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If bills were enacted into law based purely on the discussion they provoke, Senate Bill 827 would be a constitutional amendment by now. Proposed in early January by sponsors Scott Weiner and Nancy Skinner, SB 827 would require residential up-zoning along high-frequency transit lines. The bill is intended to both boost housing production statewide and encourage use of public transit.

John Muir appreciated tall mountains, to the great benefit of California. His successors feel differently about tall buildings, to the potential detriment of California.  In the article I wrote a few weeks ago on California’s new crop of housing bills , I cited Sierra Club California’s well known opposition to Senate Bill 827, the controversial bill that would encourage dense development around transit stops statewide. Initially, Sierra Club California’s policy advocate Kyle Jones wrote in a letter to SB 827 sponsor Scott Weiner, that the bill might discourage the development of transit if communities equated transit with unwanted dense development, and it might cause displacement of incumbent residents. He called SB 827 “heavy-handed” and, tellingly, he did not encourage Weiner to revise it but rather urged him “to remove this bill from consideration” entirely.  (The bill is being furiously debated and has already been significantly revised.) Naturally, many housing advocates jumped on the club for seemingly opposing the type of dense, transit-friendly development that would reduce pollution and, indirectly, prevent sprawl.  Needless to say, the Sierra Club has done heroic work to conserve natural landscapes, and has done good work in cities too, like supporting public transit in Los Angeles. While its logic may have been a little tortured, at least its opposition to SB 827 has a thread of sense. In fact, APA Legislative Advocate Sande George told me much the same about the possible unintended consequences of mandatory up-zoning.  Things got weird, though, when I contacted the club for further comment. Rather than reiterate Jones's reasoning, Sierra Club national Communications Director Maggie Kash (based in D.C.) presented a new tack.  Kash sent me a  statement saying that the club was suspicious of anything that infringed on local control. She wrote, "Our concerns are about the mechanism of state-level preemption, which removes local voices from decision-making.” She cited proposed laws in Louisiana and Tennessee in which state law preempted local laws "in an effort to stop local affordable housing mandates.”  Here’s the problem: the laws Kash cited were, by her own description,  designed to downzone. The preemption was against local laws that favored dense development — which the Sierra Club supposedly supports. In other words, those laws didn’t have unintended consequences. They do exactly what their state legislatures designed them to do.  SB 827, whether you love it or hate it, would do the opposite  of those laws. How dumb does Kash think we are?  The club’s opposition, therefore, takes place in some weird backwards land. It’s like ordering steak tartare and getting angry with the chef for not cooking it well done.  Its San Francisco chapter has opposed new housing in San Francisco and been accused of putting “ politics over the planet .” Market-oriented urban critic Scott Beyer called the Sierra Club’s San Francisco chapter a “bastion of faux environmentalism” and cataloged the chapter’s opposition to dozens of projects that would have added thousands of units to the housing-starved Bay Area. Some of these projects would have caused zero displacement. Treasure Island was a military facility; Candlestick Point used to be Candlestick Park.  These positions are, in one way or another, reflective of the same older, wealthier constituencies that oppose new development in California generally. These are the folks who are leading the Sierra Club these days.  What these club leaders may not realize is that they are at odds with the official policies of their own organization.  In 2000, the club sensibly adopted a national plank opposing sprawl, proclaiming , "sprawl is a pattern of increasingly inefficient and wasteful land use that is devastating environmental and social conditions.” What’s the natural opposite of sprawl? Density, of course. And — what do you know — a separate policy plank calls for just that: "Attractive, compact and efficient urban areas; with densities and mixtures of uses that encourage walking and transit use, and encourage more efficient use of private autos in balance with other transportation modes.” And what does the Sierra Club think about the jurisdictional element of land use control? The club adopted this policy  in 1970 and maintains it to this day: "The Sierra Club supports federal legislation to encourage states to establish statewide land-use plans, and urges all states to begin the preparation of such plans.” That’s right: the organization that is opposing SB 827 on the grounds of local control is the same one that has supported statewide land-use plans for the past 48 years.  I hate to say it, but, for all the great work the club has done in the past century, I think maybe it is past its prime. A vital, current Sierra Club could do a great deal of good, for both the natural environment and the urban environment. But, I submit that the club has a good deal of reforming to do before that happens.  Mountains may stand forever, but advocacy groups are fragile. For the good of California and the country -- especially these days -- I hope the Sierra Club rebuilds and refocuses itself before it’s too late.

