The University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst) recently published Preserving and Enhancing Communities: A Guide for Citizens, Planners, and Policymakers, a timely addition to the Sustainable Northampton debate. The book generally supports Smart Growth concepts while it also underscores the value of urban open space. We focus on the latter in these excerpts from Chapter 10, “Natural Land: Preserving and Funding […]
New York Times: The Green Alleys of Chicago
Paved surfaces are notorious for creating stormwater runoff and pollution issues, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Chicago is having success with new kinds of paving materials, reports The New York Times (11/26/07): …with nearly 2,000 miles of small service streets bisecting blocks from the North Side to the South Side, Chicago is the […]
Northamptonist: Arson Confirmed In Recent Rash Of Fires On Hawley St.
Paolo Mastrangelo at Northamptonist has kindly given us permission to reprint his article from December 7: Three More Fires Reported This Morning; Nine Total In Neighborhood This Year. Ward 3 Councilor To Set Up Ward-Wide Meeting With Residents And Officials.The sign [above] has been plastered throughout the Hawley St. neighborhood, having been affixed to telephone poles just today. They […]
Republican: Florence condo units sold at half-price
The Republican reports on aggressive price cuts needed to sell a group of condos in Florence (12/4/07): William A. Roberts and business partner Andrew Dallin hoped to get about $500,000 each for four condominium units they created at 89-93 Main St. in a building called the Davis Block…According to documents in the Hampshire County Hall of […]
Gazette: “Region’s storms going to extremes, report finds”
Today’s Gazette reports New England is experiencing more extreme rainstorms than in the past. We can also expect longer periods of relative dryness. Extreme downpours and snowstorms are rising in frequency nationally, with the highest increases in New England…Massachusetts saw a 67 percent rise in severe storms during [1948-2006], trailing only Rhode Island and New Hampshire……the […]
Our Column in Today’s Gazette: The Hidden Risks of ‘Smart Growth’
Today’s Daily Hampshire Gazette features a guest column written by Dennis Helmus and Adam Cohen, members of NSNA. The column, reprinted below, touches on a number of points we have raised in recent weeks. We have added links so topics can be explored in greater detail. The hidden risks of ‘smart growth’By Dennis Helmus and Adam CohenSmart […]
Seeing Like a State: Planning Gone Awry in the 20th Century
When any master plan is being fashioned, some humility is in order. The past century offers numerous examples of grand visions that made things worse. Let’s visit with James C. Scott’s Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (Yale Agrarian Studies, 1998). From the jacket copy: [Scott] argues […]
“Home prices: Worst drop since ’70”
CNNMoney reports on the latest new home sales data (11/29/07): The sales pace for October was well short of economists’ forecasts. The Census Bureau’s latest report also sharply cut back on its earlier estimates for sales in August and September, when a meltdown in mortgage markets kept many potential buyers from getting the financing they needed.Also […]
Wendell Cox: “METROPOLITAN DENVER AT RISK: How Densification Will Intensify Traffic Congestion, Air Pollution and the Housing Affordability Crisis”
Wendell Cox, a critic of Smart Growth, made this presentation to the Apartment Association of Metro Denver Economic Conference on January 23, 2001. He underscores how density and traffic congestion go together, in Europe as in America: If Denver were as dense as Los Angeles it would cover a bit more than one half the area. […]
Syd Gernstein: “Brownfields Revitalization Cuts Urban Blight, Suburban Sprawl”
NSNA is enthusiastic about infill and urban development when it involves brownfields revitalization. There is much that government can to assist this process. Syd Gernstein explores the subject for National Policy Analysis (2002): Brownfields are abandoned commercial and industrial sites that are suspected to suffer from environmental contamination.…regulatory uncertainties made it difficult, risky and impractical for entrepreneurs to invest in […]