# urban areas (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover urban areas. Page: Feed: --- ## [How Do You Define “Feasible”?](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24136) _2026-08-21 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ Rail advocates can rejoice: A new study by a consultant called HNTB concluded that a commuter train service between Austin and San Antonio is “viable.” Actually, the study itself used the word “feasible,” but whatever you call it, the study says it can be done. Click image to download a … Continue reading → ## [Portland’s War on Cars](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24133) _2026-08-19 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ The Cascade Policy Institute has published the Antiplanner’s policy brief about Portland’s War on Cars in three parts: How Portland is losing the war; The benefits of automobiles that Portland has ignored; What Portland should do instead of fighting a losing war. Almost as soon as part 3 was published, … Continue reading → ## [10th Anniversary Post: Linn County's First Bicycle Boulevard](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/08/10th-anniversary-post-linn-countys.html) _2026-08-18 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Marion portion of Linn County Trails and Bikeways Map (downloaded from linncountytrails.org) (8/18/2026) Linn County's first designated bicycle boulevard, announced ten years ago, may be forgotten but it is not gone. Nor is it a bicycle boulevard, but there is no need to chew that cabbage again. The trusty trails maps show three types of trail infrastructure in Marion. The most distinct are… ## [The Affordable Housing Industrial Complex at Work](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24129) _2026-08-18 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ Most subsidized housing projects are rentals, but a developer called ## [Is Collecting Fares Too Dangerous for Bus Drivers?](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24124) _2026-08-17 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority says that 70 percent of bus riders don’t pay fares, costing the agency at least $50 million a year. Before about 2016, the agency told drivers to tell boarding passengers, “Hello, the fare of $X.XX.” But in 2017, it abandoned this policy because fare … Continue reading → ## [Was a Powerline Rerouted to Avoid Dobby’s Grave?](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24118) _2026-08-13 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ An August 5 podcast revealed that electricity managers were forced to reroute a major submarine power line between Ireland and Wales in order to avoid Dobby’s grave. As investor Simon Ludlam told the Energy Revolution podcasters, Dobby is “a fictitious character in a fictitious book,” yet the power line’s planners … Continue reading → ## [Justice in the World Today (II)](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/08/justice-in-world-today-ii.html) _2026-08-11 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Rising rents are just one obstacle to opportunity today (Source: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University ) Some time ago, First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids engaged me to do two talks, on justice and social welfare. Since they were scheduled close together, I've treated them as a two-part series, even though I don't think that's how they were conceived, and I'm not even sure… ## [Oregon’s Record Fire Season](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24115) _2026-08-11 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ More than 2 million acres in Oregon had burned in wildfires as of last Monday, which is an all-time record even though fire season is likely to last for another two months. Oregon’s drought was so bad that an abandoned warehouse near downtown Portland turned into a raging fire last … Continue reading → ## [Don’t Get Fooled Again](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24099) _2026-08-10 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” The Antiplanner’s op-ed in a recent Denver Gazette and an even more recent Longmont Times-Call urge Colorado voters to not get fooled again by a hugely expensive rail transit project that will produce … Continue reading → ## [June 2026 Transit Ridership 88.1% of 2019](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24105) _2026-08-07 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ June transit ridership in 2026 was 88.1 percent of June, 2019, according to data released yesterday by the Federal Transit Administration. When measured as a share of pre-pandemic numbers, this is the highest ridership to date. Previously, the highest was 84.9 percent. Was this increase due, as at least one … Continue reading → ## [Daily plans, scheduled by AI (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/K454pAKKs6wl) _2026-08-07 · **Sponsored**_ AI-made daily plans that schedule tasks and protect focus time. ## [June 2026 Driving Up 2.9% from 2019](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24096) _2026-08-06 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ Americans drove 2.9 percent more miles in June of 2026 than during the same month in 2019, according to data released by the Federal Highway Administration yesterday. This is one of those rare months where the DOT releases driving data before transit data. Naturally, I’ll post transit data here as … Continue reading → ## [California Population Follows Single-Family Homes](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24092) _2026-08-05 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ Between 2019 and 