December 2010

While AB 32 and SB 375 have garnered attention for their efforts to limit California’s greenhouse gas emissions, even the most ardent supporters of those measures admit that they are small pieces of a much larger puzzle. For the past year, the California Climate Adaptation Task Force has been trying to figure out what some of the other pieces should look like. Convened by the Pacific Council on International Policy, the task force was invited by Gov. Schwarzenegger to make official recommendations about how the state can adapt to, rather than mitigate, climate change.

In Year Three of the Great Recession, it’s comforting to think that California has heard all the bad news it’s going to hear. Or at least we’re so accustomed to bad news, that we’ve stopped getting depressed by it. As a result, many of this year’s top stories come with silver linings. 

An environmental impact report for a 560-housing unit specific plan in the Riverside County city of Beaumont has been upheld by the Fourth District Court of Appeal. The court approved the city’s use of a baseline for examining water usage that was favorable to the developer, accepted the city’s determination that loss of farmland could not be mitigated, and upheld the city’s statement of overriding consideration for approving a project with significant environmental impacts.

As its location suggests, Beverly Hills High School enjoys its share of amenities: a gym that converts to an indoor pool; a planetarium; a professional-quality theater. But, like most high schools, it does not have a class in urban planning or transportation. Except now that the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed extending the Purple Line subway under school grounds, Beverly High is getting a serious lesson in planning.