State Planning and
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The Politics of Sky-High House Prices
(6/30/06)
The way to mitigate California's housing shortage and affordability problem is to build more houses. The way to exacerbate the problem is to stop building, which is what planners in places like San Francisco have done. In so doing, they have artificially crimped the supply of land, creating higher property values for existing homeowners and higher prices for everyone else.
Kelo: One Year Later
(6/21/06)
The Kelo decision was actually one of the best things that ever happened to the national property rights movement, as it clearly imprinted the precarious nature of private property rights in the public consciousness and has inspired significant reforms nationwide.
States Take Action To Protect Property Rights
(5/8/06)
Oregon's Measure 37 has inspired a national property rights movement to restrict local regulatory takings and dramatically reduce eminent domain powers.
What Jane Jacobs Really Saw
(5/2/06)
Reason's Leonard Gilroy writes in the Wall Street Journal that given urban planners' almost universal reverence for the late Jane Jacobs, it is ironic that many have largely ignored or misinterpreted the central lesson of Death and Life -- that cities are vibrant living systems, not the product of grand, utopian schemes concocted by overzealous planners.
Land-seizure Measure Qualifies for California Ballot
San Francisco Chronicle (6/29/06)
A Desire Named Streetcar
Weekly Standard (6/27/06)
A Plague of Planners
Randal O'Toole (6/23/06)
Arenas of Dreams: But Will Teams Come?
Wall Street Journal (6/23/06)
How Kelo Can You Go?
Tech Central Station (6/22/06)
MUST READ How (In)accurate Are Demand Forecasts in Public Works Projects?
JAPA (Spring 2005)
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Surface Transportation Newsletter (February 2006)
Rail Disasters 2005
New Approaches to Affordable Housing
Orange County's 91 Express Lanes a Success
Eminent Domain Resource Center
Privatization Watch: The Surface Transportation Issue
Past Performance vs. Future Hopes: Will Urban Rail Improve Mobility in North Carolina?
Corridors for Toll Truckways: Suggested Locations for Pilot Projects
Are We Paving Paradise?
Transportation Costs and the American Dream
San Jose Demonstrates the Limits of Urban Growth Boundaries and Urban Rail
Smart Growth and Housing Affordability: Evidence from Statewide Planning Laws
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Privatization Watch - The Land Use Issue (October 2005)
Orange County Toll Roads: Largely Successful
Eminent Domain, Private Property, and Redevelopment
Reason Files Brief in Eminent Domain Case
Letter to President Bush: Stay on Sidelines in Eminent Domain Case
Affordable Housing in Monterey, California
Do Affordable Housing Mandates Work? Evidence from Los Angeles County and Orange County
Housing Supply and Affordability: Do Affordable Housing Mandates Work?
Great Rail Disasters
Smart Growth in Action, Part II: Case Studies in Housing Capacity and Development from Ventura County, CA
Smart Growth in Action, Part I: Housing Capacity and Development in Ventura County, CA
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More Publications |
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In this edition of Reason's surface transportation newsletter: TRB committee concludes tolls should replace fuel taxes; getting serious about traffic congestion; the future of ITS; electronic toll collection for rental cars; urban sprawl myths; and other news.
(6/22/05) Over the past two decades, transit ridership has declined in nearly two out of three regions with rail transit. By comparison, numerous regions that rely on bus transit have seen huge increases in transit ridership at a relatively low cost. Additionally, the cost of starting a rail transit line can be 50 to 100 times greater than the cost of starting comparable bus service. This report scrutinizes transit records in 23 urban areas with rail transit and assigns each a letter grade based on whether transit ridership has grown faster than driving, grown slower than driving, or declined.
(4/28/05) Most of the political remedies aimed at making housing more affordable do not consider the real world functioning of housing markets and wind up making the situation worse. This new Reason paper explores housing affordability problems, evaluates current policies designed to increase affordability, and offers a new paradigm and new approaches for housing affordability.
(3/30/05) California's first experiment with long-term public-private partnerships for toll roads was the 91 Express Lanes project in Orange County. Some claim this project was a success; others that it failed. But as Reason's Robert Poole explains in this policy brief, the 91 Express Lanes project has been a transportation and financial success, despite some political problems.
(12/1/04) The power of eminent domain allows the government to take private property for a "public use," but local governments are increasingly willing to use this power to achieve all sorts of public policy and urban development goals. Reason Foundation has become a leading voice speaking out against eminent domain abuse at all levels of government. Reason's new Eminent Domain Resource Center explores the debate over eminent domain in more depth and includes links to numerous resources on the subject.
(6/22/04) Policymakers should seek out and implement transportation options that offer the best mix of congestion relief, mobility improvement, and cost-effectiveness. As several North Carolina cities consider urban rail projects, this new Reason study finds the areas, like many across the country, are all ill-suited for rail and would be better off adding additional lane capacity to roads and pursuing mass transit options like bus rapid transit. The report examines how light rail projects often come in over budget, produce lower than expected ridership numbers, and fail to provide any significant congestion relief.
(2/26/04)
A new plan identifies several long stretches of the nation's highways where truck-only
toll lanes could be built, dramatically improving road safety by separating cars
and trucks while also significantly reducing shipping costs by enabling the use
of larger trucks on those Interstates.
(1/26/04)
A perennial argument for smart growth and compact urban development is that we
are running out of open space. But how much open space is really left?
This report demonstrates that urban growth boundaries and light rail don't always
work as planned. A close look at San Jose's smart growth policies finds that they
severely reduce the upward mobility and home ownership opportunities for lower-
and middle-income families and did not improve congestion.
(3/30/05) Despite well-publicized financial difficulties with Orange County's San Joaquin Hills Toll Road, this policy brief finds that the County's three toll roads have made a positive difference overall, taking nearly 300,000 cars per day off county freeways. Reason's Robert Poole explores the lessons learned from Orange County's experience with start-up toll roads and the implications for any new state enabling legislation permitting toll roads.
(2/3/05) As the Supreme Court prepares to hear the pivotal property rights case Kelo vs. New London later this month, a new Reason Foundation report finds that eminent domain is being abused as a "tool of first resort" by governments seeking the new revenue streams that come with redevelopment projects. According to the report, these decisions are increasingly driven by local politics, not respect for property rights, and give well-connected property developers significant advantages over homeowners and small businesses.
(12/8/04) This term, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Kelo v. New London and decide whether state and local governments can use the power of eminent domain to take non-blighted homes for economic development purposes. According to this amicus brief filed by the Reason Foundation, this case represents an attempted transfer of property from one set of private owners to another and is a clear violation of the safeguards on private property rights enshrined in the Fifth Amendment and related Court decisions.
This report shows how large-scale general plans often produce unworkable political
compromises and must be supplemented with neighborhood plans that can adapt to
changing conditions. Market conditions change, and to be effective, plans need
to change with them.