2026, populations grew in 24 California counties and shrank in 34. What made the difference? According to Jonathan Lansner, who writes a business column for the Orange County Register and San Jose Mercury-News, the counties that grew were the ones with an abundance of single-family homes. Rose-colored … Continue reading → ## [How to Make Transportation Resilient](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24085) _2026-08-04 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ An earthquake in Japan last week derailed a freight train and did enough damage to the Kyushu Shinkansen line that part of it may be shut down for a month or more. This prompts me to wonder what people are thinking about developing resilient transportation systems. Earthquake damage to a … Continue reading → ## [Amtrak Up 11.8%; Airlines 6.0% in June](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24082) _2026-08-03 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ Amtrak carried 11.6 percent more passenger-miles in June than in the same month in 2019, according to the state-owned company’s monthly performance report. Meanwhile, the airlines carried 6.9 percent more passengers than in 2019, according to TSA passenger counts. Driving and transit data will be posted here when it becomes … Continue reading → ## [Justice in the World Today](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/07/justice-in-world-today.html) _2026-07-31 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Hope he gets some of that coffee: Statue of Thucydides in Vienna, Austria (7/31/2026) A long time ago, according to the ancient Greek historian Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE), a delegation from Athens went to the burg of Melos to demand its surrender. Melos, which was trying to stay neutral in the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, resisted. The Athenians offered to argue it out with them,… ## [Africa Has a High-Speed Train; California Doesn’t](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24073) _2026-07-30 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ “Yes, you read that right,” enthuses California journalist Joe Mathews. “Morocco has high-speed rail. And California has excuses.” Morocco’s high-speed train goes up to 200 miles per hour — but averages just 88 miles per hour. Photo by NicholasNCE. At first glance, Morocco’s high-speed train, known as Al Boraq (“the … Continue reading → ## [Express Your Money Down the Drain](https://ti.org/antiplanner/?p=24067) _2026-07-28 · The Antiplanner · The Antiplanner_ I thought that spending $4.7 billion on a passenger train from Fort Collins to Pueblo was a crazy idea. Yet that sounds positively cheap compared to a new proposal for a train from Denver’s airport to Eagle, Vail and other Colorado ski areas, which is estimated to cost $33 billion. … Continue reading → ## [Cherokee Trail update](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/07/cherokee-trail-update.html) _2026-07-25 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ You can get there from here! The Cherokee Trail, which eventually will run all across the west side of Cedar Rapids, is complete between Cherokee Park and Morgan Creek County Park. The next step is to go east out of Cherokee Park, across Edgewood Road to the intersection of Westwood Drive and F Avenue NW. According to the Linn County Trails Association, work continues in the City of Cedar Rapids… ## [Post No. 650: Blogging as a vocation, or whatever this is](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/07/post-no-650-blogging-as-vocation-or.html) _2026-07-13 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Hickok Hall at Coe College, where your humble and mostly retired blogger wrote this post I've been out of full-time teaching for two years now, which has left me with more time to read and write. This is a good thing! I write a lot--journals, songs , letters, blog posts. I seem to need to write, and I am grateful to you for reading and responding. Blogging on Holy Mountain is what passes for work… ## [10th Anniversary Post: The Future of the Suburbs](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/07/10th-anniversary-post-future-of-suburbs.html) _2026-07-12 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ We've always viewed our nation as a place with unlimited land and natural resources.-- PETE SAUNDERS Ten years ago, I was gearing up to teach the next generation of first-year Coe College students about urbanism . Maybe that's why Holy Mountain was full of urbanist basics like cities blowing their stash on big amenities, gentrification, and suburban sprawl. My post on suburbia was full of… ## [Watch chovy live code (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/tfAjutm0WkIP) _2026-07-12 · **Sponsored**_ Join Mosh Coding streams with collaborative screen sharing and remote control, open source. ## [Book review: Palaces for the People](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/07/book-review-palaces-for-people.html) _2026-07-06 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Eric Klinenberg at CNU34 Twenty-first century social infrastructures are already reviving civic life in nations across the planet: public plazas in low-lying cities that double as massive water storage systems during extreme weather events; massive levees and berms that masquerade as bike paths and parks. Americans should have all these things. (Klinenberg 2018: 293) Eric Klinenberg, Palaces for… ## [Book review: The Space Between](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/06/book-review-space-between.html) _2026-06-18 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Source: bakeracademic.com Eric