Rethinking the Economy

For seniors looking for an alternative to nursing homes, a fresh new take on the “granny flat”: MedCottage.
it’s basically a mini mobile home that rents for about $2,000 a month. You park one in the backyard, hook it up to your water and electricity, and it becomes a free-standing spare room for [...]

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On the heels of San Francisco’s new parking meters that automatically adjust parking rates based on up-to-the-minute market supply & demand, Tyler Cowen wrote a nice NYT piece on the problems with the fact that here in the US of A, Big Government regulations mandate that real estate developers create lots [...]

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This week, the Livable Communities Act, designed to help support and coordinate efforts to encourage walkable development and other smart growth initiatives — passed the Senate Banking Committee, one small but important step on the way to passage. According to DC Streets Blog, seniors are a driving force behind the bill:
Some of the [...]

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When I lived in the Bay Area, I did what Mark Mykleby said we should do: I biked to work. I don’t in DC, and it isn’t just the awful summer weather. It’s simple — I don’t want to die.
In DC, I have friends here who bike to work every day. They tell [...]

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The International City/County Management Association just came out with an report, Getting Smart About Climate Change, that’s a nice example of Principle #2, Place Your Bets. It uses case studies to illustrate nine strategies cities and counties are using to combat global warming:
1. Create more sustainable and resilient communities
2. Green the local economy
3. Engage [...]

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If you’re feeling blue about our side’s chances of getting its act together, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and several other environmental justice organizations from around the country just released a report you should check out: Environmental Justice and the Green Economy. The report lays out three principles for building a just, sustainable [...]

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How much does a home cost? There’s the cost of the place itself, and then there’s the cost of getting around. Knowing in your gut that a “cheaper” place way, way, way out in the burbs will mean a lot more driving is one thing. Putting a price tag on that cost is another.
Luckily, [...]

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It’s been a long, long time since our country try to make homeownership more affordable for most folks. The last real effort was back in the 30s and 40s, when the FHA & VA mortgages and other subsidies many possible for millions of white middle-class Americans to buy a home. In the last decade, prices [...]

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[Part 6 of the Beyond the Underpants Gnomes series, a response to Bill McKibben]
Taking on corporations around the globe may sound insanely ambitious, but boring it’s not. But using local/state government? It’s more Kumbaya than Mortal Kombat. Sure, there’s evil here — just ask the environmental justice groups who fight [...]

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The Urban land Institute’s got a smart idea about how to get more bang out of federal transportation bucks: ‘Channeling Funding Through “the Three Bs”’ of Base, Bonus, and Bank.
1) Use Base Formula Funds to Maintain the System
Base formula funds should be the primary funding source for system maintenance and preservation. [...]

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