YIMBY News for 3/27

[Eric Budd]

Gov. Polis signs bill letting schools and universities bypass some zoning rules to build housing

Colorado Public Radio

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KEYWORD SCORE: 36.31. affordable, affordable housing, construction, cost of housing, development, homeowner, house, housing, housing stock, land-use, project, real estate, transportation, zone, zoning

This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at kunc.com . By Lucas Brady Woods and Kyle McKinnon, KUNC Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill into law Wednesday that will make it easier for Colorado public schools, colleges, universities and other organizations to usurp local zoning rules to build housing. The measure, House Bill 26-1001 , also called the Housing Options Made Easier Act, or HOME Act, is the first major piece of housing legislation passed during the 2026 legislative session and is part of Polis and Democratic lawmakers’ years-long effort to

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Makah Leader Patrick DePoe Launches State House Bid in LD24

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 27.22. affordable, affordable housing, house, housing, housing crisis, parking, rent, urban, zoning

[image: Makah Leader Patrick DePoe Launches State House Bid in LD24] On Tuesday, Patrick Finedays DePoe rolled out a campaign for the Washington State House in the 24th Legislative District, seeking to replace retiring Rep. Steve Tharinger (D-Port Townsend). An enrolled tribal member, DePoe lives on the Makah Reservation on the northwestern tip of Washington. He has served on the Makah Tribal Council, and in intergovernmental leadership with other tribes in the state. "I was tapped on the shoulder by tribal leaders to help formalize the Association of Washington Tribes, which now I'm now offic

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Why Cities Need More ‘Agile’ Streets

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 22.63. bike lane, bus stop, construction, development, project, rent, vision zero, walk

*This post first appeared in a slightly different form at Streetsblog L.A. sister site Santa Monica Next.* If you drive, walk, or bike around Santa Monica, you’ve seen them: white and yellow plastic bollards—those flexible posts meant to protect bike lanes or tighten corners—lying flat on the ground, mangled by the tires of a passing SUV or a delivery truck. To a frustrated resident, a mangled plastic post looks like a failure of city maintenance. To a city staffer, it can look like a never-ending work order. I’ve come to see those broken pieces of plastic differently. They are actually some o

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Seattle Advances Four Pilot 'Low-Pollution Neighborhoods'

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 20.91. public space, rent, transportation, urban, walk

[image: Seattle Advances Four Pilot 'Low-Pollution Neighborhoods'] Lake City, Capitol Hill, Georgetown, and South Park will lead the way in implementing a "Low-Pollution Neighborhood (LPN)" pilot, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) announced last week. Funded via a $8 million allocation from the Seattle Transportation Levy, the program has been a long time in the works and is intended to bring infrastructure upgrades that decrease air pollution and spur walking, rolling, biking, and transit use. Despite having a climate action plan in place since 2006 that spells out the need to t

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The Colorado River is on the brink of possible forced water cuts. One thing is certain: There will be lawyers.

Colorado Sun

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.55. development, house, housing, project, rent, supply, urban

Under the rusty cliffs of Marble Canyon, the start of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, a nondescript river measurement gauge has been tracking the flow of the Colorado River for decades. It’s a picturesque place, often filled with rafters and swimmers, about 15 river miles downstream from one of the nation’s largest reservoirs, Lake Powell. It’s also central to looming legal battles over the river’s future — and the potential of forced water cuts in Colorado. The Colorado River’s flows at the gauge, called Lees Ferry, are fundamental to water sharing agreements among upstream states, like Colorado

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How DC’s Mayor and Council Chair Thwarted Every Effort to Better Its Streetcar

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.92. bikeway, construction, multimodal, parking, rent, transportation

*Editor’s note: a version of this article originally appeared on GGWash and is republished with permission. * The two biggest technical problems with DC Streetcar have been friction with cars and the fact that it’s too short to be useful for many trips. That’s technical. *Politically*, the two biggest problems were named Bowser and Mendelson. Although the District Department of Transportation drew up multiple plans to relieve the operational problems, either Mayor Muriel Bowser or DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson stepped in to thwart every single attempt. It didn’t have to be that way. The stre

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An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth a Pound of Thursday’s Headlines

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.22. gentrification, housing, project, transportation, vision zero

- A broad system of electrified public transportation would insulate the U.S. from the effects of rising fuel costs due to the war on Iran (Next Metro). Similarly, widespread adoption of renewable energy and electric vehicles would help prevent the economic shock of the oil embargo in the 1970s (The Driven). Gas tax holidays, however, lead to higher inflation and don’t provide consumers with relief in the long run (Real Economy Blog). - Under an upcoming transportation funding bill, the U.S. DOT wants to focus on building fewer projects faster. Unfortunately, most of those projects are likely

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