YIMBY News for 7/25

[Eric Budd]

America’s shortage of cities

City Observatory

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 49.94. affordable, construction, density, growth, house, housing, housing stock, income, land-use, parking, rent, segregation, supply, transportation, urban, walk, zone, zoning

The Shortage of Cities: Suburban Growth is a Symptom, Not a Preference While Noah Smith’s recent analysis of metropolitan growth patterns offers a useful entry point into the conversation regarding urban housing, his conclusion, that suburbs are in many respects simply a beneign preference of a large number of Americans, requirese closer look. This brand of narrative—call it “suburban triumphalism”—suggests that the continued growth of the suburban periphery is a clear signal of a broad American preference for low-density living. Careful economic analysis suggests the opposite: suburban growth

Share via:

The Weekly Wrap: Toronto Is Taking On Surveillance Pricing in Retail

Next City

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 31.66. bike lane, development, downtown, house, housing, housing cost, income, mobility, project, rent, urban

[image: The Weekly Wrap] Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. (Photo by Tim Ehlich / CC BY 2.0) *Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental, and social justice. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague and tell them to subscribe.* ------------------------------ Toronto Mayor Is Pushing for a Ban on Surveillance Pricing Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow is pushing the city to explore banning “surveillance pricing” — the AI-driven practice of

Share via:

Issaquah Leads State With Program to Self-Certify Backyard Cottage Plans

The Urbanist

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 29.86. apartment, development, house, housing, housing stock, occupancy, parking, project, urban

[image: Issaquah Leads State With Program to Self-Certify Backyard Cottage Plans] The City of Issaquah will be the first Washington city to create a self-certification program for architects building backyard cottages following a unanimous council vote this week. The new law is intended to significantly reduce permit timelines for detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs) as city leaders advance a broad program intended to open the door to quicker housing production in Issaquah. Many Washington cities have taken steps to create pre-approved building plans for attached and detached ADUs that re

Share via:

Bremerton Fast Ferry Headed for 35% Weekday Service Cut This Fall

The Urbanist

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 27.97. density, downtown, growth, house, housing, multimodal, planning commission, public hearing, rent, transportation, urban, walk, zone

[image: Bremerton Fast Ferry Headed for 35% Weekday Service Cut This Fall] Transit riders hoping to catch a quick trip between Bremerton and Downtown Seattle will have much fewer options starting September 1, with Kitsap Transit set to scale weekday fast ferry trips back by 35% following an end of supplemental state funding for the service. Dropping from 20 daily round trips to 13 will create a major gap in service between between mid-morning and early afternoon, with no service from Bremerton after 7:05 pm or from Seattle's Pier 50 after 7:40 pm. In an announcement Wednesday, Kitsap Transit c

Share via:

The Urbanist Case Against Flock Cameras

Darrell Owens Substack

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 27.64. house, income, mobility, parking, parking garage, project, rent, supply, transportation, urban, walk

[image: Flock Safety's Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe | Electronic ...] A Flock automated plate reader. Credit: EFF.org. While the rest of the advanced world’s traffic deaths declined last decade, America’s death rate is stubbornly high. Dying in a car or being hit by one is as quintessentially American as burgers, guns and war. The perceived freedom of movement sold to Americans by oil companies and car manufactures beckons back to the cowboys on horseback from the old American frontier. Like the sheriffs chasing outlaws in Western lore, American police speed

Share via:

Progressives Seek to Replace Rep. Gerry Pollet, but Split on Challenger

The Urbanist

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 27.16. growth, house, housing, rent, urban, walk, zoning

[image: Progressives Seek to Replace Rep. Gerry Pollet, but Split on Challenger] As voters receive their ballots in the mail and the August 4th primary draws near, a few progressive candidates challenging Democrat incumbents have been catching the public’s attention. One race in particular, in North Seattle’s 46th Legislative District (LD), drew not one but two challengers to long-time Democratic legislator Gerry Pollet. While Pollet first ran for, and lost, his seat in 2008, he has been serving in the state house since he was appointed at the end of 2011. Since then, he has enjoyed the incumb

Share via:

For Kansas City, the World Cup Was a Peek Into a Possible Future

Governing

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 26.86. density, development, downtown, housing, parking, rent, transportation, walk

In Brief: Cities across the U.S. are celebrating their ability to manage a surge of visitors and handle increased public transit demands. For traditionally car-focused Kansas City, the World Cup was an opportunity to demonstrate the value of recent public transit improvements — and how far further investments could go. City Manager Mario Vasquez was surprised by the beneficial side effects of having so many visitors downtown. He hopes it could lead the city to push more downtown housing development. With the dust barely settled from the World Cup, cities are celebrating their successes. In New

Share via:

How a Neighborhood Trust Helped Bring Fresh Food Back to Kensington

Next City

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 24.27. affordable, construction, development, house, income, project, real estate, rent, renter, walk

When the Kensington Corridor Trust asked residents what their Philadelphia neighborhood needed most, one answer came up again and again. “One of the things that folks started to tell us in almost every single room that I was in was that people wanted a grocery store,” says executive director Adriana Abizadeh-Barbour, who since 2020 has led the pioneering neighborhood trust’s efforts to revitalize the corridor in partnership with residents. “Folks talked about the fact that there wasn’t a grocery store on Kensington Avenue, and there hadn’t been for quite some time.” Now, about six years later,

Share via:

Unhoused People and Wildlife Are Increasingly Coming Into Contact. Here’s How To Protect Them.

Next City

---

KEYWORD SCORE: 24.13. affordable, house, housing, income, project, urban

[image: Backyard] An urban coyote in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. (Photo by Ben Mater / Unsplash) *This article was originally published in The Conversation. * As homelessness increases around the world, more unhoused people are turning to parks and other urban green spaces to seek shelter. However, these places are also home to animals that live in and around urban areas. This sets the stage for potentially dangerous interactions between humans and urban wildlife such as coyotes. Unhoused people face the risk of contracting disease from wild animals, while animals can be displaced by human pre

Share via: