Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Development

A Modest Proposal: Ask Developers to Help Pay For Better Transport

By Elana Schor | Feb 2, 2010 | No Comments

At today’s debate on conservative support for transit, developer Chris Leinberger had a modest proposal for lawmakers who are desperately seeking new transportation financing strategies in an era of diminishing gas tax returns: Ask real-estate developers to pay for projects that will increase their profits. Chris Leinberger at last year’s Walk21 conference. (Photo: M. Katz) […]

The Urbanist Case Against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

By Elana Schor | Jan 29, 2010 | No Comments

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), an advocacy group working to reform local development practices, is seizing on House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) recent call for a new system of housing finance to replace government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mixed-use developments, such as Atlanta’s Atlantic Station (above), are often incompatible […]

New Report Links Homeowners’ Auto Dependence With Foreclosure Risk

By Elana Schor | Jan 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

Homeowners in car-dependent areas without access to alternative transportation are at greater risk of foreclosure, according to a report released yesterday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that calls for mortgage underwriting standards to begin taking so-called "location-efficiency" into account. Weeds spring up near a foreclosed home in Illinois. (Photo: Getty) The NRDC examined […]

Should a Climate Bill Even Try to Fight Sprawl?

By Elana Schor | Jan 11, 2010 | 1 Comment

The potential for a cap-and-trade climate bill to set aside significant amounts of money for reforming local land use and transportation planning is often touted by Democrats, environmental groups, and this particular Streetsblogger. Should the approach California used in SB 375 (being signed into law above) be applied to a congressional cap-and-trade climate bill? (Photo: […]

Congress Set to Double the Size of Sprawl-Centric Home Buyer’s Tax Credit

By Elana Schor | Nov 4, 2009 | No Comments

The $8,000 tax credit for new home buyers — which was wracked by fraudulent claims after its creation as part of the nation’s economic recovery effort — is on the verge of a significant expansion by Congress. Just how much will the tax credit mushroom thanks to the deal reached in the Senate? As the […]

Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

By Ryan Avent | Nov 2, 2009 | No Comments

One of the themes of the financial and economic crisis we’ve faced over the past two years is that government, pressed into responding to serious economic pain, has often found itself supporting the activities that got us into this mess in the first place. Sign of the times? Sde-by-side foreclosures in Massachusetts. (Photo: Yovani via […]

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