Blogs

If California cities are truly running out of money, how can some of them afford to maintain the yard police?

That’s what I kept thinking when I read the new stories about the City of Orange prosecuting homeowners who replaced their lawn with drought-tolerant plants and bark.

With yet another $20 billion deficit looming, the State of California government appears to be on the verge of a complete meltdown. Dealing with this situation would be trying under any circumstances, but everything is made more difficult by two things: Proposition 13, and voters’ failure to understand the consequences of Proposition 13.

First it was the climate crisis. Then it was the economy. Now the experts are sounding the alarm over... the future of the American suburbs? This time, you pointy-heads, you’ve gone too far! You can’t have my tranquil, SUV-lined streets! I’m telling Rush Limbaugh and Sen. Inhofe about this.

Last Wednesday afternoon, I arrived in Seattle and checked into a room on the 16th floor of the Hyatt At Olive 8 hotel and began preparing to moderate a panel the next day on transferrable development rights programs. The hotel was brand-new and less than a block from the convention center. It was comfortable and cool, the first LEED certified hotel in Seattle. Little did I realize that the very room I was staying in existed because of the King County transfer of development rights program I was there to discuss.

There's an old joke that what the locals fear more than a federal government in disarray is a federal government that has its act together. Well, now the joke's being put to the test.

According to walkscore.com, I work in a walker’s paradise. The walkscore of our office in Ventura, California, is 95.

I also live in a pretty good walking environment. My duplex has a walkscore of 78—and that’s way better than the walkscore in the cavernous suburban house I used to live in, which was 3.

So, what’s all that worth?

Winters – one of the most charming towns in the Central Valley – is considering whether to accept the town’s first franchise fast-food outlet. I almost never take sides in these things, but I’m hoping the city’s leaders say no to the proposed Burger King.

UCLA Extension’s annual Land Use Law and Planning Conference is typically a demilitarized zone. Combative environmentalists and builders usually check their weapons at the door, and a civil discussion about legislation, litigation, and regulation ensues. Not so last Friday during the 24th annual event at the Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles.

For quite some time now, we’ve heard about the credit crisis, the foreclosure crisis, the health care crisis, the state budget crisis, the climate change crisis. Add one more crisis to your worry list: the transit crisis.

The Los Angeles City Council voted today to limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city (described by one councilmember as the “the capital of medical marijuana”) to a total of 70 storefront locations. With an estimated 900 dispensaries currently operating within city limits, there are currently more medical marijuana outlets in L.A. than Starbucks. That is a sobering figure. How on earth did we end up with this many Starbucks?