Editor's Take: March 25, 2009
streetcar.press, Flickr.
Talking Transit
Transportation needs are a hot topic all across Cascadia, from the big cities of Seattle, San Francisco and Portland, to small towns. In Eugene, Oregon, dozens of community groups are working together in a collaborative effort to make a transportation plan that can satisfy the growing needs of the city, and also offer some sustainable vision. Whether talking transit, budgets or bus fares, solutions are in the works.
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Groups Collaborate on Eugene's Transportation Future
Eugene Weekly
03/26/2009
After fighting over a freeway through the west Eugene wetlands for three decades, development and environmental interests have finally agreed to a long-term vision for the area that doesn't include a big new highway.
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Mileage-Based Light-Rail Fares for Sound Transit?
Seattle Times
03/26/2009
When Sound Transit opens Seattle's light-rail line this summer, passengers will need to learn a fare system much different from what we're used to on Metro buses.
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Conservationists Hail New Era With Wilderness Bill
Oregonian
03/26/2009
Completing a journey nearly as rocky as some of the land involved, Congress passed sweeping conservation legislation Wednesday that protects 200,000 acres of popular mountains and forests in Oregon and millions more nationwide.
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Alaska Doctors Turn Away New Medicare Patients
Anchorage Daily News
03/26/2009
Only 13 of 75 primary care doctors surveyed in Anchorage are willing to accept new Medicare patients, according to a study by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
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Views: Changes Needed in Idaho's Urban Renewal Law
Boise Idaho Statesman
03/26/2009
Urban renewal is used differently all across our state. Some cities use it for job creation, some for infrastructure or beautification of public spaces and some to promote private, luxurious living. However rightly or wrongly it is applied, the Idaho urban renewal law, which was first written in 1967, needs to be updated.
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The Polluting Port of Oakland
San Francisco Bay Guardian
03/25/2009
Sandra Witt of the Alameda County Health Department said West Oakland residents are exposed to three times more diesel particulate matter than the rest of the Bay Area, thanks to the Port and nearby freeways.
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Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns
New York Times
03/26/2009
While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root - or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing - in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.
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Smaller, Energy-Efficient Homes Popular in Canada
CBC BC
03/26/2009
More Canadians are looking at buying smaller homes, a Royal Bank survey released Wednesday suggests.
The proportion of potential home buyers interested in less space hit 27 per cent in January, up from 19 per cent in the bank's 2008 survey, and nearly double the 14 per cent a decade ago.
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Views: Pricing Women Out of Health Care
San Francisco Bay Guardian
03/26/2009
As more people are forced to turn to the individual market for their health insurance, women in California are at a distinct disadvantage. Under a practice known as gender rating, health insurers are allowed to charge higher premiums based on a person's gender.
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Canada on Top in Sex Ed
The Tyee
03/26/2009
Despite Canadian and American women aged 15 to 44 declaring that they want the same number of kids (about 2.2), American women end up having 2.09 and Canadian women have about 1.6, and 30 per cent of that difference is due to teen births in the US, almost 90 per cent of which are unwanted.
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