Every day, The Overhead Wire collects news about cities and sends the links to their email list. At the end of the week they take some of the most popular stories and post them to Greater Greater Washington, a group blog similar to Streets.mn that focuses on urban issues in the D.C. region. They are national and international links, sometimes entertaining or absurd but often useful.
No revenue without reform: Earlier this year, the Illinois State Legislature floated a plan that would merge Chicagoland’s largest transit agencies — the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and the bus system, Pace — in order to stem a coming $730 million shortfall as federal relief dollars dry up. In exchange for consolidating, the new transit agency would receive an additional $1.5 billion in funding each year. The bill would also end Illinois’ requirement that agencies have a 50% farebox recovery ratio, which removes some financial pressure. But certain suburban groups aren’t fans of the proposal, saying their riders would get short-changed by urban interests. (Reema Saleh | The Chicago Reader)
Car loans surpass student loans: Car loans have now surpassed student loans as the second largest debt Americans hold, behind only mortgages. After a jump in cost for new vehicles during the pandemic, bills with high interest are coming due, and the cars can’t be offloaded without taking a loss on underwater loans. Auto dependence and a hostile built environment continue to give many people little choice in transportation. (Collin Woodard | Jalopnik)
Can everywhere be a 15-minute city? A new study published in Nature Cities explores how much it would take for neighborhoods across the globe to be transformed into 15-minute neighborhoods. The study found that certain cities like Zurich in Switzerland are already well-suited for walkability and livability, while car-dependent cities such as Atlanta, Georgia, would have a hard time moving the needle without drastic interventions. (Ajit Niranjan | The Guardian)
Goofy but lovable: The first of the funny-looking next-generation postal trucks began service last month on several select mail routes, and postal carriers already love them. They cite the addition of air conditioning and modern amenities such as blind spot monitoring, as well as the increased size of the payload area. Many of the new trucks still have internal combustion engines and get horrible mileage, but environmental groups were able to push for additional electric trucks, a move which is expected to reduce emissions by 40%. (Erin Marquis | Jalopnik)
An affordable home experiment: In San Bernadino, California, a local affordable housing group has set up a community land trust on a parcel of land. While there are already many land trusts around the country, coupling them with prefabricated manufactured housing and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to increase affordability and density is a new concept. With this, they are able to build new homes 45% cheaper. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced that more housing types will soon be available under national building codes. (Rachel Cohen | Vox)
This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we chat with transportation and planning expert Warren Logan, who is running for Oakland (California) City Council in District 3. Warren talks about the differences in how people perceive government works, the need for more flexible streets and his thoughts on housing policy.
Quote of the Week
“Despite modern politicians’ insistence on using the book as a political compass (in addition to Adams, his mayoral challengers Brad Lander and Jessica Ramos cite its influence), we are living not in the world of Robert Moses but in the one that arose in his absence. The federal interest in cities was already dead by the time Joe Biden entered the Senate; it is the seesaw of disinvestment and private capital, not overpowering government intervention, that has determined the shape of the urban landscape since.”
— Henry Grabar in Slate discussing a rethinking of Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker,” a biography of New York City planner Robert Moses