Blogs

Some of California's best-known Gold Rush towns feel like museums that are operated for the benefit of tourists and transplanted retirees. Although the towns are genuinely historic, they may or may not be genuine places today.

Yreka is different. The historic district in the county seat of Siskiyou County can match the historic qualities of just about any Gold Rush city in California. But it's no museum. Downtown Yreka is very much a functioning and evolving district.

Rick Caruso, retail genius – ok. But Rick Caruso, mayor of Los Angeles?

C'mon! It ain't gonna happen.

Do cities have tourniquets that can be used to stop the subprime mortgage bleeding?

They like to think so, but the answer appears to be no. Instead, cities are increasingly focused on two things: First, increased code enforcement to make sure that abandoned houses and neighborhoods aren't rundown. And second, finding a silver lining in the dark cloud by helping first-time homebuyers purchase repossessed houses.

When gasoline costs $5 a gallon, and diesel $6, who is going to buy a house in the exurbs?

With those fuel prices appearing inevitable within a year or two, I have been posing that question in casual conversations with people. Their answers is, well … no one.

My laptop battery started dying just as I noticed the huge bats somewhere around Barstow.

Six. That's how many housing starts there were in the Marysville-Yuba City area in March.

This is an area with a population of more than 150,000 people, an area that has needed four digits to count annual housing production during recent years.

But in March 2008? Six housing starts. That's the definition of a real estate slump.

Today, as planners, we are constantly inundated with new ideas and theories, and nowhere can this become more of a reality than a planning conference in Las Vegas. This year's national APA Conference is being held between the Paris and Bally's casinos, quintessential locations for gambling, shopping, dining, nightlife, and, well, apparently planning conferences. Where else can conference sessions be held in banquet halls decorated like extravagant French parlors?