Too little leverage for equitable TOD in Seattle area /  by H. Pike Oliver

The participation of a variety of organizations and government agencies in creating a fund to stimulate affordable transit-oriented development for lower-income households is laudable. But this $21 million loan fund is miniscule in comparison to the $54 billion dollar transit investment program approved by Seattle area voters in November 2016. It is simply not enough, at least at inception, to make a significant difference.

Optimistically, a loan program like this one might achieve a 10:1 leverage ratio--that is for every dollar from the fund, perhaps as much as $10 of other funding (loans or equity investment) could be mobilized. This would result in approximately $210 million of housing investment.

In the Seattle region, acquiring land and constructing new housing costs at least $300 per square foot, or about $300 thousand for 1,000 square foot apartment or condominium. If all of  $210 million of funding goes toward new housing development, it would create no more than 700 units of new housing. At an average household size of three persons, this new housing would accommodate 2,100 people--in a region that is currently growing by over 75,000 persons per year. 

New housing development does not occur overnight, especially when a multiplicity of programs have to be mobilized to reduce costs for buyers or renters. At best, it would take at least five years to put these 700 units in place. Based on this timing and current growth rates, the program would generate new housing for less than one percent of the population added to the region between 2017 and 2022.

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Susan Christopherson (1947-2016) /  by H. Pike Oliver

Cornell University economic geographer and regional development scholar Susan Christopherson died on December 14, 2016. At the time of her death, she was chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning (CRP) in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP.) She joined the CRP faculty in 1987 and became first female full professor and chair of the department.  I had the opportunity to know and work with this remarkable woman while I was at Cornell from 2009 to 2013. An obituary is posted on the AAP website.

Susan Christopherson (1947-2016)

Susan Christopherson (1947-2016)

Healthy places /  by H. Pike Oliver

Public health professionals are concluding that our metropolitan environment influences our physical and mental health. A blog posting of December 8, 2016, went so far as to state that, "  .  .  .  One number stands above all others as the best indicator of good health. It's not your blood pressure, cholesterol level, average daily calories, or even the age at which your grandparents die. It's your zip code."  And the website of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has a feature where you can type in your zip code to see data on average life expectancy. Picking up on this idea, the folks at Project for Public Spaces have prepared a report on "The Case for Healthy Placemaking: Improving Health Outcomes through Placemaking."

Suburbs Outstrip Cities in Population Growth /  by H. Pike Oliver

According to a recent Urban Land Institute Study referenced in a brief article in the Wall Street Journal on December 3, 2016, areas that surround downtowns account for more growth in the largest metropolitan areas of the United States. The statistics revealed by the recent Urban Land Institute report summarized in this stand to reason. Only a minority of households can afford housing that costs more in the cities. And what the median cost differences cited in this short piece do not reveal is that in the cities you pay much more to get much less.

Illustrations by R. Kikuo Johnson /  by H. Pike Oliver

This week I came across a bizarre story accompanied by wonderful illustrations by R. Kikuo Johnson. The story was "How to Hide $400 Million", by Nicholas Confessore. It appeared in the New York Times Magazine with a dateline of November 30, 2016. 

The illustration that grabbed my attention appeared right below the headline and byline

This image captured the essence of the article--a couple that had irreconcilable differences. And the husband was willing to take extreme measures to prevent his wife from securing a reasonable settlement.

Via a quick Google search, I learned that Ms. Johnson also was the illustrator for the cover of the New Yorker Magazine of October 10, 2016. The "Cover Story" piece for that edition offers a brief perspective on this obviously talented artist. And here is an image of that cover.