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Believe it or not, one of the more controversial urban development topics is parking.  So many questions to address:

Should parking be a required piece of any property development?

How much is enough or too much??

Does excess parking increase car use?

Planners are addressing these and many more questions.  Many believe that …

Increasing population density occurs via increased demand for urban land.  This in turn increases the cost of real estate which logically impacts housing affordability.  This is an emerging reality in the urban world.…

It looks like low gas could be around for a while.  While we love paying $1.80 for gas, the drop could hurt the Texas economy.

"Pain at the pump" has become "pleasure at the pump" for Americans as gas prices continue to plummet.  However, the pain was simply transferred to the oil & gas industry.  Energy analysts argue that Saudi efforts to reduce the cost per barrel has many targets with Russia perhaps being the largest.

This has created an economic crisis…

There are worse places than "Space City" right now.

Has household income stagnated or even declined since 1989.  the Census Bureau, responsible for collecting and analyzing such data, finds that real (inflation-adjusted) household income has declined over the past quarter…

Hard not to be at this point.  Still, this campaign has a long way to go. The president has some work to do.

Perhaps you like basketball.  If so, you realize that most competitive levels of the sport have shot clocks that require teams to attempt a shot  within 24 seconds or 35 seconds depending on the time allocated. 

Why did leagues and commissioners institute shot clocks?  Coaches would milk the clock once their team built a lead.  Dean Smith, legendary Coach at North Carolina, maintained a "four corners" offense where his players spent the balance of the game passing to…

The price of petroleum continues going south.  The summer typically means increasing energy costs. 

With distressing economic reports still fresh on the mind of voters, the Obama campaign could ill afford communication and image mistakes.  However, team Obama must now address the President's gaffe laden press conference from Friday.

The administration has utilized the bully pulpit…

A new report compares automotive costs among the states.  According to the report, Texans spend more on car expenses than every state save Connecticut.    

The Texas Transportation Institute released its annual Urban Mobility Report.  The results for Dallas were less than encouraging.

Note that the Texas Department of Transportation argues…

I am always interested in the methodology for lists such as these.  How do they define and quantify stress?  Also, note the inclusion of two Texas cities.  Surprised? 

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Interesting comprehensive plan for sustainable cities as envisioned by a private-sector behemoth.

As sprawl and suburbanization continues unabated, the ethnic composition of cities changes drastically.  this is especially true in the…

While we contemplate important urban issues above the partisan fray here at Collaborative Government, the president's latest initiative enjoys relevance to urban issues/development and merits further analysis.  The plan includes subsidies for both the housing/mortgage…

Apparently, Oklahoma has a perfect suburb!!

Kids across the nation started back to school last week. My two boys started on Monday with my 5 year old starting kindergarten.  Fun times!!  While we all have fond memories of friends, teachers, and recess, the academic experience and how effectively our country prepares future generations remains under constant scrutiny.  Inner city school performance is…