YIMBY News for 3/20

[Eric Budd]

Seattle Leaders Riff About Abundance, Budget Cuts at State of Downtown Summit

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 50.03. apartment, construction, density, development, downtown, growth, housing, income, occupancy, parking, parking lot, planning commission, project, real estate, rent, renter, transit-oriented, urban, zone, zoning

[image: Seattle Leaders Riff About Abundance, Budget Cuts at State of Downtown Summit] Abundance was the theme of the Downtown Seattle Association's annual "State of Downtown" summit last week, with *Atlantic *writer Derek Thompson, who co-wrote the book "Abundance," the keynote speaker. Thompson celebrated Seattle's ability to buck the trend of slow housing growth in big U.S. cities, while still offering his abundance prescription to continue to cut red tape to encourage more homebuilding and make it easier to complete infrastructure upgrades. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and King County Execut

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The Weekly Wrap: Baltimore’s Long-Sought Red Line May Become Bus Rapid Transit Instead of Light Rail

Next City

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KEYWORD SCORE: 37.09. bus rapid transit, construction, development, housing, project, real estate, rent, supply, urban

[image: The Weekly Wrap] A CityLink bus in Lutherville, Maryland, north of Baltimore. (Photo by Steve Ruark / AP) 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. ------------------------------ Baltimore’s Beleaguered Red Line Plan May Pivot to BRT Facing rising construction costs and difficulties in securing federal funds and land, Baltimore

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Friday Video: Guess Which Argument Can Get a NIMBY To Change Their Mind About New Housing

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 23.63. apartment, bike lane, development, housing, nimby, urban, walk

Often, the biggest barrier to building housing in walkable and transit-rich neighborhoods isn’t money or policy — it’s neighbors fighting against change. So that’s why we loved the latest from YouTuber Justine Underhill, who focus-grouped video pitches for dense urban housing to see which message resonated the most … and the answer might surprise you. Will cold, hard, economic arguments win the day? What about focusing on public health or homelessness? Can U.S. suburb-dwellers be persuaded to love city apartment buildings by recognizing that* they* might want to live in one someday? Or is beau

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Sound Transit's Budget-Balancing Ideas All Stop Short of Delivering Rail to Ballard

The Urbanist

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KEYWORD SCORE: 22.58. affordable, downtown, infill, parking, parking garage, project, rent, urban, zone

[image: Sound Transit's Budget-Balancing Ideas All Stop Short of Delivering Rail to Ballard] The Sound Transit board got its first look Wednesday at three potential scenarios geared at getting the overbudget Sound Transit 3 (ST3) measure back into financial alignment – with all three options stopping well short of delivering light rail to 15th and Market Street in Ballard, as promised to voters in 2016. The different paths were put on the table at an all-day retreat held in Tacoma, the latest attempt to push board members to grapple with what it means to plug an agencywide $34.5 billion fundin

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Denver mayor, auditor clash over $20M in homelessness spending

Denverite

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KEYWORD SCORE: 19.00. house, housing, project, rent, walk

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s ambitious effort to solve street homelessness cost $20 million more than previously reported, a result of poor planning and documentation, according to a report from the city auditor’s office — an allegation that the mayor’s office pushed back on strongly. “For a program in its third year and approaching $200 million in costs, not tracking expenses is irresponsible,” Auditor Tim O’Brien said in a written release. “The Mayor’s Office’s unwillingness to share how they are calculating expenses also raises red flags.” The year-long auditing project found that from July

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Portland Economy’s Strong Report Card: Brookings Metro Monitor

City Observatory

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.64. growth, house, housing, income

*Brookings Metro Monitor Rates Portland Economy Healthy* *A major national think tank rates Portland’s economy among the nation’s most robust, with high marks for prosperity, growth and inclusion.* *Portland ranks in the top ten for prosperity, the top third for inclusion, and the top half for growth over the past decade.* *Portland consistently outperforms the nation and the average of the 55 largest metro areas on a diverse suite of economic indicators* *The Brookings Institution Metro Monitor is one of the most comprehensive, respected and independent analysis of regional economic performan

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Advocates Get D.C. Mayor To Release Buried Report On The Potential Benefits Of Congestion Pricing

Streetsblog Net

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KEYWORD SCORE: 18.36. development, downtown, mobility, project, rent, transportation, walk

The release of a long-buried report on how congestion pricing could benefit the nation’s capital raises disturbing questions about the local government’s refusal to even* start *a conversation about implementing the game-changing policy — and what it will take for other cities across America to move even closer to that finish line. Earlier this month, Mayor Muriel Bowser finally made public a Council-mandated analysis of the potential impacts of charging drivers to enter the most-congested roadways in the transit-rich city, almost five years after that report was first submitted to her office

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