Book Recommendation for American Nightmare

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Book recommendation: Randal O’Toole’s  American Nightmare

by Eric Shierman


Highlights: 

• how city planning contributed to the housing market collapse


• racist origins of “urban renewal”


• legal opinion that lowered the bar on proving “blight” for Tax
  Incremental Financing (TIF)


• TIF – a powerful tool for local patronage politics


• construction of light rail had the opposite effect Metro planners
  predicted – which brought about the need for TIF


• Portland routinely creates urban-renewal districts along all its
  light-rail and streetcar lines so it can use TIF funds to promote so-called
  transit-oriented developments along the lines


• California is now trying to eliminate these renewal districts to shore
  up its budget shortfall


• the role that land use planning played in the formation of the recent
  housing bubble

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