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Recent Doctoral Graduate, Ian Carlton, Won theYearly Award from the Council of University Transportation Centers for Best Dissertation in Transportation Policy and Planning

 

ACCESS Magazine Wins National Planning Excellence Award for a Communications Initiative from APA in 2014

 

Spring 2014 ACCESS #44 Now Online

access 44 cover access 44 Download entire issue of ACCESS #44 as a PDF (16 MB)

Contents

Introduction: Shedding Weight
by John A. Mathews

Parking Requirements and Housing Development: Regulation and Reform in Los Angeles
by Michael Manville

Carmageddon in Los Angeles: The Sizzle and the Fizzle by Brian D. Taylor and Martin Wachs

Carmageddon or Carmaheaven? Air Quality Results of a Freeway Closure by Arthur Winer, Yifang Zhu, and Suzanne Paulson

Pursuing the Technological Sublime: How the Bay Bridge Became a Megaproject by Karen Trapenberg Frick

We Can Learn Something from That! Promoting an Experimental Culture in Transportation
by Joseph Schofer and Raymond Chan

The ACCESS ALMANAC:
Parking Charity
by Donald Shoup

Recent Papers, etc. Download the recent papers pages as a PDF

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The Actions of Discontent: Tea Party and Property Rights Activists Pushing Back Against Regional Planning

by UCTC Assistant Director Karen Trapenberg Frick

Problem, research strategy, and findings: The Tea Party’s effects on local and regional planning efforts, given the move-ment’s fierce support of property rights and equally fierce opposition to sustainability goals in regional planning efforts, have received little study. I wanted to understand how Tea Party and fellow property rights advocates became involved in regional planning efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area and Atlanta, GA, and how planners perceived and dealt with their objections and tactics. Interactions between the two groups were marked by philosophical differences over the role of government and the necessity and value of regional planning. However, these actors were also deeply divided on plan content and the authenticity of the public outreach process. Tea Party and property rights activists were not the only ones with substantive and procedural concerns about regional planning efforts; tactical coalitions of unexpected allies emerged, aligning on plan viability, finance methods and funding, project costs, impacts, and process. My research shows that common ground can be negotiated between opposing groups on matters of content and process. The concerns of the various stakeholders involved parallel questions often addressed by scholarly planning research, providing evidence of continuing challenges and flaws in planning.
Takeaway for practice: The planning community should not dismiss the opposition of Tea Party and property rights advocates; these activists could catalyze new coalitions of opponents if planners do not attend to the substantive and procedural concerns of participants.
Keywords: Agenda 21, property rights, regional planning, sustainability, Tea Party