Judge Blocks L.A.’s Billboard Rules; Uber’s Next Big Target
Gerry Boughan / Shutterstock.com
Also in our State & Local roundup: Annapolis will be used as a climate adaptation case study and innovation takes root in Springfield, Mass.
Here is today’s State & Local news roundup for Thursday, October 23, 2014 ...
SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts: A public-private partnership is taking two vacant downtown buildings and will transform them into the Springfield Innovation Center, which will include a “proving ground for the next generation of Springfield start-up companies,” Jim Kinney reports for The Republican/MassLive. "The innovation side is really where we are seeing so much of the growth in Massachusetts," DevelopSpringfield’s CEO told the newspaper.
LOS ANGELES, California: The city attorney plans to appeal a judge’s decision that found Los Angeles’ billboard ban on grounds that it violates free speech provisions in the California Constitution. David Zahniser of the Los Angeles Times reports that billboard opponents fear that the ruling “could open the floodgates for digital signs by an array of companies.”
LAS VEGAS, Nevada: The planned introduction of Uber to Las Vegas will “likely result in thousands of headaches for transportation regulators and taxi company executives” in Nevada, Richard N. Velotta of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Representatives for Uber have been in Las Vegas to “educate lawmakers and policymakers about the company’s business model,” which has caused plenty of headaches for local officials across the country.
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland: The National Trust for Historic Preservation wants to use Maryland’s waterfront capital city as a climate change case study for other historic port cities that face flooding threats. As Elisha Sauers writes for the Capital Gazette, the organization is giving $5,000 in grants to the Main Streets Annapolis Partnership to help educate property owners on flood protection strategies.
WICHITA, Kansas: The Sedgwick County Commission approved a plan to create a tax-increment financing district for the planned $54 million redevelopment of Wichita’s Union Station. But Emily Behlmann reports for the Wichita Business Journal, that doesn’t mean the project has a green light yet.
(Photo by Gerry Boughan / Shutterstock.com)
NEXT STORY: Pennsylvania app accesses campaign finance data