News items for April 17, 2024
-
1. Boise’s new zoning code sparks surge in ADU permits
Rules about who can live in them and where they can park were key barriers to backyard cottages.
-
2. BC signs agreement handing title to Haida Gwaii
The BC government and the Council of Haida Nation have signed an agreement officially recognizing Haida Gwaii’s Aboriginal title, more than two decades after the nation launched a legal action seeking formal recognition.
-
3. Seattle mayor’s office edited ambitious growth plan
Here, for the first time, is a look at some of the changes Mayor Harrell’s office made to Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan that will guide how and where Seattle grows over the next 20 years.
-
4. Podcast: Inside a Portland micro-village
City Cast Portland talks with WeShine, a neighbor-organized nonprofit that builds and runs micro-villages in Portland.
-
5. Tribes as global ‘climate leaders’
ICT’s Editor-at-Large Mark Trahant visited recently with the Interior Department’s Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland about the climate, and some other topics, and the government’s initiatives working with tribes.
-
6. Why environmental justice matters, from the founder himself
You might think of environmental justice as an old concept, old as the environmental movement itself. Sociologist Robert Bullard tells why it’s not, and why people need to keep fighting.
-
7. On the chopping block: CA’s climate program for low-income housing
For the second year, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing cuts to California’s $54 billion climate investment, targeting programs such as an ambitious initiative to install new electric appliances in low-income homes to accelerate the state’s transition from fossil fuels.
-
8. EPA finalizes new standards for cancer-causing chemicals
The regulation specifically targets ethylene oxide, which a ProPublica analysis found was the single biggest contributor to excess industrial cancer risk from air pollutants nationwide.
-
9. Climate migration’s impact on housing security in the US
This report explores how climate change will influence future migration in the United States and how these population flows will impact housing security in receiving communities.
-
10. Noise: The invisible pollutant
Ongoing noise monitoring is very important as decisions made by our policymakers and urban planners can affect the daily life and health of anyone living in a city.
More News from April 17, 2024
-
Seattle studied dozens of sites for housing growth. These 24 got picked.
Seattle is collecting input right now about a major update of its Comprehensive Plan, its road map for the next 20 years. Among other things in his draft plan, Mayor Bruce Harrell is proposing 24 locations for new “neighborhood centers” with denser housing close to shops and services.
-
Planners proposed bigger upzones in Seattle before Harrell’s team intervened
A paper trail shows Mayor Harrell’s office cut transit corridor upzones and half the proposed “neighborhood centers” before release of Seattle’s growth plan.
-
A WA coal plant has to close next year. Can other communities learn from their transition?
Under pressure from climate activists to close, the plant agreed to a deadline and put millions in a transition fund. That’s giving Centralia a chance.
-
WA declares statewide drought emergency following poor snowpack
Just two weeks since Washington’s snowpack typically peaks, the state Department of Ecology officials declared a statewide drought emergency, bracing for a dry summer.
-
Conservation groups purchase land in AK’s Tongass
A designated wilderness area in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, the largest US national forest, is now a little bit bigger, thanks to a land purchase and transfer arranged by two conservation organizations.