Zoning

A Planner's Prayer

3 October 2008 - 1:48pm
A PLANNER’S PRAYER

Next week, Jews around the world (including myself) will spend the day in synagogue for Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.  On that day, we will pray for forgiveness for our sins.  One Yom Kippur prayer, the Al Chet (Hebrew for “for the sin”) lists a variety of sins, requesting Divine forgiveness for each. (One English translation can be found at www.chabad.org/holidays/JewishNewYear/template_cdo/aid/6577/jewish/Text-of-Al-Chet.htm )

Rule-Bending Keeps Fresno Sprawling

29 September 2008 - 1:00pm
Fresno Bee
Despite a 2002 General Plan update aimed at curbing sprawl in the Central California city of Fresno, repeated zoning amendments have allowed hundreds of developments to push the city's edge farther out into the fringe.

Should the Internet Replace Newspapers for Public Notices?

28 September 2008 - 4:16pm

In thousands of planning and zoning laws across the nation, official announcements are required to be published in the local newspaper of "general circulation." In an era of newspaper decline and expanding diversity of media, are these laws becoming obsolete? Furthermore, should we be concerned with newspapers at all if a newer, more universally accessible medium is available: the Internet?

A variety of announcements are legally required to be published in a local periodical of "general circulation," sometimes in addition to being published in an official government gazette. The practice entered the planning world through the U.S. Department of Commerce's highly influential standard zoning and planning enabling acts.

Should we use zoning to preserve manufacturing?

10 September 2008 - 11:59am

Deindustrialization has wreaked havoc across many American cities and towns. One only need visit the landscape of the rust belt, places like Buffalo, Detroit or Flint, Michigan to get a sense how damaging this transformation can be. Behind the ugly ruins of abandoned factories and shuttered stores are the lives of real people who have suffered. Manufacturing provided jobs, good paying ones at that, that helped create a blue collar middle class.

 

The Anti-Zoning Attitude of Palin's Hometown

6 September 2008 - 1:00pm
The Christian Science Monitor
VP hopeful Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla, Alaska is proud of its anti-government attitude and anything goes climate for building and planning.

Friday Funny: SeXXXercise Thwarted

29 August 2008 - 2:00pm
York Daily Record
The ACLU is helping a woman in Pittsburgh sue the city for violating her right of free expression. The city denied her occupancy permit to open a pole-dancing studio, teaching classes in "power lap dance" and "seXXXercise".

Condo Towers Force Out Remaining Industries in NYC

28 August 2008 - 12:00pm
NY Daily News
A new round of zoning changes in NYC could mean the loss of over 20% of industrial-zoned land in the city.

Mayor Shuts Down Little Girls' Produce Stand

22 August 2008 - 1:00pm
ABC7
Katie and Sabrina Lewis of Clayton, CA have inadvertently gotten tied up in a political mess of zoning and commercial uses by selling produce from their family garden at a stand in front of their house.

Forget Coffeehouses- Businesses Want Freeways, Labor, Energy

14 August 2008 - 10:00am
California Planning and Development Report
Manufacturing still matters, and what manufacturers want hasn't changed much. The question is whether a "new economy" state like California can compete in the old economy.

Hard to Change Houston's Rep as Nation's Worst Recycler

29 July 2008 - 1:00pm
The New York Times
As the worst recycler amongst the 30 largest American cities, Houston has a lot of trash on its hands. But many obstacles stand in the way of the city closing the loop.

New Crematory Evades City Planners

16 July 2008 - 11:00am
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
City officials in Snellville, near Atlanta, claim they cannot stop the pending arrival of a new crematorium along a busy street and near homes.

Should Public Meetings Offer Translation?

1 July 2008 - 5:00am
The New York Times
Rezoning in New York's Lower East Side brings the issue of language to the fore, as members of the Spanish and Chinese communities find themselves unable to participate in important decisions about their neighborhoods.

Learning from exam schools

24 June 2008 - 7:38am

Yesterday’s Washington Post contained a list of elite public schools- schools where the average student SAT is over 1300. Since suburban schools generally have better reputations than urban schools, one might expect that all the schools on the list would be in prestigious suburban school districts. But in fact, this is not the case. Three New York City schools (Stuyvestant, Hunter College, Bronx High) and one school near downtown Richmond (Maggie Walker) are on the high-SAT list- despite the fact that the New York City and Richmond school districts, like nearly all urban school districts, have mediocre reputations.

Zoning Squashes Wedding Plans

23 June 2008 - 7:00am
Portland Press Herald
Heather Stewart's vision of a country wedding in a resorted country barn are thwarted by code enforcement officers at the last minute. 'We have zoning rules and building codes that always get in the way of dreams,' Reinsborough said.

Disobedient Architect to Be Banned from Brooklyn

16 June 2008 - 7:00am
The New York Times
Brooklyn architect Robert M. Scarano Jr. has crossed Brooklyn's zoning laws too many times, and the city is making the case to ban him from submitting any plans. In the worst case, he put two apartment buildings in a location greenlighted for one.

'EcoDensity' Comes Through in Vancouver

13 June 2008 - 7:00am
The Vancouver Sun
A major rezoning plan has been approved in Vancouver, including the toughest environmental standards in North America.

Did Houston's Lack Of Zoning Shield It From The Housing Meltdown?

29 May 2008 - 6:00am
The Houston Chronicle
A recent report by a Federal Reserve Bank senior economist argues that Houston's resiliency during the ongoing housing crisis is due in part to its lack of zoning regulations.

Cities Should Be Like Pizza

16 May 2008 - 9:00am
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
Keeping land uses separate is like keeping the ingredients of pizza separate, according to Congress for New Urbanism President John Norquist. The result is an urban pie that doesn't taste as good as it could.

Neighborhood Zoning Offices Give Residents Help And Answers

12 May 2008 - 12:00pm
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Following the lead of law enforcement, San Diego's code enforcement department is opening storefront offices where residents can come in with questions and complaints.

It's Not 'Zoning', But It's Zoning

6 May 2008 - 10:00am
The Houston Chronicle
This commentary argues that, though it may not be called "zoning", Houston has plenty of land use restrictions and guidelines.
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