Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Sprawl

HUD Awards Bring “Bittersweet” End to Sustainability Program

By Tanya Snyder | Nov 23, 2011 | No Comments

Just days after the interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities was issued a death blow by having its funding axed in the FY2012 transportation budget, which President Obama signed into law Friday, HUD issued a reminder of just how sad that loss is: The agency released its list of 2011 award grantees — communities embarking on […]

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Meet the Rick Perry Donor Who Runs Texas DOT

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 11, 2011 | No Comments

Last week Streetsblog looked into the suburban real estate moguls who used their public offices to advance the country’s largest sprawl project — Houston’s third outerbelt, also known as the Grand Parkway. But even with all the cronyism and self-deal propelling this project forward, just a few months ago it looked like the Grand Parkway […]

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Texas Sprawl Builders Funneled Taxpayer $ to Highway That Enriched Them

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 2, 2011 | No Comments

If the U.S. had a national transportation policy, this story of corruption and waste never would have happened. But an enduring feature of the current policy predicament is that once federal funding is in the hands of state DOTs, they more or less have a blank check, and the merit of any given transportation project […]

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The Incredible Shrinking Megastore: Retailers Think Outside the Big Box

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 15, 2011 | No Comments

They lord over empty parking lots in Hazard, Kentucky; Twinsburg, Ohio; and Lewiston, Washington like the ruins of a lost civilization. Vacant Walmart stores are slowly decomposing in more and more American towns these days. More than 100 of them have been memorialized as part of the group Flickr pool known smugly as “They Sold […]

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From Sprawling New Jersey, a New Way Forward for State DOTs

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 3, 2011 | No Comments

Despite the rather obvious link between transportation investments and development patterns, land use planning is simply not a consideration at your average state DOT. Most state DOTs — and there are notable exceptions — see their primary responsibility as building highways, never mind that highways are likely to spur outward development, which leads to the […]

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Meet the Obscure Unelected Agencies Strangling Many U.S. Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 21, 2011 | No Comments

Do you know the name of your local Metropolitan Planning Organization or Council of Government? Most Americans don’t. In fact, most people probably have no idea these agencies even exist, let alone what they do. Yet they are surprisingly powerful and play a substantial role in shaping the places where we live and work. Led […]

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