CP&DR

Lancaster Buys A Costco Store

Mar 1, 2002

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 17 No. 03 Mar 2002

"L" was a young, slightly naive city of 122,000 people in the high desert. She loved her biggest retailer, Costco, very much and "L" vowed she would always be faithful to Costco, no matter the cost, no matter how much it hurt.

Democratic Planning Works in Palo Alto

Dec 1, 2001

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 12 Dec 2001

The phenomenon of powerful neighborhood groups holding sway over the planning process makes me question the wisdom of mixing democracy and planning. In principal, democracy should be the preferred route for making decisions about the public realm. But democracy, in large part, is about making deals among competing interests, and not all interest groups — such as people who champion affordable housing, schools, open space and urban design — are sitting at the table when homeowners cut their deals w

Ugly Politics Complicate Tustin Base Reuse

Oct 1, 2001

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 10 Oct 2001

Everybody who watches old movies knows this story line: A girl from a rich family falls in love with a boy from the poor side of town. It goes without saying that the parents of the rich girl are snobs, and they offer the boy a thick wad of cash to go away. But his heart is pure, and he spurns the dough. Boy and girl subsequently elope amid the sound of swelling music.

Invisible Class Speaks Up About Downtown L.A.

Aug 1, 2001

Deals, Downtown planning, Los Angeles County, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 08 Aug 2001

Here is a twist on the familiar story of neighborhood groups negotiating with developers: The two sides did not limit their discussion to traffic congestion. On the table were a surprisingly wide array of social and environmental concerns, including hiring guarantees, wage levels, job safety and affordable housing.

Local Control Falls Through the Doughnut Hole

Jun 1, 2001

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 06 Jun 2001

If you do not care about either law or land use, there is much to laugh at in the story of how Majestic Realty used the state Legislature as a club with which to beat the City of Redlands.

San Jose, CSU Cooperate for Joint Library

Apr 1, 2001

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 04 Apr 2001

The average person thinks of government as having a monolithic character. If she does not know better, she believes that different government agencies are merely the Vishnu-like arms of one great, unified body. But the opposite is true. Government is, in fact, a cluster of little bureaucracies. Each governmental agency, and each department inside that agency, and each division that department, has its own agenda. Call it the Will to Power. Call it the Imp of the Perverse. Whatever you call it, t

District Considers Public Housing for Teachers

Feb 1, 2001

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

We were driving up the coastal area of hilly San Mateo County, just north of Silicon Valley, when we saw something ahead on the shoulder of the road. When we got a little closer, we saw it was a middle-aged man wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches. He was holding up a sign: "WILL TEACH SCHOOL FOR HOUSING." While this story is fictitious, the need for affordable housing for teachers in the Bay Area is very real. Several school boards, including those in San Francisco, San Jose and M...

Vallejo Scores a Housing Coup

Dec 1, 2000

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 15 No. 12 Dec 2000

Cognitive science has taught us that a human being cannot keep more than seven things in its mind at any given time. That figure, of course, does not apply to local governments in California, which appear unable to focus on more than one thing at a time. Perhaps we should set up a charitable organization for cities suffering from the condition known as Single-Purpose Agenda Syndrome (SPAS). I can see television ads right now featuring a bureaucrat, in short sleeves and pocket protector, looking b...

Disney Puts Tax Dollars to Work

Oct 1, 2000

Deals, Disneyland, Morris Newman, Vol. 15 No. 10 Oct 2000

It's the oldest contract in the world: I'll scratch your back, if you'll scratch mine. The Walt Disney Co. recently worked a variant on this contract when it agreed to help the City of Anaheim obtain attractive interest rates for nearly $400 million in public improvements around Disneyland and the city's other big draws. On its face, the deal looks good. The town gets fixed up, and both the city and the theme park make money. Why would I care that The Walt Disney Co. was able to obtain at l...

Oakland Shows How to Gain Attention

Aug 1, 2000

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 15 No. 08 Aug 2000

Doctor, I need to tell you why I am lying on the couch today. In my line of work, as you know, I report on public-private deals for California's most distinguished land-use newsletter. And, for the most part, I perform my job without major psychic distress or disturbance (except for occasional bouts of rage when I learn that redevelopment agencies have declared open fields of wildflowers to be "blighted" in order to build power centers.) But something has happened recently. I ...

Articles