National Links: The Importance of Time
Protected bike lanes have measurably countered climate change in Colombia, China and elsewhere. And other “National Links” showing the impact of smart, selfless planning around the world.
Tag Archives: YIMBY
Yes to Homes, But I’m No “YIMBY”
A housing advocate who believes every person deserves a home describes why the term YIMBY doesn’t work for her.
A Plan for Tearing Down Exclusionary Zoning Walls
Earlier this month, The New York Times ran an op-end titled “The Walls We Won’t Tear Down” about how some of society’s worst problems have a very boring cause: exclusionary zoning laws. Here’s the conclusion: Just as it is shameful for government regulation to exclude people from neighborhoods on the basis of race, it is similarly deplorable […]
Sunday Summary – August 6, 2017
streets.mn usually covers paved, metro-area streets, but this weekend, the action is on the gravel roads. The first DAMn gravel race has just concluded with cyclists starting in South Dakota at midnight on August 5, riding across the narrowest bit (240 miles) of Minnesota on gravel roads and ending in Wisconsin by midnight August 6. […]
Where Will They Park? A Video Series
A little more than a year ago, I was inspired to create what has been called “the definitive three-part [film] series about the people and culture of Saint Paul.” But the deep concerns about car storage that I explored in that series aren’t unique to Saint Paul. During the most recent meeting of the Minneapolis City Planning […]
What I learned at YIMBYtown 2017
Last week Anton Schieffer and I formed the Minnesota delegation at YIMBYtown 2017 in Oakland, Calif. YIMBY stands for “yes in my backyard,” which is in opposition to NIMBY, “not in my backyard,” which is a name you can call someone who opposes a thing you like, if you’ve given up on being persuasive or […]
Where the Minneapolis DFL Candidates Stand on Housing
It’s election season in the Twin Cities, and Minneapolis, among other cities, will elect City Council Members and a Mayor this year. While the general election isn’t until November, the city’s dominant Democratic Farmer-Labor party will begin its endorsement process next week. The party endorses through a caucus process, and their website has information on the location and […]
Obama To Cities: Build Some Housing Already
On September 26th, the Obama administration released the Housing Development Toolkit, signalling to the country that they are on Team YIMBY (that’s “Yes In My BackYard”). The document outlines the barriers for housing growth that many cities, including Minneapolis and Saint Paul, have been experiencing in recent years. Local zoning laws, outdated land use regulations, […]
Field Report from YIMBYtown 2016
This weekend I attended the first ever YIMBY conference in Boulder, Colorado. The YIMBY movement (that’s “Yes In My Back Yard!”) is an effort to make housing more affordable in cities across the United States and around the globe. Many people are struggling to pay rising housing costs and are being displaced due to ongoing […]