News & Notes

National Association of Realtors Study Finds Americans Prefer Smart Growth Communities [Realtor.org]

Americans favor walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods, with 56 percent of respondents preferring smart growth neighborhoods over neighborhoods that require more driving between home, work and recreation. That’s according to a recent study, the Community Preference Survey, by the National Association of Realtors.

R.I.’s Transportation Funding System Needs a Fix [EcoRI]

When the House Committee on Finance met last week to debate the governor’s proposed transportation budget, the Coalition for Transportation Choices (CTC) was there to testify about the need for investment in a wider range of transportation choices. Here’s the statement that was delivered by CTC’s policy and advocacy chairman, Jerry Elmer of the Conservation Law Foundation.

Big-Box Giants Downsize to Drive Productivity with Smaller, Urban Stores [RetailTraffic]

As U.S. chain retailers absorb the lessons of the Great Recession, many big-box chains have started to shrink average store footprints to reflect the growing importance of multi-channel shopping, adapt to urban settings and recognize the need to optimize portfolios.

Transit acceleration campaign goes national [Human Transit]

For over a year now, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been spearheading a “30/10” initiative, designed to accelerate the construction a range of urgently needed transit projects (mostly rail transit lines). The key word is accelerate, not fund. The projects are already funded, but on a 30-year timeline. The 30/10 proposal would deliver the projects in 10 years.

Car Companies Vie for Supremacy in Distracted Driving Arms Race [Streetsblog]

The GPS system with the tiny keyboard. The mounted DVD player for the kiddies. Satellite radio with 1,000 channels. Now there’s even in-dash, voice-activated Facebook.

Welcome to the modern car, where a host of distracting gadgets comes standard. These digital additions are becoming as ubiquitous as cupholders…