Investment in Transportation Changes is Tough Hill to Climb [Coalition for Transportation Choices]
Charlotte does light rail right [Grist]
Can infrastructure-led growth save the economy? [Salon]
Mixed-Use Downtown Development Puts Standard Malls’ Tax Yield to Shame [Citiwire]
A Fast-Paced City Tries to Be a Gentler Place to Grow Old [New York Times]
Walking while texting, State of the Union, and more in today's News & Notes.
Auto makers undermine campaigns against distracted driving, Realtors find Americans prefer smart growth communities, big-boxes get small - move to the city, and more in today's News & Notes.
Rail Service Expansion Imperiled at State Level [The New York Times] “Any notion that somehow rail is subsidized, and other modes of transportation aren’t, is simply not factual,” said Mr. Smith, the...
Greater City Providence
BldgBlog has a post related to the NYTimes story above, Slow City.
According to the Citiwire link,
…in tax revenue, for the infrastructure costs of various types of residential developments… [t]he payback time for a mixed-use condominium building in the heart of downtown was three years. Want to guess the payback time for the residential portion of a multi-use development out at a highway interchange? It was a whopping 42 years.
In other words, low density development, sprawl, is being encouraged by being undertaxed. Dense, mixed use urban development is discouraged by being overtaxed.