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After years of planning, negotiations and political battles, redevelopment of the former Marine Corps base in Tustin is proceeding. A developer is in the midst of building 565 single-family homes, townhouses and "paired homes," and another 4,000 housing units are on the way.

Nearly seven years ago, state Sen. Byron Sher wrote what turned out to be a prophetic commentary for the San Francisco Examiner about the pending resolution of one of the most bitter, drawn-out and violent disputes over forest management in California history. "Look beyond the hype over the deal to save the Headwaters Forest," he wrote in June 1998, "and you'll see that taxpayers may not be getting their money's worth."

Here is a list of one-liners about suburbia, inspired by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, originator of the popular "you-know-you're-a-redneck-when" jokes. You know you're in suburbia when: The only ethnic restaurants you can find are Italian and Chinese. The churches are all bunched together in a "religious-use" district. The synagogues have no Hebrew lettering on them, only English transliterations that make sense in no language whatsoever...

An overhaul of the flood control system in the Central Valley is in the works. Exactly what the new approach to flood control will be is uncertain. But what is clear is that a 2003 court decision making the state liable for more than $400 million in damages from a 1986 flood in Yuba County has dramatically raised the profile of flood control as a state policy issue.

Half a century ago, farmers cultivating the fertile plains and valleys of Ventura County sprayed their crops with the miracle pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a potent post-war product of American chemical ingenuity.

If there was ever a city that needed to roll the dice and get lucky, it's Richmond. Facing problems of poverty, crime and budget deficits, the city really could use a new pair of shoes. The city's plight might explain why the City Council recently made a controversial deal with an Indian tribe to allow the development of a casino on prime real estate on San Francisco Bay.

It is rare for a suburban city of 50,000 people take the lead in a $440 million transportation project. The City of Placentia in northern Orange County has, though, and the effort has stirred political controversy and placed the city under financial strain.

For planners, developers and local government officials, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal for 2005-06 might be as important for what it does not contain as for what it does contain.

An animal shelter project in the City of Long Beach that was partially funded by the city was not subject to the prevailing wage law for public works projects that was in effect at the time, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

Legend records that the dying Julius Caesar looks up to find his friend Brutus among his assassins. "Et tu, Brute?" (And you too, Brutus?) is his pathetic and much-quoted response. This tragic scene from the stage has nothing to do with land use politics in Santa Monica, of course - except for the smell of opportunism and something approaching betrayal of Santa Monica residents by their own city government. >>read more

For a variety of reasons, ranging from real estate prices to market demand to planning trends, New Urbanist projects are becoming more common in California. But the execution of these projects - the on-the-ground-reality - is spotty.

As two recent economic efforts illustrate, some job-creating projects require large public subsidies, and others do not. The public agencies running a former military base in San Bernardino and a reserve base in Moreno Valley waged a campaign involving millions of dollars in public subsidies in an effort to attract a DHL cargo sorting and shipping hub. March Air Reserve Base in Moreno Valley won the competition in December.

Everything about the federal government's newest endangered species recovery plan is big. It took nearly 10 years to complete. It addresses 33 types of plants and animals scattered across the length and breadth of California. It's 593 pages long.

Behold the common skateboard, a machine that can give new life to parks, especially those areas that previously seemed unusable. Little more than a plank of wooden laminate, this machine is shaped like a surfboard.