Will Seattle light rail extended to Snohomish County create intolerable crowding on peak period trains in King County?

photo.jpg

Starting in the 1980s, the central Puget Sound region committed itself to a network of four-car light-rail trains having less passenger capacity than the eight-car heavy-rail subway rejected by King County voters in 1968 and 1970, a service territory that included Seattle and Bellevue. The plan back then did not include tracks into Snohomish County to the north and Pierce County to the south. Those two jurisdictions were added to the voter-approved Sound Transit plans beginning in 1996.  read more »

California Out-Migration Intensifies, People Move South

1200px-Flag_of_Utah.svg.png

The new Census Bureau population estimates for the states have been released. The nation has experienced its slowest growth since 1938, adding only 0.6 percent to the population between 2017 and 2018, according to Brookings Institution demographer Bill Frey. Overall, since 2010, the nation has gained 6.0 percent in population and now has 327.2 million residents. This is an increase of 18.4 million.  read more »

COP 24: Paris Agreement plans to reduce greenhouse gases miss the mark

cop-24-paris-agreement-plan-to-reduce-greenhouse-gases.jpg

Just like the TV commercial that asked, “where’s the beef,” it’s time to focus on whats the substance behind demands we reduce our dependency on fossil fuels? Why aren’t any of the proposed “solutions” to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) actually effective?  read more »

Subjects:

The Mask Is Off: Minneapolis Declares War on Single Family Houses

5004874619_77952f79a8_b.jpg

In a recent article published in Housing Wire (and in many other places), it was told that Minneapolis will abolish single family housing as part of the Metropolitan Councils 2040 plan. Much of the reason seems to be based on the idea that people in single family homes are discriminating against minorities and the poor, who can only afford apartments, although of course many people of color own homes, or would like to.  read more »

The Next Housing Crisis

121805-full.jpg

Little over a decade ago, the housing sector almost brought down not only the American but the world economy. Today the reprise of the housing decline will be playing a very different tune.  read more »

Texas’ New Hipsters Threaten the Very Environment That Lured Them There

1200px-Hermann_Park,_Sam_Houston_monument,_reflection_pool.JPG

The prospect of a purple and eventually blue Texas thrills progressives who see the Lone Star State as the key to their drive for post-Trump domination. Before draining their champagne glasses and filling their bongs, the coastal crowd should sober up enough to consider what happens if the Texas miracle comes to an end.  read more »

Subjects:

Suburbs & Exurbs Continue to Dominate Metropolitan Growth at Mid-Decade

DSC02840.JPG

America’s suburbs and exurbs continue to receive the most population growth among the 53 major metropolitan areas. This is indicated by data in the just released 2013-2017 American Community Survey (ACS), which provides a mid-decade snapshot of US demography. With its middle sample year of 2015, the 2013-2017 ACS is most representative of the middle of the decade between the 2010 and 2020 censuses (Note 1).  read more »

Black Exodus From Chicago

moving_guide_large.jpg

I'm the oldest of three siblings. My siblings left the Rust Belt for the East Coast; my sister and her family are in suburban Washington, D.C., and my brother's family lives in Brooklyn. Both have been encouraging me for years to make the leap and join them. I stay in touch with friends and other family from my birthplace of Detroit and my current hometown of Chicago via Facebook, and they have fanned throughout the country -- Atlanta, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Houston.  read more »

Reinventing the Rust Belt in Kokomo

kokomo-fairytale-cstore-300x225.jpg

I’ve written about Kokomo, Indiana before and also posted a podcast with its mayor. It’s a small manufacturing city in Indiana, far from glamorous and with its own set of challenges, that has been seeking to reinvent itself for the 21st century. My latest City Journal article is a look at Kokomo and what it’s been up to.  read more »

By Law, California High Speed Rail May Be Doomed To Fail

by-law-california-high-speed-rail-may-be-doomed-to-fail.jpg

It has been 10 years since passage of California Proposition 1A the High-Speed Rail Act that approved the $9.95 billion bond, a down payment on a high-speed rail project that was optimistically estimated by proponents at that time to cost $40 billion. Today, the California high-speed rail cost may approach $100 billion. Public enthusiasm is obviously dwindling.  read more »