• Political fight brewing in California over ballot initiative that would pave way for bringing back rent control [Michael Hendrix, City Journal]
• “Metes and bounds” method of describing legal property boundaries has been much derided, but new archival research from American colonial period suggests its benefits then were greater and costs lower than might appear [Maureen (Molly) Brady, SSRN, forthcoming Yale Law Journal] Just for fun: street grid orientation (or lack thereof) in major cities expressed as polar charts [Geoff Boeing]
• “Alexandria, Virginia Gets Housing Affordability Wrong” [Vanessa Brown Calder, Cato]
• Houston does not zone but it does subsidize deed restrictions. Is that good? [Nolan Gray, Market Urbanism]
• Great moments in historic preservation: “Silver Lake gas station moves toward landmark status” but connoisseurs say it’s not nearly as choice as the three service stations previously landmarked in L.A. [Curbed Los Angeles]
• “America’s Ugly Strip Malls Were Caused By Government Regulation” [Scott Beyer]

Filed under: California, historic preservation, Houston, land use and zoning, Los Angeles, Virginia