CP&DR - Blogs

Toadless Tunnel Exemplifies Nature's Unpredictability

Jun 18, 2007

The toads of Davis have never figured out how to use the tunnel built a dozen years ago just for them.

Or they can't find it. Or they've died out. Or they just don't want to.

Your Vote Means Nothing In Monterey County

Jun 14, 2007

Monterey County voters must be wondering what the point is. They keep voting on land use ballot measures, but the votes resolve nothing.

Oakland's Second-City Blues

Jun 8, 2007

I was walking down Broadway in Oakland the other day. And I was terribly disappointed.

I hadn't been on Broadway, downtown Oakland's most important boulevard, in six years. Since then, I had heard a great deal about dreams and schemes to "bring Oakland back," including Jerry Brown's ballyhooed proposal for 10,000 new housing units.

But the Broadway I found was not much different from the Broadway of six years ago, or 16 years ago, or even 26 years ago. Vacant storefronts. Garbage. Plentiful surface parking. Old buildings begging for investment.

Help Us Identify California's Best Places

Jun 4, 2007

One of the top 10 things that everybody loves is a top 10 list. Some people take such lists very, very seriously and get furious when, for example, their favorite Eagles' number doesn't appear on a list of top 10 songs from the 1970s. Most people take such lists with a few grains of salt.

Cal Supremes Continue CEQA Fascination

May 30, 2007

Yes, it's been 37 years since Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) into law. But we're still arguing about the statute's most basic definitions.

The California Supreme Court will get another crack at a very basic question — what constitutes a "project" that is subject to CEQA — in a case with the memorable name Save Tara v. City of West Hollywood (No. S151402).

Mixed-Use At The End Of The Retail Tunnel

May 30, 2007

LAS VEGAS _ Everywhere you go on the planning and development circuit these days, people are talking about mixed use. But does everybody really want to build it? Or lease it? Or live in it? Or finance it?

Report Addresses Redevelopment Oversight

May 21, 2007

The California Research Bureau (CRB) has suggested increasing public oversight of redevelopment activities by broadening the use, membership and roles of project area committees.

CEQA Issues Loom Over Yuba County Development

May 16, 2007

The CEQA questions, both procedural and substantive, were thick and juicy during a hearing Tuesday, May 15, on the Yuba Highlands project east of Marysville. Located on about 2,900 acres of unincorporated Yuba County between Beale Air Force Base and Spenceville State Wildlife Area, Yuba Highlands is proposed to have about 5,100 housing units and 85 acres of commercial development.

Among the questions that arose were these:

The Health Risks Of Infill Development

May 14, 2007

If you look at the Automobile Club of Southern California's 1937 freeway plan for Los Angeles, you'll see that the relationship between the freeways and the city evolved a bit differently from the way the people who wrote that plan envisioned.

Following The Money To The Best Land Use

May 11, 2007

When fiscal experts start talking about land use, planners often get nervous. Economists and planners don't necessarily have the same definition of "good" land use.

10 Years In The Life Of L.A.

May 4, 2007

Rich people living in subway-close high-rises? Poor people flooding the suburbs?

Density Photos Worth 1,000 Words

May 2, 2007

How many public hearings have you attended in which a development opponent or neighborhood organizer says he can't support 10 units an acre, but 6 might be acceptable? Or if 20 units an acre are proposed, maybe 10 would be OK. Do you think anybody in the room — including the activist — can actually imagine what the difference looks like?

Density, whether high or low, is not inherently good or bad. It all depends on the project and its environs.

Parade: The People's Journal of Public Policy?

Apr 30, 2007

Nearly two years ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Kelo v. City of New London came down, CP&DR reported that the ruling wouldn't have much impact on California. And we were right, according to Jerold Kayden, co-chairman of the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The decision was no surprise because the court majority simply reiterated established constitutional principles, said Kayden.

Land Use Bill of the Year?

Apr 24, 2007

Senate Bill 303 by San Diego Democrat Denise Ducheny may well be the most controversial land use bill of the year. The bill is the building industry's vehicle for decreasing local government regulation. Not surprisingly, local governments are solidly in opposition. The bill sailed through the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee on a 10-0 vote in late March, but mostly because lawmakers tasked the Committee on Environmental Quality with the heavy lifting.

Blogs

Articles