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Impact Fees Are ADU Busters
If you’re lucky enough to be a Cascadian homeowner, you’ve probably toyed with the idea of installing a mother-in-law apartment or backyard cottage at your place. If you’ve gone as far as to explore what would be required, you may have slammed straight into an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) buster: your city’s fees. In Washington, for example, depending on what city you live in, so-called impact fees alone might total...Read more » -
Believe It or Not, Trump Put a Huge Tax on Parking Lots, Maybe by Mistake
Deep in the bowels of the Republican tax reform that took effect in the United States last year, its late-night authors buried a secret. The bill, as written, made one of the nation’s most economically and environmentally destructive fringe benefits—a free parking space for anyone who drives to work—21 percent more expensive for any private employer to provide. Did the authors of the bill, which skipped the scrutiny of Congress’s...Read more » -
Portland’s Fourplex Legalization Would Reduce Displacement Almost Everywhere
In Portland and Cascadia’s other growing cities, housing displacement and exclusion seem automatic. They happen without government action. They are the status quo. Even if Oregon were to pass a dramatically tighter version of the rent stabilization bill it’s now considering, that alone wouldn’t do a thing for tenants who want to move, which of course just about every tenant does at some point. And that’s where allowing more homes...Read more » -
How to Reduce Emissions and Congestion While Preparing for a Just Transition to Self-Driving Cars
Cascadia’s cities could benefit immensely from electric robo-taxi service someday if we get the public policies right but we don’t know exactly when autonomous car service will arrive. In the meantime, we need an action agenda to address our current transportation problems that also enables a just transition to self-driving cars. To kick off 2019, I propose the following slate of sensible reforms that would reduce transportation emissions and congestion...Read more » -
2018 in Review: Fossil Fuel Companies Fumble; Clean Energy Bills Set to Take Spotlight
A report released in October by United Nations’ climate scientists was an ominous wakeup call for many. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change now predicts the Earth’s atmosphere will warm by more than 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2040—a shift that could cause global environmental and humanitarian catastrophe. The news delivered a bleak message, but it also underscored that our work to create sustainable, equitable communities and a healthy environment here...Read more » -
Oregon Tops the Charts for Voter Turnout in 2018
In November, the United States hit a 50-year high for voter turnout in a midterm—49 percent. Oregon blew that record out of the water, where 63 percent of eligible Oregonians turned in a ballot. That’s the highest midterm turnout Oregon has seen in at least a quarter-century. Swing states usually see the most voter turnout but Oregon consistently makes the top ten, showing that voter-friendly policies pay off for democracy....Read more » -
Portland Might Spend Twice as Much on Free Parking Lots as Affordable Housing along Its Next Rail Line
The big, hard-fought housing ballot issue that Portland-area voters approved this month set aside 10 percent of its revenue—$65 million—specifically for low-income-affordable housing near transit lines. But as the same regional government draws up plans for the region’s next light-rail line, it’s also been quietly preparing to give the rest of the Pacific Northwest an object lesson in what not to do. It’s weighing whether to dedicate $168 million or...Read more » -
Cascadia’s Three Huge Urbanism Wins of 2018
The winter blanket of clouds finally slid over the Pacific Northwest this week, and as we head indoors this year, it’s worth lighting a candle for some of the good news that Cascadia’s cities continue to deliver themselves—and hopefully shine out into the rest of the world. As urban policy wonks may have noticed, we’ve been doing quite a lot. 1. Portland just approved one of North America’s biggest-ever shifts...Read more » -
Bike-Share Programs in Cascadia: How Are They Faring?
Editor’s note: Uber announced Monday, Nov. 19, plans to launch its bike-share service after receiving its operating permit from the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) last Friday. The announcement was made after this article was originally published. Electric scooter rentals may be getting all the buzz of late, but bike-share growth is still sizzling in Cascadia as cities work to find low-carbon solutions for the proverbial “last mile” from transit...Read more » -
Uber and Lyft Don’t Have to Threaten Transit. They Could Make It Better.
In less than two months, Cascadia’s largest city, Seattle, will close its Alaskan Way Viaduct once and for all. During the weeks it takes crews to connect its replacement deep bore tunnel, the city’s downtown traffic will endure a “period of maximum constraint.” Congestion could get nightmarish. The Period of Maximum Constraint is also a golden opportunity. It’s a chance to demonstrate that a marriage between transit and ride-hailing services...Read more »