An aerial view of San Francisco by Phil Whitehouse licensed under Creative Commons.

California’s SB50 is back! Why does it cost so much to build transit in some parts of the US? Some cities are trying the car-free life, but what about getting to surrounding areas?

California’s single-family zoning tackled again: New changes to California Senate Bill 50 introduced Monday would give cities and counties two years to develop plans to boost development in their communities before mandates for greater housing density take effect. Senator Scott Wiener, the bill’s author, brought about these changes in response to local government officials’ desire for more control over where new housing would be built. (Liam Dillon | Los Angeles Times)

Understanding transit costs in the US: A recent New York subway expansion cost around $2.5 billion per mile to build, while another under central Paris cost only $250 million per mile. The Eno Center for Transportation is hoping to figure out why this is and what the US can do to deliver transit infrastructure more cheaply and quickly. Eno plans to conduct detailed case studies both in the US and abroad, considering these and other potential factors behind the costs to build transit in the US. (Robert Puentes | Eno Center for Transportation)

America’s transport problem––long trips: Cities across the US are considering car-free neighborhoods to curb private automobile use. Take Culdesac Tempe, a 16-acre community outside Phoenix, Arizona. This car-free rental community has housing, shopping, and other amenities on-site. But that does not change the fact that the whole region is auto-centric. In fact, 59% of the metro area’s two million jobs are more than 10 miles away from where residents live, and across the US, the distance between people and their jobs continues to grow. (Joseph W. Kane | Brookings)

Retail is not dead. It’s changing: In 2019 alone, almost 10,000 stores closed in the US. Much of this has been attributed to the popularity of online shopping, but consumers today are also demanding more from their shopping experience. Indoor shopping malls, in particular, are finding new life by evolving from the traditional model. (Tracy Hadden Loh & Jennifer S. Vey | CNN Business)

Barcelona’s massive low-emissions zone: The largest low-emissions zone in southern Europe opened in Barcelona on New Year’s Day. Gas-powered cars purchased before 2000 and diesels older than 2006 will be banned from entering the city and some satellite towns. The Barcelona ban covers the entire metropolitan area. The city aims to reduce the number of cars in the city by 125,000 within three years and air pollution by 20% within four. (Stephen Burgen | The Guardian)

Quote of the Week

“Before Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund PCEF, we had zero dollars dedicated to creating opportunities for folks who have been left out of the economic engine of the city of Portland. We’re going to start creating some awesome opportunities for people in our community who could have never imagined them.”

Portland City Council member Jo Ann Hardesty discussing the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, the first climate justice Tax.

This week on the podcast, Ben Kabak joins us to talk about New York City transit