Blogs

San Francisco's Transbay Transit Center is slowing taking shape in a hole south of Market Street.  

The City of San Jose has won an important round in a potentially landmark chase challenging the legality of inclusionary housing ordinances in California.

The U.S. Supreme Court has tightened the screws on exactions, ruling in a case from Florida that government agencies must follow the Nollan/Dolan doctrine – even when a permit is denied and when the exaction involves money as well as property.

Voters in the North San Diego County city of Encinitas have narrowly approved a ballot initiative limiting building heights to two stories in most parts of the city and requiring future changes in height and density to a vote.

You might wonder how many times I can write a blog highlighting how different California is from the rest of the country when it comes to density. After all, I started on this screed back in 2001, when I co-authored Who Sprawls Most?  And just a month ago I wrote a blog noting that, according to the Census Bureau, California metros are densifying while their counterparts elsewhere are not. 

On Tuesday, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner announced that he had selected Bill Fulton, this publication's founding editor and publisher, as the city's new planning director. 

Rather than comment on this surprising turn of events, we thought we'd simply provide a rundown of blog and media coverage. The surprise announcement took place early Tuesday morning before an assembled crowd that included some 500 employees of the city's Development Services Department.

After a variety of setbacks, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, is doggedly moving forward with bills to reform the California Environmental Quality Act and revive redevelopment. Both bills – SB 731 for CEQA and SB 1 for redevelopment – have cleared the Senate and are now pending in the Senate.

The latest illustration of intergovernmental non-cooperation examines the circumstances in which cities can route sewer lines through county rights of way, all without county approval.

Early one Sunday morning in early February, the South Bay Power Plant in Chula Vista – a fixture on San Diego Bay for decades – was blown up. But it wasn't because terrorists had targeted the plant.

Is 55 stories too high for a building in Hollywood? Neighbors think so -- especially when it will dwarf the iconic Capitol Records building next door. Opponents recently circulated an online petition called "Stop the Millennium Hollywood Project", which calls for the project to be modified "to a reasonable scale".

So, we all woke up this morning to the news that Eric Garcetti – longtime city council president, councilmember from Hollywood, and son of former L.A. District Attorney Gil Garcetti – will almost certainly be the next mayor of Los Angeles. What does this mean for planning and development in L.A.? 

After eight years in elected office in California, I can tell you that I often fell into the same trap as everybody else: chasing revenue. When you're up against the wall on budget problems, any new revenue – especially a boost in property or sales tax revenue – looks like the solution to all your problems.

Well, California's at it again -- going in a different direction than the rest of the country.
The Census Bureau recently released a new report showed that -- by at least one measure -- the nation's overall population density dropped by 6% between 2000 and 2010. But by this same measure, the population density of most California metro areas -- where almost 90% of Californians live -- is going up. And density's going up faster in the smaller counties. What gives?

Preliminary plans were recently revealed  Los Angeles's 77-year old union station modernization project. The plans (including four design concepts) focus on the integration of the stateís High Speed Rail system with the cityís historic transit hub. Additionally, the improvements aim to enhance the passenger experience by adding restaurants and retail, centralizing alternate terminals and improving connectivity and accessibility to its surrounding neighborhoods.