HALF A LOAF. ARE NEW URBAN “HYBRIDS” A MARKETABLE OPTION?

New Urban developments offer a physical form that differs considerably from the dominant pattern of sub urbanism in North America. While theorists argue that New Urbanist principles must be adopted in their entirety, property developers often find that compromises must be made to obtain necessary government approvals. This results in “hybrid” developments that lack all of the features of true New Urbanism. Based on surveys of residents of two Canadian communities, it would appear that some of the touchstones of New Urbanism are not actually essential and that there are few significant differences in in resident satisfaction levels between residents of different types of New Urban communities.new urbanism, resident satisfaction, urban communities

A Framework for the Economic Analysis of Ditch System Management Alternatives

Replaced with revised version of paper 05/10/06.Land Economics/Use,

The Carrier deal: Trump has won a battle, but is losing the war

Last week, President-elect Donald Trump announced that a deal had been struck for the Carrier Corporation to keep about 1,000 manufacturing jobs in the US rather than move them to Mexico. Laura A. Reese and Gary Sands write that the subsidy deal – despite the positive reaction – should not become a model for the Trump administration’s jobs policies. Rather than choosing winners or losers, they argue, Trump should pursue greater investment in education, research, public services, and other policies which will drive long-term economic development

Detroit’s bankruptcy settlement will not solve the city’s problems

In December, a federal judge ruled that the city of Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings could continue, and it is now likely to take years for the city to settle its creditors’ claims. Gary Sands, Laura A. Reese, and Mark Skidmore look at Detroit’s recent history which has been characterized by deindustrialization and depopulation, and public mismanagement and corruption. They argue that even after the city’s bankruptcy is concluded, Detroit’s underlying fundamental structural weaknesses mean that its problems are unlikely to go away

Techs and the Cities: A New Economic Development Paradigm?

Large technology firms pose new challenges for local economic development in the 21st century. They are attractive targets for local economic developers because they have the potential of providing permanent, well-paying jobs. This article examines two mega-economic development deals. Amazon’s proposed second headquarters in Queens and Sidewalk Labs’ Quayside proposal for the Toronto waterfront pit large and prosperous Big Tech firms against local governments with healthy economies. Amazon abandoned the New York City site it had chosen, rather than open new negotiations with local officials and citizens. Sidewalk Labs withdrew from the Quayside proposal after two and a half years of negotiation focusing mostly on the size of the proposed development. Although the potential benefits may be substantial, incentivizing Big Tech’s location decisions may be well beyond the means of most cities, especially those with distressed economies

Tax base erosion and inequity from Michigan's assessment growth limit: The case of Detroit

In this paper we examine the degree to which Michigan's property value assessment growth cap has eroded the tax base and created substantial differences in effective tax rates among residential properties within the City of Detroit. While the analysis focuses on a specific city with significant tax base erosion challenges, it is relevant to other cities in Michigan and across the nation, particularly in states that impose assessment growth limits. Using quantile regression techniques, we examine how an assessment growth cap alters effective tax rate distributions within and across property value groups. Results show that the cap creates a wide range of effective tax rates across properties of similar value (horizontal inequity), and similar tax payments for properties of differing values (vertical inequity)

Property Tax Delinquency - Social Contract in Crisis: The Case of Detroit

In this paper we develop a theoretical model of the individual decision to become delinquent on one’s property tax payments. We then apply the model to the City of Detroit, Michigan, USA, where the city is in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings, and a rate of property tax delinquency of 48 percent, resulting in uncollected tax revenues of about 20 percent. We use detailed parcellevel data for Detroit to evaluate the factors that affect both the probability that a property owner is tax delinquent and, conditional upon delinquency, the magnitude of the delinquency. Our estimates show that properties that have lower value, longer police response times, are nonhomestead (non-owner occupied residential properties), have a higher statutory tax rate, have a higher assessed value relative to sales price, are owned by a financial institution or by a Detroit resident, are delinquent on water bills, and for which the probability of enforcement is low are more likely to be tax delinquent These findings can be used to inform policies targeted at improving tax compliance within the City

What Do City Planners Need to Know? When Do They Need to Know It?

