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5 Reasons Portland’s Fourplex Legalization Would Be a Big Deal
Why should it be illegal in most of our cities? Photo by Sightline Institute: Missing Middle Homes Photo Library, used under CC BY 2.0.
Through five years of deliberation, Portland’s residential infill project has remained a simple concept: an anti-McMansion compromise that simultaneously lowers the maximum size of new buildings in low-density areas and allows buildings to contain more homes. As the proposal finally arrives at Portland’s city council today for the first of two high-stakes public hearings, it’s also the most significant zoning reform project in the United States or Canada. Over the...Read more » -
Washington Takes Another Shot at Ambitious Statewide ADU Reform
Washington state representatives Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac) and Andrew Barkis (R-Olympia) introduced a new bill in Olympia yesterday evening that would lift barriers to backyard cottages and mother-in-law apartments across the state. And it probably looks familiar. These modest homes—which urban planners call accessory dwelling units (ADUs)—provide low-impact infill housing options in existing neighborhoods, cutting commutes and increasing access to parks, schools, shops, and transit. Their flexible design and smaller size...Read more » -
A One-Stop Shop for Our Affordability Messaging Resources
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Zombie Scooters Are Coming!
Zombie-works by Swingman used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, and PBOT hosts Electric Scooter Safety Event by Portland Bureau of Transportation used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Illustration by Daniel Malarkey, used with permission.
Imagine hordes of unused, electric e-scooters stirring in the middle of the night, twitching their camera-studded handlebars side to side. Then slowly, methodically, they roll along sidewalks with their headlamps aglow. The silent scooters pause at each cross-walk and, with two twists, assess the street for signs of life. Inexorably, they make their way, mile after mile, until they reach the object of their quest and begin an unfamiliar, mechanistic...Read more » -
California Looks to a Future beyond Single-Detached House Zoning
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The Boeing 737 MAX Fiasco and the Future of Autonomous Vehicles
On the one-year anniversary of the first 737 MAX crash, senators and representatives grilled CEO Dennis Muilenburg for nine hours at public hearings on Capitol Hill about how Boeing’s mistakes contributed to 346 deaths. As they forced Muilenburg to concede to design and management errors, policymakers built a case for more regulation of Boeing’s advanced airplanes, not less. Yet in the same month that Muilenburg appeared before Congress, Waymo began...Read more » -
Seattle’s Latest Housing Reform Shows How Environmentalists Are Rethinking Cities
A who’s-who of Seattle environmental non-profits—350 Seattle, Sierra Club, Climate Solutions, Futurewise, Transportation Choices Coalition, and Sightline—all backed the city council’s recent 8-0 vote to limit environmental review of homebuilding and the rules that govern it. Why would groups with the mission of creating a sustainable future want to rein in environmental oversight? Call it: environmentalists against environmental regulations that can hurt the environment. On paper, the policy tweaks Seattle...Read more » -
It’s Official: DC Politicians Have Woken Up to Housing Abundance
Mark it down: It was in late 2019 that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced parking reform to the halls of Congress. The New York Congresswoman’s call to withhold federal transportation funding from any jurisdiction that bans car-free homes by requiring on-site parking, unveiled Sept. 25 as part of a large and ambitious housing bill, is the latest thump in an accelerating riff of new pro-housing proposals that is starting to rattle mainstream...Read more » -
In Mid-Density Zones, Portland Has a Choice: Garages or Low Prices?
For three years, Portland’s proposal to re-legalize fourplexes citywide has been overshadowing another, related reform. That other reform applies not to low-density lots but to mid-density areas: The ones currently zoned for townhomes and small to medium-size apartment buildings. It’s finally coming before Portland’s city council in a public hearing Wednesday. (The city is also accepting online testimony right now.) This proposed mid-density reform, dubbed “Better Housing by Design,” includes...Read more » -
Another Win for Seattle-Area Bus Riders: Paid Park-and-Rides
Chalk this one up for the public transit heroes. The King County Council voted 5-3 Wednesday to let riders of its Metro bus system pay for their parking with money, rather than time, if they want to. At 10 of the system’s most crowded park-and-ride lots, Metro will soon sell monthly permits to access up to half the parking spaces that adjoin major bus hubs. Carpoolers will still be able...Read more »