The San Francisco Planning Department, with support from Mayor Mark Farrell, introduced a zoning ordinance to significantly up-zone a 17-block portion of the South of Market Neighborhood to take advantage of the new Central Subway. The ordinance comes after seven years of study. It would add up to 7,000 housing units and 1 million square feet of tech-related office space. It is estimated that the plan could support 40,000 jobs and $2 billion in public benefits in part through developers fees. The city sees the plan, known as Central SoMa, as a way to maintain the growth of the city’s tech sector when many other areas of the city are built-out or resistent to growth. “It’s a plan that directs jobs growth to the part of the city where it can be best managed,” Planning Director John Rahaim told the S.F. Chronicle. “The original intent of the plan was to find a new location for a certain type of job growth that is not possible in 90 percent of the city.” Becerra Forms Bureau of Environmental Justice California Attorney General Xavier Becerra appointed four lawyers to create a new Bureau of Environmental Justice to focus on low-income Californians and people of color who suffer a “disproportionate share of environmental pollution and public health hazards”. The group will handle legal cases such as the one Becerra recently joined opposing the storage and handling of coal at the Port of Oakland. Becerra has filed 30 lawsuits against the federal government, nearly half of which were attempts to enforce laws ensuring that children have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. The office has said it has won favorable rulings in seven lawsuits.  “The harsh reality is that some communities in California — particularly low-income communities and communities of color — continue to bear the brunt of pollution from industrial development, poor land-use decisions, transportation, and trade corridors,” Becerra said in a statement.  Report Finds High Inequality in California Cities The Brookings Institution has released a report on city and metropolitan income inequality data that shows the trends in household income inequality in the 100 largest US metropolitan areas from 2014 to 2016. The report found big cities like Atlanta, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Boston, New York had the highest rates of income inequality. Newer, more geographically expansive cities such as Riverside and Oxnard had the lowest levels of income inequality. Metropolitan areas with high inequality are San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose, and Fresno. In general, more cities experienced declines in income inequality from 2014 to 2016 than saw increases. Household incomes increased in San Jose and Los Angeles between the two years. Silicon Valley Experiments with Agricultural Preservation Farm preservationists are pursuing an innovative agricultural conservation easement for a 115-acre property in Santa Clara Valley in order to preserve one of the last agricultural parcels in the area. The Santa Clara County Planning and Development Department and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority and were interested in using cap-and-trade funds earmarked for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and loss of land to high-speed-rail to keep farmers farming. The statewide program called the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Project has committed $76 million and high-speed rail $20 million to be disbursed through the Department of Conservation. The Santa Clara Valley Ag Plan is the first of its kind to merge protection of farmlands with California’s climate strategies by replacing the incentive for growers to cash out to land speculators. The first deal, Fountain Oaks Ranch, a 70-acre bell pepper and sweet corn farm in Morgan Hill was purchased for $7 million and is probably the most expensive agricultural easement ever purchased by a public entity in the state. San Diego Adopts Carbon Offset Scheme San Diego Board of Supervisors have unanimously supported a carbon credit scheme that would allow developers to pay for offsite credits instead of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks that would result from proposed housing and commercial projects in unincorporated parts of the county. The Board of Supervisors argues that efforts to limit human-induced warming should be balanced with the need to address California’s on-going housing crisis. However, environmental groups are opposed to credits, which can apply to projects anywhere in the world. They argue offsetting tailpipe emissions wouldn't be necessary if the county contained new development within urbanized areas. The county currently has about a dozen development projects awaiting approval by county authorities that could require carbon credits to offset their GHG emissions. Ride-Hailing Detracts from Transit, Active Transportation A consensus among outside researchers is that ride-hailing companies are pulling riders off buses, subways, bicycles, and their own feet and putting them in cars instead. One study surveyed 944 ride-hailing users over four weeks in 2017 and found nearly 60 percent said they would have used public transportation, walked, biked or skipped the trip if the ride-hailing apps weren’t available. The study from Northeastern also found that “ride sharing is pulling from and not complementing public transportation.” A study in Manhattan’s central business district found the increase in the number of taxis and ride-sharing vehicles waiting for their next trip request are contributing to slow traffic. In San Francisco is was found that on a typical weekday, ride-hailing drivers make more than 170,000 vehicle trips, about 12 times the number of taxi trips. Quick Hits & Updates BART officials are starting to study a second Transbay Tube which would be the biggest Bay Area infrastructure project since the BART system was build more than 50 years ago. It would most likely cost between $12 and $15 billion at a minimum. Several routes are being considered, including Alameda and emerging in Mission Bay, paralleling the existing tube but heading up Mission Street on the west side of the bay instead of Market, or between Alameda and AT&T Park. Last week the city of San Jose became the fourth, and largest city in the state to adopt VMT metrics . The city implemented the change end of 2017 as part of a larger effort to realign how we measure transportation impacts with the kinds of transportation investments they encourage. While traditionally, the city measured vehicle delay at intersections the city is moving towards new measurements and tools to enhance mobility and help realized the General Plan’s vision of a vibrant and livable city. