The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "planning and zoning" ...
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Rebel With a Plan: Welcome to Planning 101
"This story delves into the psyche of a Los Angeles city councilman who is trying to get his colleagues to adopt an affordable housing policy known as inclusionary zoning. It examines the roles the councilman's upbringing, professional experience and personal grudges play in promulgating a complex policy..."
Tags: real estate; development; urban planning; commuters; immigration; Latinos; racism; discrimination
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With friends like these...A proliferation of powerful outside groups that raise money for city agencies are secretly privatizing public policy.
According to the article, "On April 29, 1997, a group of well-heeled developers, land-use lawyers, architects, and lobbyists gathered at the New Asia Restaurant in Chinatown. They had coughed up as much as $2,500 a table, which is about the going rate for a major political fundraiser. But this time the influential crowd had not come to support a candidate for mayor or to rub elbows with a powerful politician. The object of everyone's attention was a group of low-profile bureaucrats: the staff of the city Planning Department."
Tags: city agencies; money; fundraising; fundraisers; Planning department; Planning and Zoning; politics; lobbyists; finances
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Open and shut: Arizona's public records audit
This three-day series, published simultaneously in newspapers across Arizona, is the result of a six-month effort by media organizations across Arizona. The goal was to find out how a citizen would be treated when testing the provision of Arizona's Public Records Law that allows for inspection of public records. Auditors from 21 media organizations were sent to 187 police departments, sheriff's departments, planning and zoning offices and school district offices. Findings revealed that agencies other than police complied with almost every request for public records, but auditors often faced resistance with law enforcement--including one agency that logged a suspicious person report on an auditor just for seeking a record, then ran a computer check on him and trailed him around town.
Tags: IRE FOI AWARD CATEGORY; public records; public records law; police records; database mapping project
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Railroaded
The American Press sheds light on how railroads in Southwest Louisiana have become a threat to public safety, and have raised concerns about devaluation of local residents' properties. Union Pacific has planned on building a storage-in-transit station in spite of the objections of the homeowners in the vicinity. "Public officials on the state and local level ... have battled for years to toughen regulations governing the rail industry," the Press reports.
Tags: Federal Railroad Administration; zoning; hazardous waste; roads; transportation; highways; Southern Pacific Railroad; traffic; legislation; FOI request; noise pollution
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A Flood of Problems
A Columbia Missourian investigation reveals the neglect of local city and county officials in planning and handling storm water floods amidst new development. Boone County and city of Columbia systems for handling planning subdivisions place "little emphasis on storm water's potential to cause flooding or damage water quality."
Tags: storm water; urban sprawl; subdivisions; planning and zoning; Columbia; Boone County; water quality; growth; urbanization; development
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The Battle for San Francisco
The San Francisco Bay Guardian reveals that "the San Francisco city planning process has been completely taken over by big developers, campaign contributors and cronies of the mayor. Developers are cheating the city out of millions in taxes, violating codes and zoning laws and destroying the fabric of neighborhoods with total impunity."
Tags: city government; investigative reporting; San Francisco
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Formula For Greed
The Columbus Guardian investigates plans by Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories, the largest manufacturer of baby formula in the United States, to expand into the international market by establishing its own private Foreign Trade Zone in downtown Columbus. State and local officials have lent support to the plan despite serious questions about Ross's past business practices, about how infant formula is marketed in underdeveloped countries and about the possible economic consequences for central Ohio. (June 13 - 19,1996)
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No title (id: 10408)
The Humanist describes how people of color within the United States are being subjected to more than their fair share of America's industrial waste; because of unfair zoning practices, unenforced laws and bad planning minorities are exposed harmful toxins, July/August 1994.
Tags: DC Austin Schill 8 pages
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Solutions to Sprawl
The Independent (Durham, N.C.) analyzes zoning plans and records to come up with an argument that suburban sprawl is unnecessary and can be avoided with proper planning, Oct. 22, 1987.
Tags: NC Oppenheimer urban sprawl city planning suburbs IRE Winner
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No title (id: 2418)
Our Town News (New York) does stories on the conversion of a federal Title I housing project to condominium status without the approval of the City Planning Commission and the Board of Estimate, as is legally required, 1983.