Category: Planning

Looking at all things planning.
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Something to Wrench a Cyclists’ Heart Out

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Build Cycle Lane, then spend US$740,000 to rip it back out thanks to NIMBY’s

 

I caught this over at Streetblog USA earlier this morning in regards to what happens when NIMBY’s win. Pretty much a heart wrench to anyone who believes in a progressive city with progressive type infrastructure being built after near exhaustive studies were in support for the cycle lane.

An extract from Streetblog USA:

San Antonio to Tear Out the “Best Thing” City Has Done for Cycling

by Angie Schmitt Monday, June 9, 2014

Score one for the NIMBY crowd in San Antonio.

City Council representatives have voted 10-1 to remove 2.3 miles of bike lanes on South Flores Street, which the local blog Bike San Antonio says is one of the few cases where the city put a bike lane “where one needs to be.” Council members apparently caved to nearby residents who claimed the bike lane caused traffic delays and complained about receiving insufficient notice of the changes.

The restriping of the two-way road, done during a resurfacing project, changed the configuration from four general traffic lanes to two, plus a center turn lane and bike lanes. City traffic studies found that the bike lanes caused no impediment to motor vehicle traffic, while crashes declined somewhat. But that apparently wasn’t good enough for the majority of council, including Rebecca Viagran, who represents most of the area with the bike lanes.

The San Antonio Express-News editorial board said the decision was shortsighted and disappointing:

What we’re looking at is a failure of leadership from council, particularly from Viagran.

Not only is it a monumental waste of money to appease a small group of overreactive residents, but it also flies in the face of stated city goals to improve bike infrastructure, the urban core and promote better health.

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Source: http://usa.streetsblog.org/2014/06/09/san-antonio-to-tear-out-the-best-thing-city-has-done-for-cycling/

You can read the rest over at StreetBlog USA.

 

Not to worry we have similar issues with the Unitary Plan grinding its way through the next round (the Independent Hearings Panel) soon.

 

A Californian Take on Housing Affordability

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A look at the situation from our Pacific cousin

 

We all know about housing affordability. It is literally shoved in our face by Central and Local Governments, the media, and social media. How do we address the issue of housing affordability is as vexed whether the chicken or egg came first. Below is an extract from ‘The Planning Report’ and its Housing Affordability post by Bill Witte.

From The Planning Report:

Bill Witte on Housing Affordability: A Supply and Demand Problem

Bill Witte. Source: http://www.planningreport.com/2014/05/28/bill-witte-housing-affordability-supply-and-demand-problem

“You have a coastal California with a relatively expensive housing market, but you also have a significant percentage of the population whose incomes are below middle class, and with job growth concentrated either in ‘knowledge economy’ jobs that pay very well, or lower paying service jobs. There is a disconnect.” –Bill Witte

Bill, a recent study by Trulia found, after examining the range of affordability for a typical middle class home against median household income, that home ownership was increasingly out of reach of the middle class along the coasts, and specifically in Los Angeles County. Please share your thoughts on the meaning and significance of that finding.

Bill Witte: First of all, I think one of the reasons that’s true is that Los Angeles County has a very high percentage of low and very-low-income households. You have both a supply and a demand problem. You have a relatively expensive housing market and an often lengthy and expensive approval process for new development,

In the Bay Area, which might even be less affordable, housing prices are even more astronomic but incomes are generally higher. That’s fundamentally not the case in Los Angeles.

What are the implications of this phenomenon?

First of all, it is worth considering the context in LA County for middle class residential options, which is related to a whole basket of issues, including quality of schools and other quality of life concerns. A lot of the working and middle class moved out of inner city neighborhoods to distant suburban areas in the ‘90s where housing is more affordable. So, an obvious problem arises from commuting—the time, the effect on families, and transportation costs, which have risen as gas prices have risen. That’s one problem. Another problem is the City and the County find it increasingly difficulty to support or attract the middle class, and that impacts a city’s economic base. The net result: middle class jobs may be less likely to locate in urban LA and LA County.

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You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.planningreport.com/2014/05/28/bill-witte-housing-affordability-supply-and-demand-problem

 

Your thoughts on the situation in California and any similar issues back here in Auckland?