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board of directors unanimously agreed to support rebuilding some intersections and ramps along the 19-mile 710 Freeway but stopped short of adding a new lane in each direction. The Directors asked Metro to prepare a list of improvements that could be built quickly with an analysis of the benefits for safety, transportation and air quality and also requested an analysis of ways to separate freight and commuter traffic, including reserving toll lanes for zero-and low-emission trucks. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) announced they had released a request for information from local developers who could build 1,000 “efficiency homes” to help shelter the city’s growing homeless population. Steinberg and housing officials are offering more than $200 million in Section 8 housing vouchers that would provide guaranteed rental income for tiny home projects and help developers attain financing as well as 4.5 million square feet of vacant land. Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) latest Long Range Transportation Plan includes a $237 million proposal to extend carpool lanes on I-5 from Avenida Pico to the San Diego County line. The project is on the “proposed” instead of “conceptual” list and has a cost estimate attached to it. OCTA is also accepting application for $12 million in grants to help Orange County cities provide summer trolleys that offer free rides to the public. Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that he should not be required to allow public access to Martins Beach in San Mateo County. Khosla argues the California Coastal Commission violated his property rights by requiring him to obtain a permit to padlock the gates to a shoreline that families used back to the 1920s after he purchased 89 acres surrounding the beach. If the Supreme Court takes up the question, it could turn into a fight over the future of California’s coastal laws. Bay Area Council released a poll on Uber, Lyft, and Chariot and found San Franciscans view these services in a positive light (64 percent) and 66 percent had a good opinion on Muni. The survey showed almost half of respondents (48 percent) opposed limiting the number of ride-hailing vehicles on the roads while 44 percent said they support such limits. Overall those surveyed said regulating tech was a low priority with only 27 percent saying it was very important compared to addressing homelessness (73 percent), affordable housing (56 percent) and neighborhood crime (50 percent). The second phase of Los Angeles Metro’s Purple Line  subway extension is officially underway in Century City. The 2.59-mile extension final destination is the Veterans Affairs West LA campus. The project has a $2.53 billion budget including $1.5 billion from a federal grant and loan, and the project is expected to be completed by 2025. It will run west from Wilshire Boulevard and La Cienega Avenue to Century City, passing underneath Beverly Hills High School along the way. The Department of Motor vehicles announced it will allow fully autonomous cars without safety drivers to test on public roads. The DMV outlined a permitting process for companies wishing to deploy driverless vehicles without anyone behind the wheel. The state’s Office of Administrative Law approved the regulations and public notice will go on the DMVs website March 2, which starts a 30-day clock before the first permits can be issued April 2. Companies will be able to apply for three types of permits: testing with a safety driver, driverless testing, and deployment. The Legislative Analyst’s Office released a report "California Losing Residents Via Domestic Migration," which found that between 2007 and 2016, about five million people moved to California from other states while six million left. Migration into the state was primarily from New York, Illinois, and New Jersey while Californians leaving the state left for Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. The article also includes information on income, education, and age. A court hearing in San Diego Superior Court began last week to determine whether members of the California Coastal Commission failed to properly disclose private meetings, known as ex-parte communications, as required under the Coastal Act. The commissioners being charged could face hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. The California Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s judgment and the city of Visalia’s final EIR for its 2030 General Plan Update. The court determined an EIR does not need to study urban decay unless a fair argument can be made that the potential economic consequences of a project are such a magnitude so as to cause physical changes in the environment, court cannot disturb a general plan for internal inconsistency, and when a local agency holds one properly noticed public hearing additional meetings are not subject to the California Planning and Zoning Law’s 10 days’ notice requirement. Sacramento County is leading a lawsuit accusing state officials of holding secret illegal meetings about the controversial Delta tunnels project . The city of Stockton, several Delta water agencies, and a group of environmental organizations joined the lawsuit against the State Water Resources Control Board. The suit alleges officials with the Water Resources Control Board met privately with DWR and US Bureau of Reclamation representatives as far back as 2015. The plaintiffs said the secret meetings provide evidence of “deliberate obstruction, and possible collusion”. The High Speed Rail Authority’s new CEO Brian Kelly said the HSR will take longer to build and cost more than previously estimated under the soon-to-be-released business plan, but plans to begin the project by linking the Bay Area to the Central Valley remain intact. The new 2018 business plan with new cost estimates will be released March 9.