Do university planning programs provide their graduates with the knowledge, skills and values they will require in their professional careers? A national on-line survey of planning practitioners finds that there is a close correspondence between what planners consider to be important and the curriculum standards and criteria of the Planning Accreditation Board, which are the model for the curricula of accredited Planning degrees. Individual elements are ranked high in importance, regardless of respondents’ educational and occupational characteristics. Both Globalization and Sustainability/Environmental Quality received relatively low importance rankings from respondents; this suggests areas for increased attention by universities and continuing education

Water Quality Characteristics of Three Rain Gardens Located Within the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota

A study was conducted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) at three locations in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area in Minnesota to assess the effect that bioretention areas, or rain gardens, have on water quality. The rain gardens are located at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (MLA), City of Hugo, and City of Woodbury. These sites were chosen because of their similar ages, differences in design, surrounding land use, precipitation patterns, and geology. This article reports the statistical analysis of six years of data obtained from these three sites. The data characterizes the water quality of the inflow, overflow, vadose zone, and groundwater of each rain garden. Nutrients analyzed included chloride, total suspended solids, ammonia, organic nitrogen, nitrate, and phosphorus. Lysimeters and wells had significantly lower nutrient concentrations compared to inflow for most nutrients. Increased nitrate occurred in the vadose zone at Woodbury and Hugo, suggesting some production of nitrate within the soil profile; however, groundwater beneath the rain gardens contained significantly lower concentrations of nitrate compared to the inflow, providing evidence of nitrate removal at deeper depths. Phosphorus concentrations were reduced in overflow and groundwater, with the exception of dissolved phosphorus at MLA. Rain garden and background wells often contained similar nutrient concentrations, suggesting that the rain gardens had little impact on the local ground water supplies. This unique six year study provides consistent evidence of the ability of these three rain gardens to reduce nutrient concentrations from urban stormwater

Subsurface drainage effects on soil penetration resistance and water table depth on a clay soil in the Red River of the North Valley, USA

  Since 1993, the Red River of the North Valley in North Dakota (ND) and Minnesota (MN), in the USA has experienced increased annual rainfall which has caused localized seasonal soil waterlogging and inhibited crop yield potential in the unique, high water table clay soils of the region.  Subsurface (tile) drainage has been increasingly considered by farmers to help reduce excess water in the crop root zone.  Producers desire to manage the water table for optimizing yield and trafficability of the field.  The objective of this research was to evaluate differences in soil penetration resistance and water table depth between subsurface (drained) and non-subsurface drained treatments (undrained), using water control structures, in fallow, and cropped soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L. emend. Thell.) cultivars on a Fargo-Ryan silty clay soil near Fargo, ND, USA in 2009 and 2010.  The experimental design was a randomized complete block in a split-plot arrangement with four replicates.  The whole plot treatments were drained and undrained (control structures opened and closed, respectively).  Soil penetrometer readings and water table depth were measured weekly.  Yields of each crop were not different comparing drained and undrained treatments in 2009 and 2010.  The depth averaged drained penetration resistance was 1,211 kPa compared with 1,097 kPa for undrained treatment, averaged across 2009 and 2010.  The depth-averaged drained penetration resistance values for fallow, soybean, and wheat were 1,077, 1,137, and 1,420 kPa, respectively.  The undrained values for fallow, soybean and wheat were 1,001, 1,021, and 1,267 kPa, respectively, all significantly lower than the drained treatments, indicating that the drained soil is capable of a higher load carrying capacity compared to the undrained soil.  The average depth to the water table was greater on drained soil compared to the undrained soil both early and late in the growing season.  Forty two percent of the variation in the penetration resistance can be explained by the level of the water table below the surface.  Water control structures can be used to manage the water table level and soil penetrations resistance.  The ability for land managers to enter drained fields with farm equipment earlier will likely extend the length of the growing season and potentially increase crop yields in this region.   Keywords: subsurface water management, penetration resistance, controlled drainage, water table depth, trafficability, US