The Week Observed: November 14, 2025
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Inclusionary zoning
15 min read
The article discusses Barcelona's failed inclusionary housing mandate at length, comparing it to US policies. Understanding the mechanics, history, and economic debates around inclusionary zoning would give readers deep context on why these policies often underperform.
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Donald Shoup
14 min read
The article explicitly references Shoup's work on parking policy and urban land use. His influential research on the hidden costs of free parking and minimum parking requirements has shaped modern urban planning debates.
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Interstate Bridge
14 min read
The article mentions the Interstate Bridge Replacement as one of ODOT's troubled megaprojects. This bridge connecting Oregon and Washington has a complex history and the replacement project has been contentious for decades, illustrating broader themes about infrastructure politics.
Must Read
Oregon DOT director resigns. Kris Strickler, who has led the Oregon Department of Transportation since 2019 announced he is leaving the agency in January. As Bike Portland succinctly reports, ODOT has been a deeply troubled agency, with massive cost overruns, financial mismanagement, and a failure to delivery major projects.
Maybe Strickler’s exit and the horrible condition of ODOT he leaves behind will finally shake things up. Maybe the OTC and Oregon lawmakers will wake up and take our state’s approach to transportation in a very different direction — one that stops chasing freeway expansion mega-projects as a solution to climate change (which is what Strickler believed them to be) and one that ends the bottomless pit of taxpayer dollars going to consulting firms who benefit from making projects as expensive, expansive, and extensive as possible.
As the Oregonian reported, Strickler’s departure is just the latest, and highest ranking, of an “exodus” of top managers from ODOT. In the past year, the agency has lost the head of its urban mobility office and the leaders of its two largest megaprojects: the Interstate Bridge Replacement and the I-5 Rose Qurter freeway widening. Things aren’t going to get easier: ODOT’s financial outlook is even cloudier now, with an initiative petition drive underway to refer for voter approval the down-sized transportation finance bill that passed a special session of the Oregon Legislature in September.
Inclusionary housing requirements stifle new construction, evidence from Barcelona. Inclusionary zoning--a requirement that new multi-family housing developments offer a portion of their apartments at a discount to market rates--gets a lot of attention in the US. But broadly similar policies are often tried abroad. Recent reporting from local newspaper “La Vanguardia“ Barcelona confirm the view of those who regard inclusionary housing requirements as a detriment to housing supply--and consequently to affordability.
In September 2018, the Barcelona City Council approved a measure aimed at creating 330 affordable housing units annually in the Catalan capital. The measure stipulated that 30% of new construction and major renovations exceeding 600 square meters would be allocated to affordable housing . Eight years later, the city should have nearly 2,000 apartments built under that regulation. The reality, however, is far less promising: as of August 2025, only 31 have been built, and another 123 have received permits. . . . the results to date clearly show that something
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