Housing and Urban Issues
Stresses on urban communities continue to affect housing, food security, child services, homelessness, business development and crime. Coverage includes stories about new solutions to how cities are run, how they develop as urban centers and about the people who live there.
While U.S. housing stock is up 29 percent, Las Vegas stands out as the epicenter of the trend, with listings soaring 77 percent across the metro area.
While not all medical services can be administered remotely, many expect certain services to continue post-pandemic. But telehealth still requires broadband, which is inaccessible for many in rural Indiana.
Baltimore City Council members and advocates are calling on Comcast to expand its Internet availability to low-income residents and to extend the company’s current offer through 60 days after schools return to classrooms.
The city has endorsed a $2 billion plan to wall off the historic downtown from rising seas and surging storms. It is the latest in a growing number of expensive seawalls and barriers being proposed to defend U.S. coastal cities.
The first overland fiber-optic cable is finally completed, connecting Alaska to the lower 48 states. The 480-mile, international cable is expected to provide more dependable high-speed Internet and phone service.
Despite their very different attitudes toward the role of government, California and Texas have both found success. But the Lone Star State's small-government/low-tax model gives it an edge.
Collin County used a mundane civil case to test the feasibility of video conferencing future trials where the jury worked entirely from home. However, lawyers are concerned that a video wouldn’t yield a fair trial.
The figure personifies the moral force of our judicial systems and has been represented as blind since the 16th century. But that’s not the case with the Storey County Courthouse, located in Virginia City.
The factors that led to the revival of our city centers will still be there in the aftermath of the coronavirus shutdown: low crime, a craving for entertainment and the desire for physical proximity.
From July 1, 2018, to July 1, 2019, the city saw its population grow just 1.5 percent. Seattle is now sixth for growth among the 50 most-populous cities; previously it had been in the top two for the last six years.
Company president Brad Smith urges lawmakers to include broadband expansion funding as part of a coronavirus stimulus package. As millions are working and studying from home, Internet connectivity is no longer an option.
Without Internet access, Viriginians can’t work from home, participate in online learning or even order necessities from online retailers. “Government officials have to wake up and realize the Internet is not a luxury.”
Social distancing has discouraged riders from using public transit, so officials are hoping to encourage alternative transportation methods. But even still, riders need to be reassured that public transit is virus free.
Rockdale, once home to one of the largest aluminum processing operations in the country, is now the location of what could be one of the world’s biggest bitcoin computing mines. But nothing is guaranteed.
A federal judge ordered Gov. Cuomo to include a sign language interpreter in his daily coronavirus briefings. “We should not have been forced to go to court to ensure the safety of thousands of deaf New Yorkers.”
The pandemic has upended how we work and interact in the public and private sector. As the push to work-from-home increases, here are a few tips to maximize the productivity of your virtual meetings.
Last March there were 240,000 scooter rides in San Antonio, Texas, whereas there were only 50,000 rides this year. Scooter companies are seeing severe losses as the number of rides has dropped during the coronavirus. The pattern is repeating itself in cities across the country.
Cases continue to pile up each day that courts are closed to the public due to COVID-19, so Lehigh County will begin using technology to limit the number of people in courthouses and increase access to public proceedings.
Twenty miles of Seattle streets that have been closed during the pandemic will be permanently closed to car traffic by the end of May. The closures will provide extra space for alternate transportation methods.
Officials worry that citizenship and the coronavirus concerns may deter Latino participation in the 2020 Census. As the coronavirus increases government distrust, encouraging participation is harder than ever.
As the coronavirus further exposed the state’s connectivity issues, the U.S. Department of Agriculture hopes to expand broadband services to rural New Mexico to help close the digital divide.
While there are still some parts of health appointments that are better done in person, officials are hopeful that telehealth will be offered and become more mainstream as shelter-in-place orders are lifted.
It may be tempting, in coping with revenue losses brought on by the pandemic, for governments to reduce funding for community economic-development organizations, but it would be short-sighted.
The Pontotoc Electric Power Association voted against offering broadband in early April. Now residents are rallying on social media and hoping to get the PEPA to reconsider their vote by the next meeting in early May.
Though many telecommunications companies said they would provide free Internet services to those in need during the coronavirus shutdown, a survey of Los Angeles Schools families finds that getting it done isn’t always so simple.
In a scenic but neglected area of Appalachia, a $100 million bridge built between two states remains unused five years after completion. Revised plans could bring traffic one day, but for now, it remains pristine.
As Washington state enacted stay-at-home orders, rural residents were suddenly cut off from their work and school. While broadband access has been a long-term issue, COVID-19 is finally bringing eastern Washington’s digital divide to the forefront.
Muskegon, Mich., Community College has approved a 4 percent tuition increase for the next year. While the college needs the financial increase, many students suffering from coronavirus impacts might not be able to afford it.
California had planned to spend $187 million on ensuring an accurate Census count. However, much of that money was going to be spent on face-to-face outreach. Now the state must rely on online outreach until things reopen.
Approximately 710,000 Ohio households don’t have any Internet service at home, leaving them unable to connect to work, school, health care or shopping during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ann Arbor, Mich., company, Voxel51, is using data from street cameras to measure social distancing across the world. The company hopes the data gets put to good use, “even if it's only public awareness.”
