As anticipated, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has approved the application by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians to have its 1400-acre Camp 4 property taken into federal trust. The Tribe has stated intentions to build housing, a community center and related buildings on the property. Local critics have expressed fears about what could happen after trust status takes the property out of state and county jurisdiction and exempts it from local taxation. The Santa Barbara Independent reported county officials were preparing to follow through on the Supervisors' prior decision to appeal such a ruling. A December 30 report by the Lompoc Record quoted at length from antagonistic comments by two central spokespersons in the matter, Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Doreen Farr. The "Stand Up for California" organization, which monitors California gaming issues, has posted a copy of the Notice of Decision. The text includes extensive rebuttals to public comments critical of the fee-to-trust application. For CP&DR's pre-approval news feature on of the fee-to-trust controversy see http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3650.
Brown, at Fourth Swearing-In, Talks Climate Preservation
Gov. Jerry Brown took the oath of office for his fourth term as Governor on Monday, with a speech calling for increased uses of renewable energy. His text expressed pride in the balancing of the state budget and in the passage of Propositions 1 and 2, and called on the state to work toward deriving 50% of electricity from renewable sources. The same day Brown swore in Justices Mariano-Florentino Cu�llar and Leondra Kruger, returning the state Supreme Court to its full complement of seven Justices.
Moreno Valley May Create Foreclosure Registry
The Riverside County city of Moreno Valley is considering requiring registration of foreclosed properties. The proposal would require lenders to register properties with the city "as they go into default," to report periodically on the properties' status, and to provide contact information for use "if criminal and property maintenance issues arise." The Press-Enterprise says the city saw a peak of 6,239 foreclosures in 2008 but the foreclosure rate "dropped" to 605 counted in 2014 as of mid-December. The proposal calls for contracting with Nationwide Cost Recovery Services, which already runs foreclosure registries for the Southern California cities of Carson, Eastvale, El Monte, South El Monte, Pico Rivera and West Covina. Other California cities with existing foreclosure registry ordinances include Los Angeles, which recently toughened its rules after criticism; Fresno, Oakland, San Diego, Long Beach, Fountain Valley and San Bruno. (A few details as of 2012 are here.)
Also in Moreno Valley, Maven's Morning Coffee noted efforts to solicit Riverside County business support for a gigantic warehouse complex, the "World Logistics Center." The Press-Enterprise said the complex would create 14,600 to 29,000 truck trips per day, though it reported the city of Riverside was questioning some figures in the traffic portion of last year's draft EIR on the project.
Two Unusual City Hires in San Francisco
Profiles appeared this past week of new city staff in San Francisco who have unusual job descriptions. Urbanful.org interviewed Patrick Otellini, a former permit expediter and city "earthquake czar," now working as "the world's first chief resiliency officer" -- though he's actually only the first of 100 CROs being hired by cities around the world funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. (Oakland has also hired one.) And the city Department of Public Health hired an epidemiologist to study pedestrian fatalities and injuries in traffic collisions.
San Jose Buyer Makes Steep Resale of Redevelopment Property
A San Jose real estate company has apparently made a tidy profit buying and selling a 1.25-acre former redevelopment property. Nate Donato Weinstein reported in the Silicon Valley Business Journal that Next Realty bought a parking lot on Fountain Alley from the San Jose Redevelopment Agency for $6.2 million in 2011 and resold it in December 2014 to System Property Development Co., which he described as "a parking lot owner and operator based in Southern California." A few days later on Twitter, he reported the new sale price was $16 million.
Also:
CP&DR's own Bill Fulton wrote an opinion piece for UT San Diego with some afterthoughts on his time as Planning Director in San Diego.
California's High-Speed Rail project officially starts construction with a groundbreaking in Fresno January 6.
And San Francisco Twitterers have been drawing faces on a mouth-like balcony in the rendering for a tower to replace the All Star Donut shop at Market and Van Ness. The tower design, by SoloCordBuenz and Sn�hetta, otherwise got a favorable review from Chronicle architecture critic John King. The "mouth" midway up the structure has a purpose: King writes that it's part of a design "intended to diffuse the downdraft" on one of the windiest parts of Market Street.
