David Holtzman
David Holtzman is a planner for Louisa County, Virginia, a freelance writer, and a former Shelterforce editor.
On Foot and Wheels, in Town and in the Country
Surprise! People in small towns like to walk and ride bicycles nearly as much as people in cities do. That's the word from a report...
Less Pasture, More Concrete in Rural Future?
“From concrete to pasture.”
That's how one might characterize my relocation a couple years ago from Boston to Central Virginia. Boston is a place where...
High speed Internet – Hard to find in rural places
What's it like not having access to high-speed Internet today? For anyone who is aware of high-speed Internet, not having it is essentially to...
At the Crossroads
On a map of the rural county where I live, there are many place names that identify crossroads, significant in that many cars pass...
Tiny Houses, Big Dreams
Not long ago I was part of a conversation with a builder who wanted to put some tiny houses on some tiny lots. The...
Getting from Here to There
Transit advocates and CDCs in two parts of the greater Boston
region are building cross-movement coalitions that are making
equitable transit-oriented development a part of the fight for
better transit access.
Some Thoughts On This Martin Luther King Jr. Day
On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as one of the lucky ones who actually had the day off to reflect on this great...
Where’s the Alt-City?
On a trip yesterday into Richmond, Va., I made sure to pick up some of the free media that clutter the doorways of bookshops...
Is it: “Faster, Stimulus! Spend! Spend!” or “Think Before You Buy”?
James Oberstar, the Democrat from Minnesota who chairs the House Transportation Committee, has been sending out cranky letters to governors around the country who...
Sometimes Vacant Land is Just Fine
I’ve been thinking a bit recently about the possibilities in vacant or underused property in the heart of the city. Kaid Benfield brought this...
Locavores, Beware
Think all planning and community development should be local? Think again, said a judge on Monday when she told a New York State county...
Housing as Economic Growth? Strange Idea, But Not in Massachusetts
Given the pain so many states such as California and Florida are suffering because they have a glut of new, empty houses, and given...
Short-Term Stimulus and Planning for the Long Term
Everyone’s excited about the money pouring, or rather trickling, out of the federal government in the form of economic stimulus. As is the case...
A Third Strand of Sustainable Housing
There’s quite a jumble of tools out there for people who want to make their houses into models of energy efficiency. As far as...
Detroit as a Test Site of the Green Future
Recently a group of planners, including long-time NHI researcher Alan Mallach, visited Detroit to survey the city’s vast vacant spaces...
Homeownership Done Right
While the Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance is helping people buy homes, their aim is to build an army of trained homeowners to engage their own neighbors in organizing and advocacy.
Bringing Victims of Foreclosure Back Home
It was often disappointing during the long housing boom to see the affordable housing stock continue to dwindle even as CDCs continued to build...
Bring the Green to Rental Buildings
Given all the emphasis on green jobs and energy efficiency in the Obama administration, it’s not surprising that these uses are targeted by a...
Three Ways Not to Transform Parks — And One That Can Work
Back when I was a local reporter, I witnessed the unfortunate demise of a beloved neighborhood park in Malden, Massachusetts. Frederick Law Olmsted Jr....