O. Jacobsen, The Space Between: A Christian Engagement with the Built Environment (Baker Academic, 2012), 297 pp. If Jesus's "dwelling among us" means that he lives as we typically do, he would most likely be living in a subdivision at least a few miles from where he might interact with people in a quasi public setting--like a shopping mall or a grocery store. In… ## [What is the future of Iowa's small towns? (II)](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/06/what-is-future-of-iowas-small-towns-ii.html) _2026-06-16 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ The lives we should all be living: "Texas Two-Step," a movie on the Hallmark Channel, offers romance and country music in a small town third place (swiped from hallmarkchannel.com) (6/16/2026) In my last post , I noted the reputation of the 1990s TV series Friends has as a contributor to the "back to the city" trend earlier in this century, and wondered not only whether that trend has ebbed, but… ## [10th Anniversary Post: Can Cities Change Their Luck?](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/06/10th-anniversary-post-can-cities-change.html) _2026-06-12 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ The hit 90s TV series Friends was a harbinger of the "back to the city" years: Where are today's "friends" living? (6/13/2026) Ten years ago this month, I looked back on what had been the best ten years for American central cities in a long, long time. By 2015, the "back to the city" movement that had been growing for decades had burst into full flower. From 2005-2015, the U.S. population grew by… ## [My Grand Day Out: Iowa River Landing and the Peninsula Neighborhood](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/06/my-grand-day-out-owa-river-landing-and.html) _2026-06-09 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ The Landing: Apartments with first floor retail, Iowa River Landing Ten years ago, Ben Kaplan criticized Coralville's Iowa River Landing development as having the design of an urban area but without the connection to or from other places that is essential to urbanism: Iowa River Landing is not well connected to anything outside of Iowa River Landing. While, from certain angles, the place looks… ## [Book review: Building the Cycling City](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/06/book-review-building-cycling-city.html) _2026-06-02 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Melissa Bruntlett and Chris Bruntlett, Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality (Island Press, 2018), xiii + 223pp. (6/2/2026) When the husband-and-wife team of Melissa and Chris Bruntlett toured bicycling facilities in the Netherlands in 2016 on assignment for Daily Hive, that country had a long-standing reputation for cycle commuting, such that North American cities… ## [10th anniversary post: Thinking Big in Cedar Rapids](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/05/10th-anniversary-post-thinking-big-in.html) _2026-05-23 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Dale Todd speaks at Cedar Rapids Public Library, May 2016 "Waterfronts are the rock stars of city infrastructure."-- MATTHEW LISTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR GEHL AMERICAS, AT CNU34 (5/23/2026) When Dale Todd spoke at a special edition of 1 Million Cups Cedar Rapids at the Cedar Rapids Public Library ten years ago, on behalf of the package of projects known as Destination Cedar Rapids, he was between… ## [CNU 34 Diary: Northwest Arkansas](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/05/cnu-34-diary-northwest-arkansas.html) _2026-05-14 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Hi from the town with the big friendly ball! Which smiles as it watches, and floats above all Wednesday, May 13, 2026 I don't know what it must have felt like for a medieval peasant to visit Rome, but I am in a similar position at the 34th annual Congress for the New Urbanism. Wal-Mart , the enormous conglomerate where many Americans shop, is headquartered here, the longtime home of founder Sam… ## [Bike to Work Week is underway, sort of](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/05/bike-to-work-week-is-underway-sort-of.html) _2026-05-11 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ I biked to work! (5/11/2026) It was 41F (5C) degrees this morning, for a chilly start to Bike to Work Week in Cedar Rapids. The forecast high was 68, and the wind was light, so though it was not as warm as last year, it was a good day for biking. Because I'll be leaving shortly for Arkansas to attend the Congress for the New Urbanism --watch this space for exhaustive updates!--this was my one… ## [Iowa's Legislative Session Ends, To Everyone's Relief](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/05/iowas-legislative-session-ends-to.html) _2026-05-07 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Some of us have to live with the consequences of another legislative session (5/7/2026) Iowa's public approval of President Donald Trump has dipped to 42 percent in 2026, according to the World Population Review ; that puts us only slightly above the national average, and in the middle of the pack of states. That's pretty remarkable, given that our politics have flowed bright red since the 2014… ## [Brisk AI News Briefings (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/OOmQYf3wN5qF) _2026-05-07 · **Sponsored**_ Read AI summaries and listen to audio briefings for top stories. ## [Strategic Parking Plan](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/04/strategic-parking-plan.html) _2026-04-29 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Free on-street parking (free with two-hour