September 2, 2008
One might assume that the 2008 Democratic candidate for president would have a progressive platform on urban development: That he would – similar to legislation just passed by the California legislature – encourage new development to be more compact and mass-transit-friendly. But, as blogger Paul Shigley from California Planning & Development Report points out, the phrase “cities to rebuild” was the closest Barack Obama got to endorsing smart growth or new urbanism in his acceptance speech last Thursday. However, on the Urban Policy page of Obama’s website there is this: “As president, Barack Obama will re-evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.” Vague, yes, but probably a federal parallel to what California is enacting. For the record, the issue is not to be found on John McCain’s issues webpage. Read More
August 29, 2008
In a rather stunning move, presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain this morning announced Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. As the nation quickly stirs to familiarize itself with this seemingly out-of-nowhere selection, The Hot Sheet wonders what impact Palin may have on our domestic real estate crisis. Read More
August 20, 2008
Millions of tourists visit Rome every year to view architectural masterpieces such as the Colosseum and other ancient landmarks, including the Forum, the Pantheon , the Catacombs and Circus Maximus. So what does Italy’s capital lack to attract more tourists?
A Disneyland-style theme park. Read More
August 1, 2008
As developing countries like China and India suddenly urbanize, should the Western world lecture them about committing the same environmental harms it has? Per capita, the number of Indians who own passenger cars is still very low compared with developed countries – just eight in 1,000. But, to the alarm of environmentalists, that number is growing rapidly. Read More
July 25, 2008
Two heavyweights of urban thinking are duking it out. Joel Kotkin, author of The City and frequent L.A. Times contributor, is getting flamed by William Fulton, author of The Regional City and editor of California Planning and Development Report. In his blog post, “What’s The Difference Between Glendale and Palmdale? Don’t Ask Joel Kotkin!” Fulton calls out Kotkin for his frequent downtown-bashing Read More
July 25, 2008
Forget lavish open houses and desperate Craigslist posts. The most devoted sellers are getting religious about unloading unwanted homes, reports the Wall Street Journal’s June Fletcher. StJosephStatue.com produces plastic statues that believers bury in their yard to help sell their homes. Apparently the statue should be buried near the “for sale” sign. And it should be buried upside-down. Read More
July 23, 2008
By now, most of us have heard that Starbucks Coffee will close approximately 600 stores in the U.S. beginning this month and continuing through mid 2009. Over the weekend, the writer of this entry observed a group of friends standing outside a neighborhood Starbucks who were speculating if “their” favorite store is one of the doomed. Read More
March 20, 2008
Richard Riordan and James Hahn were two of Los Angeles’ blandest, do-little mayors in recent history (some say). So when charismatic Antonio Villaraigosa swept into office three years ago, it seemed the city finally found a leader bold enough to confront Read More
February 20, 2008
The Los Angeles Planning Department and the Community Redevelopment Agency have controversially proposed limiting residential development in Downtown’s industrial-zoned land to a mere 20%. The reason? They want to preserve industrial jobs. But residential developers are pointing Read More
February 20, 2008
The more the MTA invests in rail, the less Angelenos take public transportation. So says USC transportation gadfly James Moore (along with Libertarian analyst Tom Rubin) in a recent Los Angeles Times op-ed. They write, “The MTA has spent more than $11 billion since 1986 to build Read More
