The Best Sentences of the Week (Volume 4)

By no means authoritative or comprehensive, here's a collection of noteworthy phrases, paragraphs, commentaries, observations, and more from the recent week in the planning and urbanism discussion.

2 minute read

November 2, 2014, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Lichtenstein Museum

Toni / Flickr

"While serving as acting mayor, he noted that a neighborhood newspaper headline had called him 'Action mayor Tom Menino,' and said that if elected he would try to live up to the typo." From "Thomas M. Menino, Boston’s longest serving mayor, dies at 71" by Bryan Marquard and Jim O'Sullivan for The Boston Globe.

"If the last few decades have proved anything, it’s just how much the city’s welfare depends on green space." From "Mayor de Blasio’s Plan for Parks Needs to Grow" by Michael Kimmelman for The New York Times.

"While the Beverly Hillbillies were exceptional outsiders, the characters in Slums are commonplace—the true stuff of the city. The dingbat represents their specific anyplace." From "The Veneer of Nostalgia Dingbat Life in Slums of Beverly Hills" by Joshua G. Stein for MAS Context.

"But as I talked to podcasters, they told me that the biggest reason for the podcast renaissance has nothing to do with the podcasts themselves, or the advertisers funding them….It's actually about cars." From "What's Behind the Great Podcast Renaissance" by Kevin Roose for New York.

"The New Yorker’s 2014 Halloween cover should look something like this: high angle on a shadowed cul-de-sac, pools of light illuminating the street. In those pools, row after row of tiny Elsas — the heroine of 'Frozen' — snowflake crowns glimmering, blue skirts shimmering, hands on hips in Wonder Woman’s power pose." From "Elsa or Else" by Alexandra Lange for Medium.

"He carefully posed his aging parents in snapshot tableaux and staged Latino day workers in empty fields among new tract houses to recapture the half-finished, half-raw terrain of his boyhood. In novels and movies, those suburbs are conventionally regarded as either appalling or ridiculous. Sultan showed them without any irony." From "Extra Ordinary Life" by D.J. Waldie for The California Sunday Magazine.

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

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Wastewater pouring out from a pipe.

Alabama: Trump Terminates Settlements for Black Communities Harmed By Raw Sewage

Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”

April 13, 2025 - Inside Climate News

High-rise apartment buildings in Waikiki, Hawaii with steep green mountains in background.

Study: Maui’s Plan to Convert Vacation Rentals to Long-Term Housing Could Cause Nearly $1 Billion Economic Loss

The plan would reduce visitor accommodation by 25% resulting in 1,900 jobs lost.

April 6, 2025 - Honolulu Civil Beat

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 10, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Historic stone structure surrounding natural spring in India with plaques.

Restoring Northern India’s Himalayan ‘Water Temples’

Thousands of centuries-old buildings protect the region’s natural springs and serve as community wells and gathering places.

15 minutes ago - Reasons to Be Cheerful

Blue Bublr bikes parked at station on sidewalk in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Milwaukee to Double Bike Share Stations

Bublr Bikes, one of the nation’s most successful, will add 500 new e-bikes to its system.

1 hour ago - OnMilwaukee

Frosted plexiglass kiosks for outdoor dining installed on Washington DC sidewalk.

DC Extends Application Window for Outdoor Dining Permits

District restaurants will have until the end of November to apply, but businesses with permits in rush hour parking lanes must end operations on July 31.

2 hours ago - DC News