The City and County of San Francisco and the State Lands Commission  reached a settlement in a dispute over Proposition B, which voters approved four years ago to give residents a say in waterfront development. The settlement enables the measure’s checks on high-rise buildings to stand but city officials had to guarantee that future projects would benefit not only San Francisco but all state residents. The lawsuit claimed San Francisco’s bayfront should be regulated with broader interests, by the largely independent San Francisco Port Commission, and by not the city and its voters. According to City Attorney Dennis Herrera “this agreement protects the will of San Francisco voters. It ends this lawsuit while ensuring that voters continue to have their voices heard when it comes to the use, access and enjoyment of San Francisco’s waterfront.” Local Approvals Processes, not CEQA, Hinder Housing Production A new report from UC Berkeley and Columbia University absolves the California Environmental Quality Act from blame for the state’s housing shortage. Rather local governments' regulations and approvals schemes are more likely to slow down housing projects. The study examined San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Redwood City, and Palo Alto and found all except Palo Alto require a project-by-project review of any proposal with two or more homes, no matter if the development is planned on land zoned for the proposed amount of housing. The report also found that about 20 percent of the 27,612 homes proposed between 2014 and 2016 in these five cities had to undergo a full environmental analysis under CEQA, a process that can easily take a year. The main policy recommendation from the report is the importance of improving access to good data such as GIS or zoning data with assessor parcel information and building permit systems. Sea Level Rise Imperils Salt Marshes According to a new study by a team of scientists led by the US Geological Survey, salt marshes in California and Oregon could disappear  entirely by 2110. These projections are based on current estimations of sea level rise on the west coast. Coastal marshes naturally adapt to sea level rise by migrating inland, but California has built the Pacific Coast Highway and developed up to the edges of basically every marsh throughout the state. Having these buffers of vegetation between the land and sea would protect against significant flooding. One option involves adding thin layers of sediment to a salt marsh plain to increase its elevation but this would be expensive and must be repeated to keep pace with sea level rise. The other option would be for officials to strategically acquire property along the coast and keep it open for marshes to migrate inland. 2018 Urban Greening Grant Applications Welcomed The California Natural Resources Agency has opened the solicitation period for the Urban Greening Grant Program. The guidelines released assist in preparing an application for funding. Online applications are due April 11, 2018 and eight workshops have been put together to provide help and guidance in preparing applications. Sacramento, Lynwood, and Indio had workshops earlier this month while Oakland is Tuesday February 27, Visalia March 2, Redding March 5, San Diego March 8, and Ontario March 12. Statewide Greenhouse Gas Emissions Drop Compared to GDP The California Energy Commission (CEC) reports that greenhouse gas emissions continue to drop in California even as the state grows its economy and population. The state’s carbon pollution per million dollars of California GDP has declined 33 percent since 2001, while GDP has grown 37 percent between 2001 and 2015. In CEC latest tracking progress report on greenhouse gases, it found the transportation sector directly accounts for 38 percent of GHG emissions in California. The report suggests once the state’s transportation system shifts from gasoline to zero- and low-emission vehicles there will be a larger reduction in emissions. Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed an executive order that sets a new target of 5 million zero-emission vehicles in California by 2030. Inland Empire Cities Due over Light Rail Construction The cities of San Dimas and Pomona filed lawsuits against the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority in October and still have not settled despite continuing dialogue and concessions made by the authority. The separate lawsuits are saying last-minute changes to the alignment, bridges, and plans to acquire properties will cause permanent damage to their cities and are a violation of state environmental laws. The two cases were assigned to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos. S.F. Muni Could be Split into Two Agencies San Francisco Supervisors Ahsha Safai and Aaron Peskin introduced a charter amendment in December to split up the Municipal Transportation Agency into one that manages streets and parking and another that manages Muni buses and trains. Opposition came from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and other transit-related groups, saying the split could harm critical transportation projects in the city. Now, Safai is proposing a new “appeal process” that would allow residents who disagree with SFMTA board decisions to ask the Board of Supervisors to have the final say. The amendment to split SFMTA has been moved from the June ballot to the November ballot as a contingency plan should the appeal process not work out. San Diego Studies Proposed Housing Bond Ballot Measure San Diego City Council committee voted 4-1, to have city staff further evaluate  a proposed $900 million bond measure to build low-income housing. The proposal would raise taxes on property owners in the city to an average of $72 per year to pay for roughly 7,500 subsidized apartments for the chronically homeless, veterans, senior citizens, the disabled, and low-income families. Supporters of the measure say it would simultaneously solve the city’s homelessness problem and affordable housing crisis. Having such local money would make the state eligible to secure a greater share of state money devoted to homelessness and affordable housing by providing local matching funds. The full council will decide this summer whether to place it on the November ballot. Quick Hits & Updates Environmental groups sued the City of Moreno Valley after the city approved the World Logistics Center in 2015, alleging the environmental review process was inadequate. A judge ruled that the EIR is inadequate, meaning the warehouse developer may need to perform additional studies before construction can begin. Residents are concerned about the health effects from exhaust as the project is estimated to generate 69,000 car and truck trips each day. