In recent months, a massive speed-camera program has been causing quite a stir in the tiny town of Elmwood Place, Ohio.
Elmwood Place’s town council installed speed cameras operated by the company Optotraffic to slow down some of the 18,000 commuters traveling through the village each day. The program’s opponents, who claim the town council and Optotraffic are just out to make money, waged a social media campaign and eventually filed a class-action lawsuit against Elmwood Place. This March, a county judge forced the town council to take the speed cameras down.
What is a town like Elmwood Place to do, faced with safety concerns and a decrease in local business revenue thanks to speeding commuters? Sarah Goodyear suggests that a wholesale re-planning of the village’s business district may be in order. After all, while pedestrian-friendly planning doesn’t come cheap, neither do lawsuits. “What we have to ask ourselves is what kind of places we want to pay for with the money we have,” she writes.
FULL STORY: How Speed Cameras Brought One Ohio Village to a Standstill
San Francisco Turns On California’s First Speed Cameras
The city is the first in the state to use automated traffic enforcement to reduce speeding and traffic deaths.
Data Shows Chicago Speed Cameras Reduce Speeding, Crashes
Countering claims made by the Chicago Tribune that automated enforcement doesn’t improve safety, Streetsblog Chicago lays out the data showing how traffic safety fared in camera zones.
States Have Mixed Feelings on Speed Cameras
While some states and cities are embracing automated traffic enforcement as a tool for improving road safety, others are banning the technology over concerns that the programs are designed for profit rather than public benefit.
Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage
Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?
In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.
Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.
Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service