CP&DR - Blogs

APA Conference: Love It Or Hate It, Vegas Is A Great City In The Making

by Bill Fulton on Apr 28, 2008

All the urban planners in the country are in Las Vegas this week, and it's clear they have a love/hate relationship with the place.

Vegas is kitschy and over the top, and at first glance it always looks like the least sustainable place on the planet. Vegas is acres of neon plastered across the front of 30-story casinos in the 100-degree desert – each casino more outlandishly upscale than the other – along with the occasional lake and 200-foot water fountain.

Making Sacramento Truly Sustainable

Apr 21, 2008

OK, so everybody's bought into the idea that Sacramento's Blueprint process is a national model of regional smart growth planning. But what happens next in this cooler-than-we-ever-imagined metropolis? Depending on who you talk to the answer is:

The Smart Growth Method Of Climate Change Adaptation

Apr 16, 2008

The principles of smart growth should also be used as the principles of adapting land use patterns to climate change.

That's what Ron Sims, executive of King County, Washington, said in so many words while speaking April 12 at forum on climate change and cities.

Forget About Emissions Reduction -- It's Time To Adapt!

Apr 15, 2008

The passage of AB 32 – California's climate change law – has focused the attention of Left Coast policy wonks like a laser beam on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And as we have reported over and over again on this website, land use patterns are at the center of this debate. But adapting to a warmer world may actually be a bigger land use policy question.

Will Fresno Have Beachfront Property In 2100?

Apr 14, 2008

The earth's climate is changing more rapidly than we had thought possible only a few years ago, and we had better both prepare for that change and do what we can to stem it.

Best Downtowns: Convention Cities

Apr 8, 2008

Professional and trade conventions actually are new urbanist events. People arrive from out of town, often sans car, and spend several days walking around the convention site and the host city while taking care of business and enjoying themselves.

So when we at CP&DR started talking about the best convention cities in California, we ended up talking about some of California's best urban areas. It turns out that a good convention city has all the same attributes as a good urban place.

Central Valley Falls Further Behind Appalachia

Apr 7, 2008

The housing foreclosure crisis has slammed the Central Valley as hard as any region in the country. Stockton, Sacramento, Modesto, Merced and Bakersfield are typically listed the top 10 to 15 markets with the most foreclosures per capita. In some cities, 5% to 7% of homeowners are delinquent on their mortgage payments. And whole neighborhoods, such as portions of Natomas in Sacramento, sometimes seem to have been completely emptied.

Bike Lane Insanity

Apr 3, 2008

People who design roads don't ride bicycles. That is evident to any cyclist.

Right Project, Wrong Location

Apr 1, 2008

Location, location, location. Those are the three most important factors in real estate, and — as evidenced late last month — in land use decision-making.

On a 10-5 vote, the Los Angeles City Council on March 19 directed the Planning Department to stop processing the application for Las Lomas, a project that proposed 5,500-housing units, 2 million square feet of office space, 225,000 square feet of retail space, a hotel and a school on 555 acres at the junction of Interstate 5 and the Antelope Valley Freeway.

Redevelopment Agencies May Step Into Subprime Mortgage Mess

Mar 31, 2008

Do ya think that the California redevelopment crowd might be a little nervous?

It sure seems that way, and here's why:

• Under a state law passed in 1993, some of the oldest redevelopment project areas will have to start going out of business next year.

• The state has a $16 billion budget deficit and the state's finance wonks are eyeing redevelopment's tax increment money – the property tax revenues generated inside redevelopment project areas.

Antonio v. Zev: The Battle Over Growth -- and the L.A. Mayor's Seat -- Has Begun

Mar 22, 2008

It looks like the 2009 Los Angeles mayoral race has begun. And it looks a lot like the 1989 race. In the role of an incumbent determined to bring L.A. to the next level as a "world city" – the Tom Bradley role -- is Antonio Villaraigosa. And in the role of a crusading neighborhood activist seeking to protect the city from overdevelopment – the Zev Yaroslavsky role – is, well, Zev Yaroslavsky.

Morris Newman to speak at CRA Annual Conference

Mar 19, 2008

Announcement

Chamber Of Commerce Opposes Eminent Domain Initiative

Mar 19, 2008

Although it made no grand announcement, the California Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors has voted to oppose Proposition 98, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association's eminent domain initiative on the June ballot.

Surprise! Tucson Doesn't Want To Be Los Angeles Either

Mar 17, 2008

Water

Add Tucson to the list of cities in the Intermountain West that fear California-style growth ï¿½ and is thinking about California-style solutions to forestall California-style problems.

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