July 16: What we’re reading this week
Some articles we found interesting this week:
What would an Amtrak Revival Look Like, via Bloomberg.
Boston Offers Tax Breaks to Turn Empty Offices into Housing, via Bloomberg.
Why Can’t We Stop Homelessness? 4 Reasons Why There’s No End in Sight, via NPR.
How Much Should You Really Spend on a House? Even the Experts Don’t Know for Sure, via The Atlantic.
Wealthy Suburbs are Crushing Housing Market Supply and Choking off Affordability, say Researchers Who Looked at Nationwide Data. Fortune reports.
ZONING: The Death of the Neighborhood Grocery Store, via Southern Urbanism.
Given the recent announcement that the Downtown Raleigh Alliance will lead a study exploring ways to revitalize downtown, particularly Fayetteville Street, this article seems relevant: How to Revive a Dying Main Street? One U.K. Landlord Offered Free Rent, via the New York Times.
URBAN DESIGN: Transit Follows Density, via Southern Urbanism.
As Downtowns Struggle, Businesses Learn to Love Bike Lanes. Read about it in Bloomberg.
Tax Increment Financing: Revitalization Tool, Developer Handout…or Both. Read it in Shelterforce.
Wait Lists for Subsidized Housing are Getting Longer, via The Boston Globe.
Long Read: Civic education in America is dreadful. People from all walks of life seem to have little to no understanding of government at all levels. This makes the job of policy makers and elected officials even harder. Governing Magazine has an interesting article exploring how improving civic education can lead to a community’s financial stability: If Civic Education Fails, the Business Community will Suffer, and here is a longer article on the same topic from The Harvard Business Review.