Houston Rodeo
1. This week at Market Urbanism:
Nolan Gray‘s latest post, Liberate the Garage!: Autonomous Cars and the American Dream
At present, zoning laws effectively prohibit entrepreneurs from using their garages for business. In many Americans cities, hiring employees, hosting visitors, putting up signs, and altering your garage for business purposes are all outright banned. As urban planner Sonia Hirt notes in her most recent book, these regulations reflect American zoning’s dogmatic insistence on separating work from home. These restrictions effectively mandate sprawl by forcing commercial uses and residential uses into segregated districts. More troublingly, these regulations fall hardest on low-income entrepreneurs by significantly raising the cost of starting a business.
The article was cited at streetsblog, and Nolan discussed the article on KCBS radio San Francisco
Michael Lewyn wrote his first Market Urbanism article, Rent Control: A No-Win
It therefore seems to me that pro-rent control municipalities are caught in a no-win situation: if they adopt strict rent controls, they limit housing supply by making housing a less attractive investment. But if they adopt temperate rent controls, they don’t really control rents.
2. Where’s Scott?
Scott Beyer is leaving Oklahoma City tonight for Houston to see the rodeo. This week, he delved into foreign policy, writing in Forbes about The Case For Another Cuban Boatlift.
Since 1980, Miami has been one of the fastest-growing metro areas by population, and has become one of the best for startup activity and upward mobility. Along with other Latin American immigrants, Cubans have bolstered this, making up over a third of the city’s population…Well into the 21st century, Cubans had among the highest median incomes and homeownership rates of U.S. Hispanic groups.
3. At the Market Urbanism Facebook Group:
Michael Hamilton is happy to see good news for once: Arizona Senate Votes to Ban Cities from Banning Airbnb, Couch-Surfing
Nick Zaiac shared Daniel Hertz‘s latest: Finding nuance in the housing supply arguments
Nolan Gray’s article on Jane Jacobs was translated into Portuguese via Anthony Ling
John Morris dug up some of Stephen Smith‘s timeless articles about transit history:
The Great American Streetcar Myth
The Nation’s mass transit hypocrisy
John Morris also found: The Infuriating History of How Metro Got So Bad
Nick Farren doesn’t like the recent trend of terrible ideas: From Regulating Uber to Subsidizing It
4. Elsewhere:
Blame Zoning, Not Tech, for San Francisco’s Housing Crisis (and it’s not tech bros) h/t SFBARF
Aaron Renn on the changes that will be in store because of driver-less cars.
Joel Kotkin on the rampant misappropriations of inner-city mass transit policy.
Rome wasn’t planned in a day … in fact it wasn’t planned at all Part 2 in a 50 part series at The Guardian
5. Stephen Smith‘s Tweet of the Week:
btw, time to chastise my followers: you should care more about Indian planning issues. It’s probably the biggest urbanism tragedy on earth.
— Market Urbanism (@MarketUrbanism) March 17, 2016
