With the August 31 deadline for legislative action looming, state lawmakers face the usual mountain of bills during the session's final weeks. Among the land use bills in that mountain are two major flood control measures, the biggest overhaul of redevelopment law since the early 1990s and a complicated housing bill that cities strongly oppose. >>read more
Maybe it was while I was strolling amidst the mixed-use projects rising in the historic Pearl District. Or maybe it was while I was sipping coffee at a Powell's outlet in the funky Hawthorne District. Or maybe it was while walking down the full sidewalks of Beaumont Village to a brewpub on a Tuesday evening. >>read more
A little more than a year after hurricane Katrina turned New Orleans into a real-life Atlantis and focused scrutiny on flood-imperiled cities nationwide, California voters will be asked this fall to spend billions to prevent a Katrina-size disaster in the heart of their own state. >>read more
The south Orange County city of Lake Forest is poised to approve a plan that would not only permit 5,400 housing units, but would help tie together what are now two distinct parts of town. >>read more
My first impression of San Pedro occurred 15 years ago during a tour organized by the Los Angeles Conservancy. A middle-aged man, who had been a sailor during World War II, became animated as we stood beside the old city jail in the municipal building. >>read more
After suffering two generations worth of economic decline and malaise, the East Bay city of Pittsburg is trying to reinvent its downtown as a residential, office and retail district. >>read more
The presence of ammonium perchlorate - an ingredient used in rocket fuel, military munitions and other applications - in underground aquifers is contaminating drinking water supplies in several high-growth areas around the state. >> read more
I tend to be skeptical about land use policy and development trends in California. Every time I leave the state, I see creative developments and practices that we Californians should be implementing. >>read more
As business at the state's shipping ports continues to grow rapidly, the movement of freight across urban areas has become a priority for the Schwarzenegger administration and local transportation planners. >>read more
"Thank God for hospitals," I said to myself a few weeks ago while speeding to the local emergency room, doubled over in the back of an ambulance. Only after the painkillers had deadened a hitherto-undetected kidney stone could I begin to think about hospitals from an urban-design standpoint. >>read more
After sluggish construction for a number of years, condominiums are back. Although it is difficult to pin down exact numbers, 27% of housing starts during the first three months of the year have come in the form of multi-family units, many of which are for-sale condominiums. >>read more