limit), New Bohemia, October 2025 (4/29/2026) The City of Cedar Rapids is taking a realistic approach to parking issues in the "Core Four" neighborhoods (Downtown, Czech Village, New Bohemia, and Kingston). Business owners and customers have complained about the difficulty in finding parking; parking finances are not self-sustaining but have required… ## [My urbanist journey](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-urbanist-journey.html) _2026-04-22 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ As a child, I loved to color maps, or copy the ones in the phone book with tracing paper I (4/22/2026) My urbanist journey began when I taught a first-year course on place at Coe College in 2008. Or maybe it was earlier? I have loved maps since I was tiny (see above). But it was teaching a course at Coe on the Sense of Place that led me to a semester-long study on sabbatical in spring semester… ## [10th anniversary post: The tragedy of the commons (life)](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/04/10th-anniversary-post-tragedy-of.html) _2026-04-01 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Litter is a plague on our cities (4/1/2026) Ten years ago this month, I wrote about a fellow who used the grassy median on our street as his dog's toilet. "Neither the man nor his dog cleans up afterwards," I noted. It served as a homely example of Garret Hardin's belief that people had incentives to over-use common property, such as a village green for grazing sheep, or a grassy median on Blake… ## [Book Review: Shade](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/03/book-review-shade.html) _2026-03-30 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Bloch, Sam. Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource. Penguin Random House, 2025, xviii + 309 pp. (3/30/2026) Decades ago, when I was still in my insouciant youth, I went on a canoe trip somewhere in the Midwest. When we came to the end of the trip, I reached up to scratch my head, and it (my head) was hot to the touch from being in the sun so long. If my dermatologist is reading this,… ## [Maple Syrup Time Again!](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/03/maple-syrup-time-again.html) _2026-03-30 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Follow the signs to the 2026 Maple Syrup Festival! (3/30/2026) More than 3,000 people made their way just outside of town to the Indian Creek Nature Center last weekend for the annual Maple Syrup Festival. Saturday featured a chilly wind which might have put a few people off, but by Sunday we were back to an unusual run of warm days this late winter/early spring. Long winter or mild one, it's a… ## [PCI Pays Property Tax. A Lot of It, Actually.](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/03/pci-pays-property-tax-lot-of-it-actually.html) _2026-03-16 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Was dead-ending 2nd Avenue a mistake, given the property tax volcano that is PCI? (Truth in blogging disclosure: Your author is a frequent visitor to the Physicians Clinic of Iowa medical mall, including Forefront Dermatology, PCI Labs, and PCI Urology. He is grateful for the care he receives. He pays $29,637 per acre in property taxes on his house.) (3/16/2026) A few days ago, I was in a… ## [10th anniversary post: Cedar Rapids named Blue Zones community](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/03/10th-anniversary-post-cedar-rapids.html) _2026-03-02 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Celebrating at the Nassif YMCA, March 2016 (3/02/2026) When Cedar Rapids was named a Blue Zones community ten years ago, it was only the 15th town to be so certified. Less than two years later, however, the city's contract with the Blue Zones Project ended , and we switched to being a Healthy Hometown Powered by Wellmark. Today, the Healthy Hometown program no longer seems to exist: the link on… ## [Weather versus urbanism](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/02/weather-versus-urbanism.html) _2026-02-24 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Record one-day snowfall hits Providence (Swiped from WPRI 12 website ) (2/24/2026) As the Northeastern U.S. staggers under record-breaking snowfall (above, CNU33 host city Providence), I come, laptop in hand, to report on my weekend. This is not the post I was going to write. Jane and I traveled to Dubuque and Galena to celebrate her birthday. These are two river towns northeast of Cedar Rapids… ## [First Avenue Corridor Redevelopment Plan](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/02/first-avenue-corridor-redevelopment-plan.html) _2026-02-12 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ Micro-area map (2/12/2026) Can a historic neighborhood business district near downtown be reincarnated in the 21st century? The City of Cedar Rapids is preparing a Corridor Redevelopment Plan for First Avenue East between 12th and 16th Streets, roughly the same area as covered in the First Avenue East Micro-Area Action Plan adopted in 2025 ( Nieland 2025 ). That plan, while not bold, took notice… ## [10th anniversary post: Mass Transit](https://brucefnesmith.blogspot.com/2026/02/10th-anniversary-post-mass-transit.html) _2026-02-06 · Bruce Nesmith · Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life_ boarding the #7 to the southwest side, September 2025 (2/6/2026) My friend Randy turns 65 today, which makes him eligible for a senior pass entitling him to a lifetime of free rides on Cedar Rapids transit. He is an experienced bus rider, but not so much in his only-recently-adopted home of Cedar Rapids, so I wish him well on the adventures ahead of him. Sample transit pass. Any resemblance to…