Apartment City

Government loves to create winners and losers.  The Chad Mayes led Assembly Republicans , the seven of them, voted to force some companies to buy “credits” to stay in business—this is a tax increase.  Then they also said they prefer government transportation by making it more expensive to drive a car—Mayes and friends voted to raise gas taxes by 63 cents a gallon.  In zoning matters, government really likes to create winners and losers. “Facing down a record number of vacancies on State Street and a citywide backlog of building permit applications , the Santa Barbara City Council voted unanimously this Tuesday to enact a six- month pilot program to improve and accelerate the review process for prospective commercial tenants along the downtown business corridor. Applicants for properties between Sola and Cabrillo streets, where more than 30 storefronts currently sit empty, will now be bumped to the front of the line at design review board hearings . Two members of the city’s ...

The more than three dozen people who live in tents under the Lake Shore Drive bridges at Wilson and Lawrence avenues know better than anyone that the structures need repair. Concrete from the Depression-era bridges is crumbling onto the sidewalks and streets below, posing a deadly hazard to tent-dwellers, as well as motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians. So it may seem strange that a homeless advocacy group might sue the city to stop bridge repairs before they start in mid-September. But attorneys for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless want to stop the city's plans to put bike paths on the wide sidewalks under the bridges, which the coalition said would permanently drive the homeless out. "If they put the bike paths in, we ain't going to have room for our tents," said Thomas Gordon, 58, who lives under the Lawrence bridge. The sidewalks can currently accommodate both tents and pedestrians — bike paths would cut the space. The dilemma highlights two local tren...

RIO DE JANEIRO ― Seven years ago, Vila Autódromo was little more than a tranquil fishing village on the edge of Jacarepagua Lagoon, next to the racetrack for which it was named. Like the hundreds of other favelas that dot Rio de Janeiro ’s landscape, it had long been neglected by the city government , and it lacked many basic public services that are standard in the fast- growing wealthier neighborhoods just across the water. But to the more than 600 families that lived there, it was home. “This was a paradise,” said Luiz Cláudio Silva, who lived in Autódromo for more than 20 years. “I thought that I would live here for the rest of my life.” By the time the Rio Olympics are over, just 20 of the families who lived in Autódromo in 2009, the year the International Olympic Committee chose the city to host the games, will remain. The community, which sits less than a mile away from Rio’s Olympic Park, was crushed so that the city could build new access roads to connect Olympic venues . ...

Mayor Richard Irvin 's 100th Day in Office Address, held Friday afternoon at Aurora University's Crimi Auditorium was, as expected, a well- attended pep rally that drew plenty of cheers, applause and laughs, not to mention several important announcements. And though no big awards were handed out, after checking through my notes, I offer up a few of my own: Best pre-show gaffes Not more than a couple minutes after state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego) from the 84th District introduced herself to the crowd as their alderman, Gov. Bruce Rauner, who was on hand to sign a bill extending the River Edge Redevelopment Zone Program , stood before the Aurora crowd and told them how happy he was to be in Rockford. Say where? It took only a quick glance from the mayor for our busy — and skinner than ever — guv to realize his mistake … and go on to praise the second largest city in his state for all it is and all it can be. Rauner, I'm guessing quicker on his feet after so many ye...

After a tense deadline last summer at the Highland Village apartments and nearly a year of wading through bureaucratic red tape , Bellevue has committed itself to the preservation of 76 below-market units. The Bellevue City Council voted 4 -0 to contribute $2 million from the city’s housing fund toward the King County Housing Authority to help purchase the property. The 86 families (and 85 children in local schools) of the Highland Village apartment complex were faced with an eviction notice last year, which told the residents to be out by the beginning of October. A developer, Intracorp, had sights on the property for market-rate condominiums. The residents, by-and-large, are near the 60 percent area median income level . Many of the residents speak English as a second language. According to the King County Housing Authority ’s own guidelines, the area median income for a family of four is $90,000. Highland Village was charging residents well below market rent, but many com...

click to enlarge hosting 60 med students in Spokane" /> WSU is hosting 60 med students in Spokane UNLEASHING DEVELOPMENT How a city gets built often depends on the course of the markets — but choices made by the city government can alter the course in dramatic ways. At Monday's Spokane City Council meeting , the council passed several ordinances intended to spur DENSER DEVELOPMENT and improve neighborhood centers . For years, City Council President Ben Stuckart says, the city had offered 12-year, multifamily tax exemptions that were supposed to catalyze the development of affordable apartment housing . The problem, Stuckart says, is that nobody wanted to take them. The strings attached — set aside a fifth of the property as affordable housing for those making only 50 percent of the Spokane average income — made the prospect unprofitable for developers. On Monday, the council voted to dramatically weaken the income requirement , raising the affordable housin...