole — and, just as Economics 101 would predict, it has seen falling apartment rents. Part of its housing abundance story is due to the city’s 2023 repeal of all off-street parking mandates, which followed earlier reductions in parking requirements. This is one of the most effective ways for high-priced cities to provide renters with relief. It works especially well when

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Denny Way Bus Upgrades Planned This Summer Include Permanent I-5 Ramp Reroute

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 27.50. bus route, construction, housing, project, rent, transportation, urban, walk

[image: Denny Way Bus Upgrades Planned This Summer Include Permanent I-5 Ramp Reroute] Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson made good on a major campaign pledge Wednesday, laying out a plan to speed up buses on infamously congested Denny Way by installing a new half-mile eastbound bus lane and permanently rerouting traffic heading to a busy I-5 on-ramp. The reconfiguration is poised to help the notoriously delayed Route 8, often dubbed the L8, and make the journey between Uptown and Capitol Hill much quicker and more reliable. After these changes are made in August, drivers heading to the southbound I-5

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For Earth Day, the Trump Administration Wants To Expand Highways Across America

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 22.20. bike lane, construction, growth, project, transportation, walk

The Trump administration is celebrating Earth Day by encouraging local transportation leaders to expand roadway capacity in an effort to end traffic jams — pushing a long-debunked “solution” that will make roads *more *congested, polluted and fiscally wasteful than before, experts say. US DOT Secretary Sean Duffy announced the “Freedom to Drive” Initiative on Monday, which directs governors and mayors across the country to identify strategies to alleviate their “worst congestion nightmares … choking your economy” in 60 days — and the agency will see how it can help. There are many fiscally pru

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‘Best Bikeshare in America’: An Unexpected Community Launches Free, All-Electric Micromobility For Residents

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.14. affordable, bike lane, mobility, multimodal, rent, transportation

A Midwestern metro is making its sprawling, all-electric bikeshare system free to all residents — and challenging other communities to be more ambitious in their plans to get people in the saddle. The nonprofit behind Heartland Bikeshare in metro Omaha announced on Sunday that everyone over 16 living within its service area will now get unlimited 60-minute rides for free, with no special surcharge for e-bikes, which make up the entirety of its 400-vehicle fleet. Back-to-back rides are allowed, too, which means an all-day roll isn’t out of the question. Those vehicles can even be ridden across

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State air regulators push for public meetings over controversial north Denver data center

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.03. affordable, affordable housing, construction, development, house, housing, income, project, public hearing, rent

CoreSite, the company behind a controversial data center campus in north Denver, is under renewed pressure from state regulators to hold public hearings after it signaled changes to its construction plan. In a letter sent on March 9, the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division pushed the company to hold at least one public meeting to explain its project to residents. Under Colorado’s environmental justice rules, regulators send such requests to companies seeking approval to pollute in places already facing disproportionate levels of poverty and environmental impacts. The data center campus, kn

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Tuesday’s Headlines Curb Their Enthusiasm

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.81. bus rapid transit, housing, parking, project, transportation, urban, walk

- Cities are going to have to start actively manage their curb space (ITS International). And counting where people walk is as important as counting where vehicles drive (Vital City). - The more the U.S. keeps putting off infrastructure maintenance and throwing roadblocks in front of new projects, the more it’s going to cost. ( Governing) - Should Bay Area Rapid Transit trade 400 surface parking spaces at an Oakland station for 240 housing units? Obviously, yes, but you can guess what commuters are saying. (San Francisco Chronicle) - Maybe look to Seattle’s Shoreline neighborhood for help. (Th

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