Archive for November, 2007

Don’t mess with Texas

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
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Tweet I recently spent five wonderful days in Houston. When I tell people that, they think I’m joking. Most people outside of Texas seem to regard Houston as little more than a bloated, polluted, overheated hellhole. Not a baseless assessment, I’ll grant you, but the smugness with which it is delivered is utterly unwarranted. First [...]

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Measuring drivability?

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
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Tweet I noticed this through a comment left on our WalkScore post from a a few months ago. Apparently, the popular for sale by owner (FSBO) website Fizber has launched a new service in the vein of WalkScore called DriveScore. Actually, “in the vein of” is a bit of a misnomer as DriveScore appears to [...]

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BRT and expanding transit in Beijing

Friday, November 16th, 2007
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Tweet Richard Layman beat me to posting this video, but a Bay Area expat living in Beijing named Luke Mines sent us this video about the opening of the new “5″subway line in Beijing and the rise of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) there. BRT has been implemented in a limited scale in the U.S., but [...]

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Virginians elect smart-growth candidates

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
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Tweet Thanks to a Board of Supervisors elected in 1999 that basically bent over backwards to let any and all growth come to Loudoun County, Va., this formerly rural county on the fringe of Washington, DC quickly become one of the fastest growing counties in America. But the growth came with a great cost as [...]

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Efficiency and throughput – visualize it

Thursday, November 8th, 2007
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Tweet I’ve seen this photo in a handful of places this week. It’s an illustration from the city of Munster, Germany, and can be found on the city’s website: As you may be able to tell, it’s a visual illustration of how much roadway space the same number of travelers take up in individual cars, [...]

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Oregon voters reaffirm land use controls

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
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Tweet Oregon voters decided Tuesday that they went too far in 2004, with 62 percent of voters approving Measure 49, a partial fix to the mess created by Measure 37 three years ago. Though billed in 2004 as a way for families to build a few houses on their land, Measure 37 basically removed the [...]

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Transportation at the ballot box Tuesday

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
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Tweet Voters decided on a handful of ballot measures related to transit and transportation funding yesterday, but it’s worth pointing out two specific cases here from opposite sides of the country. Charlotte: Transit funding upheld An overwhelming 70 percent of Charlotte voters renewed their commitment to the city’s ambitious transit plans, upholding a half-cent tax [...]

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SGA founder Don Chen departs to advance community development at the Ford Foundation

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
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Tweet A news release from us here at Smart Growth America. Download the full release here: WASHINGTON, D.C. – After eight years as the founding executive director and CEO of Smart Growth America (SGA), Don Chen has accepted a leadership appointment at the Ford Foundation, the country’s second largest philanthropy. Chen will be joining Ford [...]

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Particpate in a poll on health and the built environment

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
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Tweet In case you’re interested, we received this survey from a doctoral student studying the links between the built environment of the city and the health of its residents. The survey is more specifically about transportation preferences and why people use the ones that they do: This survey should take about 15 minutes. The goals [...]

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New York Times: Yes to Portland!

Monday, November 5th, 2007
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Tweet The New York Times gave some love this weekend to Portland, Oregon. First, a story about the growth of the city focuses on how maintaining a small-town big city designed for people, connected to the environment, and with options for transportation, has resulted in a population boom in younger people, as well as older [...]

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