Urban Renewal Dead in California
California cities do not have a constitutionally given right to steal money from schools and other tax districts to use for their crony capitalism and social engineering, says the California Supreme Court when it rejected a law suit brought by urban redevelopment agencies against a state law abolishing them. As a result, barring new legislation […]
America’s Greatest Invention
Despite being demonized for years, the automobile may be the greatest invention of the past 230 years. Mass-produced automobiles and their relatives, trucks and tractors, vastly increased the mobility, income, and quality of life for the average American.
The Greatest Invention: How Automobiles Made America Great
Americans are in love with their automobiles and justifiably so. For Americans, the advent of the automobile is directly related to the improvement in the quality of life including increased personal income, increased home ownership, and increased personal mobility. While critics would like to Americans to abandon their vehicles in favor of government-sponsored mass transit, this is no time to break up a long, healthy relationship.
The Planning Penalty: How Smart Growth Makes Housing Unaffordable
Abstract
Smart growth and other forms of growth-management planning create artificial housing shortages that impose significant burdens on low-income families and first-time homebuyers. This paper examines several sources of housing data to determine the specific effects of growth-management planning on housing prices.
Accidents Point Up Dangers of Rail Transit
The recent Los Angeles commuter train disaster that killed eleven people has brought national attention to the safety problems inherent in most rail transit lines. Yet the Los Angeles tragedy is only one of many recent rail accidents.
No Two Ways About It: One-Way Streets Are Better Than Two-Way
A recent article in the New York Times describes a transportation planner in the Netherlands who advocates making streets city safer by making them more dangerous.
The Full Truth About Fastracks
FastTracks supporters tell voters that rail transit will reduce congestion, clean the air, and promote economic development. In reality, it won’t do any of these things; it will just waste at least $8.3 billion of the taxpayers’ money.
Rail Disasters 2005
This update to Great Rail Disasters, which was published in February 2004, traces transit ridership from 1982 through 2003 in nearly all U.S. urban areas that had rail transit in 2003. It also reviews preliminary data for 2004, compares the growth of transit usage with the growth of driving in these regions, and presents an overview of the transit industry as a whole. Each transit system is given a letter grade, A through F, based on its growth in transit ridership relative to region’s growth in driving. Major findings include:
Great Rail Disasters: The Impact of Rail Transit on Urban Livability
The stampede to plan and build rail transit lines in American cities has led and is leading to a series of financial and mobility disasters.
