The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

On July 1, Illinois and Ohio increased gas taxes by double digits: 19 cents per gallon and 10.5 CPG, respectively, followed by California at 5.6 CPG, all due to legislation passed this year or in 2017. Diesel tax hikes were even higher.

July 5 - Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

Google Maps will now share data about how crowded buses and trains are likely to be.

July 5 - The Verge

The Google-owned company has the data to connect commuters to possible carpool buddies, Whether Waze can stem the long-term decline in carpooling remains to be seen.

July 5 - City Lab

Land grant universities are, by design, tasked with benefitting the communities in which they are located. The recent track record on that mission is mixed, according to a recent book on the subject.

July 4 - Governing

President Donald Trump has low opinions on the state of a few very specific cities.

July 4 - The Washington Post

Many gardeners in Florida celebrated this week, as Senate Bill 82 went into effect, by planting fruits and vegetables in their yards, legally, whether their city liked it or not.

July 4 - NPR

McDonald's takes a lot of heat for the quality of the food, but most Americans still associate the fast food giant's restaurants, and others like it, with family, community, and good times.

July 4 - CityLab

The Trump administration's lack of concern for the National Park Service's growing maintenance backlog will be on display today, along with everything else.

July 4 - The Washington Post

Your senses (or lack thereof) aren't deceiving you. Some cities really are worse for seasonal allergies than others, and some of the reasons are entirely preventable.

July 3 - The Guardian

More cities are leveraging technology to better manage one of the most confusing and congested spaces in the public realm: the curb.

July 3 - Smart Cities Dive

Southern California has long been leader in air quality management, but lately the news has not been good.

July 3 - Los Angeles Times

An opinion piece by Josh Wilson makes a case for a congestion pricing plan tailored specifically for the realities of living and working in San Francisco.

July 3 - The San Francisco Chronicle

Nursing homes are closing in large numbers in rural communities as a result of a confluence of market pressures.

July 3 - MPR News

Why is it that smallish cities in western Europe always score so well? Perhaps the underlying assumptions behind ostensibly data-driven "livability" rankings cater to a certain audience and leave most of us out.

July 3 - CityLab

While most Bay Area communities are pursuing housing solutions "individually," local planners acknowledge the need for strategies that address the regional as a unified whole.

July 3 - Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Despite over a year of proposals, counter proposals, and heated debate, the city of Philadelphia has yet to broker a breakthrough on proposed reforms to the city's ten-year property tax abatement program.

July 3 - PlanPhilly

The U.S. Department of Commerce was not successful in achieving a highly consequential change to the 2020 Census form, after the Supreme Court ruled it needed a better reason to make the change.

July 3 - BuzzFeed News

Candidates drop names for a reason.

July 3 - CityLab

One Dalton Street, the third tallest building in Boston, is almost complete.

July 2 - The Boston Globe

With more cars on roads and planes in the sky than ever before, finding truly noise-free places with pure natural sounds has become ever more challenging.

July 2 - KUOW (The Wild)