Building a mosque in the US gives rise to opposition. Sometimes, opponents overtly depict Muslims as foreigners threatening American values. In other cases, new mosques are stalled for years or stopped altogether because of concerns about parking: Local officials and residents demand that mosques build more spaces, conduct additional costly parking studies, or attend further public hearings about parking.
Mosques are far from the only type of proposed development to face parking-related opposition. Our study isolated the role of religious prejudice by analyzing the opposition faced by 107 newly constructed American mosques, comparing each one to a nearby church built around the same time. We also examined public records of city council hearings and invited representatives from a sample of the mosques to tell us about
their experiences, whether or how parking came up, and the impacts of parking-related opposition.
Public transit systems in California sit at a financial crossroads. Ridership has recovered slowly and unevenly since the pandemic, with commuter-focused transit services to and from downtowns continuing to struggle the most. While other sources of transit funding such as sales taxes have recovered, fare revenues have not. As one-time federal relief funding is spent down, some transit agencies in California and across the U.S. sit at the edge of a fiscal cliff. To better understand the scale of this challenge and how agencies are responding, researchers at the UC Institute of Transportation Studies analyzed financial data from transit agencies, examined federal databases, and conducted surveys and interviews with agency staff. This work provides a clearer picture of current conditions and the strategies agencies are considering to stabilize their budgets.
Transportation costs place a disproportionate financial burden on low-income households. Families in the lowest income quintile spend roughly 32 percent of their household income on transportation, which combined with housing costs, can consume nearly all their available budget. Transit affordability is typically addressed by providing discounted public transit fares. But transit alone cannot meet every trip need, and without access to a car or other affordable alternatives low-income travelers may forgo trips — reducing social connections, limiting employment opportunities, and eroding their well-being.
