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Public policy regarding the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in an age of "absolutely" and "absolutely nots," according to Jeffrey Mount. But policy could enter an age of reason within a decade, he said.

In a way, San Diego might be the anti-Petaluma. Instead of laying off all the planners like Petaluma is doing, San Diego is investing heavily in long-term planning as an economic development strategy.

I should say right up front that it's a bit unfair to compare a suburb of 57,000 people with a major city of 1.3 million. Still, the contrasting responses to difficult economic times is instructive.

It was a sunny summer Saturday the first time I stepped onto the K Street mall in downtown Sacramento. The place was deserted. That was 25 years ago, and Sacramento is still trying to figure out the K Street mall.

As Earth Day approached, I was concerned that I was kicking up a huge carbon footprint while I traveled all over the place helping people figure out how to reduce their carbon footprint.

Last Thursday, the often-nerdy Barack Obama erased all remaining doubt that he is positioning himself as America's "Planner In Chief".

The Petaluma City Council voted April 13 night to eliminate the city's planning staff because of a lack of development activity and a $4.5 million budget deficit.

Elimination of a planning department would be a remarkable turn of events anywhere in California, but the fact that this is occurring in Petaluma is downright shocking.

----------UPDATE----------

Read more about the Petaluma situation in this month's Local Watch story.

Oakland civic leaders hope that a proposed new zoning code might help downtown turn the corner. Let's hope they are right.

Last week, driving north from San Diego through Orange County, I engaged in a secret and somewhat twisted pleasure – I ponied up my four-bucks-and-change to get off I-5 and I-405 and traverse the 15 miles from San Juan Capistrano to Costa Mesa on California State Route 73, otherwise known as the San Joaquin Hills Toll Road.

Where the burgeoning renewable energy industry sees empty spaces and piles of sand, environmentalists see scenic vistas and fragile habitat for rare flora and fauna. These different views of California's vast deserts are leading to a clash over how to use lands owned by the federal government.

Our friends over at Planetizen are having too much fun today, which happens to be April 1.

How the heck do you plan a city when no one knows what the world of retail sales will look like in 10 years?

Since our previous blog on the possibility that auto malls – like regional malls – will soon become retail dinosaurs, the California press has glommed onto the idea big time. This is partly, of course, because auto sales are in the news in other ways. A few cities, for example, are offering auto sales tax rebates as part of their "local stimulus package," while other jurisdictions have provided loans to car dealerships.

Post-war suburbia has its defenders and its detractors. Recently, I encountered a truly staunch supporter of suburbia and a well-spoken critic. One of them sees black where the other sees white. It was a good reminder of how difficult planning is in California.