State of anxiety: In Houston—where an estimated 600,000 undocumented residents were already on edge due to the White House’s stepped-up immigration enforcement—Hurricane Harvey is only complicating matters. But local officials are trying to abate anxiety, as Border Control and ICE back off for the moment. AP reports:
Authorities have gone out of their way to tell jittery immigrants that they will not be arrested for seeking help, and outreach workers … have been delivering that message in person at shelters like the George R. Brown Convention Center and on social media and Spanish-language media outlets.
The Harvey victims Cisneros met at the shelter shared the same concerns as almost everyone else: When can they return home? When can they start earning money again? How will they replace their belongings? The ones in the country illegally had deeper fears of deportation amid the chaos of having their homes wiped out.
Open access: Uber Movement is now live, offering local governments and city planners access to some of the company’s internal traffic data, like travel times between two places. For now, that it’s only available for a handful of cities (including D.C. and Boston), but more are coming. (TechCrunch, City Observatory)
Urban stall: In The New York Times, CityLab’s Richard Florida attributes the end of the urban revival to factors including rising crime, expensive housing, and “the anti-urban mood in Washington and many state legislatures.”
Going platinum: Washington, D.C., is now the first city in the world to receive the LEED for Cities Platinum award, the highest certification bestowed upon cities by the U.S. Green Building Council. (DCist)
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Another way D.C. is serving as a model? Tax reform. The New York Times calls on Congress and Trump to take note of the successes in their own backyard.
Opioid attack: In Wilmington, North Carolina—which ranks first in the nation for opioid abuse—a task force has come up with solutions that include personal visits to naloxone users and diverting arrestees to treatment. (Governing)
Abandoned City Hall: Stockton, California, is seeking residents’ input on the fate of its City Hall building, built in 1926 and soon to be vacated due to the untenable costs of the repairs needed. (Next City)
The urban lens:
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