CP&DR - Blogs

Global Warming Having Significant Impact On CEQA

Jul 2, 2007

In only a year's time, global warming's context within CEQA has gone from the dullest blip on the radar screen to the hottest CEQA issue. Don't expect it to go away soon.

Shortly after delivering our July edition to the printer, I received a copy of a letter that business and development organizations sent to the governor and legislative leaders requesting "urgent legislative action" to prevent global warming from becoming a CEQA issue.

Brewpub Regionalism Could Cure City Ailments

Jun 25, 2007

Brewpub regionalism?

That's the phrase that came to mind Saturday night as I listened to John Hickenlooper, the mayor of Denver, talk about how he operates.

Nerdy geologist turned cool brewpub owner turned positive-thinking mayor, Hickenlooper is rapidly becoming a political legend. I heard him speak, along with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, at a dinner in Santa Monica sponsored by the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program in conjunction with the U.S. Conference of Mayors conference.

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.

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