Facebook Poised to Disburse Housing Funds in Bay Area 
Facebook is in talks with stakeholders in the Bay Area affordable housing world to build 2,000 units of extremely low-income housing with $150 million of the $1 billion the company pledged last year to alleviate the Bay Area's housing shortfall. Affordable housing groups say the most exciting part of Facebook's latest housing announcement is the fact it's focused on families making less than 30 percent of a region's median income. In the Bay Area, a family of four making under $45,000 a year or less would meet that threshold. Facebook's Community Housing Fund will be managed by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the largest community development organization in the country. One-third of the funding will be dedicated to Santa Clara County, but projects from Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties are also eligible to apply. The $150 million is expected to fund at least six projects by 2026. (See prior CP&DR commentary.)

Report: 100 Years of Traffic Reduction Efforts Largely Unsuccessful
The Luskin Center for History and Policy recently completed a report tracking the history of fighting traffic congestion in Los Angeles. The authors illustrate how authorities often revived the same traffic reduction tactics, from land use zoning in both the 1920s and 1960s and laws to modify driver behavior in the 1920s and 1980s, without success. The authors argue that "At best, officials have convinced themselves that yesterday's failures might become today's successes because the city had changed dramatically in the time since." Moreover, the perception that congestion pricing would harm the poor and non-white residents is intuitive, but not empirically supported, and works to promote the interests of high-income drivers who would have to pay dramatically more under congestion pricing than would the poor, who trend toward taking public transportation. At the same time, sales taxes that pay for transit are in general more regressive than congestion tolls--lower-income people pay more of their income in sales taxes than do higher-income people. "Nobody wants to pay for something that is currently free, but we must systematically compare a system that levies congestion prices against free streets and regressive gasoline and sales taxes, parking fees, and valuable lost time," the authors conclude.

Wildlife Conservation Board Considers Controversial Development
The California Wildlife Conservation Board--for the first time in its 70-year history--will determine whether a housing development will move forward on pristine land the board has been charged with protecting. In exchange for rights to build on the 219 acres of coastal sage scrub, the developer would trade roughly 339 acres of undeveloped land and place another 191 acres under a conservation easement. More than 50 land trusts and conservation groups from around California have opposed the deal, arguing that it would set a dangerous precedent. Proponents have said the deal will provide housing while, on balance, benefiting the environment. The land is one of the last strongholds of the Quino butterfly, which has seen its population drop by 95 percent as humans and invasive plants have crowded the species out of its scrubland habitat.

CP&DR Coverage & Podcast: Top Planning Stories of 2020
CP&DR covered the COVID-19 crisis in many ways, particularly its immediate impact on the planning profession. Our coverage of race, the other major story of 2020, revolved around commentary. Inequities in cities, from explicit policies like redlining, to the de facto racial exclusivity of suburbs, to everyday realities of Black and Brown poverty were not breaking news. But 2020 brought a heightened awareness of them and newfound willingness to discuss them, and we tried to do our part. And, of course, there was plenty of “regular” planning news to go around. Bill and Josh discuss on the CP&DR podcast. 

Quick Hits & Updates 
North Natomas Regional Park is Sacramento's best option for the city's zoo relocation, according to a city-commissioned study, though a second location is under consideration, contingent on the city's acquisition of the property from the Sacramento Kings. Officials now expect the zoo will be 50 acres, down from the originally planned 80 acres but still larger than the 14 acres the zoo currently occupies.

Richmond City Council has green lit a mixed-use project with thousands of homes atop the potentially hazardous byproducts of chemical and pharmaceutical companies that previously operated on the property. As part of the deal, the developer has agreed to commit millions of dollars in community benefits, but the project has been controversial as activists have pushed hard for years to block development until the soil is excavated.

CalBike released a detailed "quick-build" resource for cities looking to add bike and pedestrian safe improvements on a budget. Quick-build projects use materials that can be installed quickly, at a low cost, and on a trial basis. Successful projects may become permanent exactly as installed or upgraded with more durable materials than the posts, planters, and stripes of paint that make up typical quick build projects.

The Los Angeles Metro board certified the Final Environmental Impact Report for a light rail line in the San Fernando Valley. The line will connect the Van Nuys Station and the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station with 14 stations. A federal environmental review process is expected to conclude in January, which would make the project eligible for federal funding.

Google's proposed transit village, Downtown West, in downtown San Jose has received high praise from Catalyze SV, a key community group. The 4.29 points is the second highest ever issued by the group. A key quote from the report: "With activated ground floors and an extensive network of public open space, our members are excited to spend time in this fun, engaging place."

The first development proposal submitted to Marin County under Senate Bill 35 has been approved for 74 apartments on a 1.1-acre lot. The project was approved by the Marin County Development Agency without review by the county's planning commission or lengthy environmental review. The site is zoned for multiple-family residential use, which maxes out at 40 units, but due to an 80 percent affordable housing density bonus, the developer is able to build 74 apartments at the site. (See related CP&DR coverage.)

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced plans to create a "master plan" to pre-approve sites for temporary housing rather than leaving it to individual projects to get sites permitted. Sacramento's push to build shelters have hit federal road blocks in arguments over disputes over who owns the land. The mayor hopes that in creating preapproved plots of land, that problem could be avoided in the future.