Blogs

The development side has won one in the ongoing fight over water availability in the Santa Clarita Valley, California's hot-spot for litigation regarding water and planning.

Let me explain: In October, the Second District Court of Appeal issued a ruling for Los Angeles County in a suit filed by Santa Clarita Organization for Planning the Environment (SCOPE) over Newhall Land and Farming Company's proposed 2,500-unit West Creek project. The environmental group contended the environmental impact report for the project was inadequate. The court ruled otherwise.

Developers are beginning to go green because it makes economic sense. But they're probably not going green enough to satisfy Jerry Brown.

That was the impression I got last week at the annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate conference put on by the Urban Land Institute, San Diego-Tijuana Council. Dusting aside the typical numbers-and-market-glimpses approach, ULI devoted the meeting to the theme of "sustainability" and even brought in sustainability guru-ess Hunter Lovins to give a speech.

After several years of struggling along with a minimal website, Solimar Research Group – sister organization to California Planning & Development Report -- has just launched a handsome new site (http://www.solimar.org) that is far more comprehensive and attractive than the old one.

From CP&DR's Morris Newman:

Personally, I think there's a way for Disney to make lemonade out of the lemons of this dispute over housing near Disneyland in Anaheim. Given that affordable housing is a clearly one-way ticket to blight and criminality -- at least according to some critics in Anaheim -- Disney should capitalize on the setting, and "theme" its third gate as "Disney's Urban Adventure."  

Downtown Ocean Beach seems like a coddled momma's boy afraid to grow up. The small San Diego community just south of Mission Bay is a curious little enclave where the outdated downtown clashes with the cost of housing. The residents seem in denial about the hustle-bustle of capitalism and stubbornly resist the modern amenities like Starbucks. Shoes are optional and suntans are mandatory.

Hollywood has finally made it official: Los Angeles is undeniably an urban place – one that's beginning to look and feel more and more like Manhattan.

It's one thing when we urban planners say it and point to loft conversions in Downtown L.A. But when NBC-Universal confirms it, you know it's true.

A couple of weeks ago, NBC-Universal announced that the NBC studios and West Coast news operation is going to move – from old suburb to new urb.