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) A San Francisco Mission District housing development has been delayed over the question of whether the 1924 building, which now houses a laundromat, is of historic value. Supervisor Hillary Ronen, with unanimous approval, decided to explore whether the property was a “historic resource” and delayed the project until the next hearing on June 19. The San Jose City Council unanimously approved , 11-0, a pricing agreement to sell some government-owned properties to Google that would be key pieces in the proposed transit-oriented community in downtown San Jose. The village will be near the Diridon transit station and SAP entertainment complex. Google is purchasing the nine parcels for $67 million, which the city originally purchased for $26 million. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) RentCafe has found a significant increase in the number of renters nationwide between 2006 and 2016. In 2006, the cities with the largest share of renters were on the east coast, but now significantly more California cities have made the list. Stockton and San Bernardino have 54 percent renters, Anaheim 58 percent, Santa Ana 57 percent, Fresno 52 percent, and Sacramento 50 percent. San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott says the city can allow dockless bike share services to begin operating as long as the city’s involvement doesn't go beyond issuing approvals in its regulatory capacity. LimeBike and Ofo will begin dockless bike sharing networks, which environmentalists say could sharply increase use of bikes for commuting. LimeBike also plans to roll out its electric assist bikes and scooters in the city. Fresno's FAX Q bus rapid transit began operations last week. There are currently 17 40-foot-long buses that will travel along high-speed routes on Blackstone Avenue to downtown and from Ventura Avenue and Kings Canyon Road to Clovis Avenue. The State Controller’s Office released updated guidelines regarding gas tax expenditures for cities and counties. The update includes a section on what types of expenditures are allowed for the new Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account created in SB1. The California Transportation Commission has indicated May 1 as the deadline to submit FY2018-2018 project lists. San Diego State University says it will not be able to meet growing demand for enrollment or evolve into a top 50 public research school unless it opens a satellite campus on the site of SDCCU Stadium (formerly Qualcomm) in Mission Valley. This contradicts FS Investors claim that SDSU has ample room to grow on main campus and only wants the SDCCU property as the site of a stadium. FS Investors is behind the soccer stadium proposal. Both proposals will appear on the ballot in November for San Diego voters to decide. Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed Laurie Berman to serve as the new Director of Caltrans . Berman has served as Caltrans Acting Chief Deputy Director since October 2017 and has a 34-year history with the agency. Her appointment ensures that Caltrans will move forward seamlessly with its transportation priorities, particularly SB1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act. Orange County staffers are trying to find motel operators that would accept homeless guests for 30 days as hundreds of people are being moved from a tent city along the Santa Ana river. The county has placed 400 people since mid-February but there are at least 100 to 200 more people who need to be housed and are having difficulty finding motels willing to accept the residents. City of Fullerton City Council approved , 3-2, a plan to build the land around the historic Fox Theater. While the exact developments for the surrounding site are unknown, the city will sell two of the city-owned parking lots for development. City staff is now in the early stages of preparing contracts for the project with Pelican Communities. The full project is expected to take three to five years to complete. Santa Rosa City Council approved , 6-1, the Round Barn Boulevard plan which was proposed before the fire in October will transform a long-abandoned business space into 237 town homes clustered around a 21-acre green space. The council initially considered the development in December, but failed to come to an agreement on whether it was safe to build in the area. Two new towers are proposed for downtown San Jose that would add 653 residential units and groundfloor retail. The project dubbed Davidson Plaza Towers would be located near Diridon transit station and the proposed Google transit-oriented community of offices and other facilities.  LA Metro Board of Directors voted unanimously, 13-0, to keep  Claremont’s Metrolink stop in service. The Metrolink station will be moved across College Avenue in 2021 to make room for the new Gold Line station, which will extend light rail service to Claremont. Last fall, because of a $300 million budget shortfall Metro investigated the impact of eliminating Metrolink stations along the extension route.

The low point in my occasional career as a rider of public transit came a few months ago when I looked down the center aisle of an Expo Line car to discover that the (apparently) homeless guy at the front of the car was not merely homeless but also drinking gin straight from a plastic bottle.  Rest assured, this incident has not scared me away from public transit. According to a recent report by the UCLA institute for Transportation Studies, incidents like it haven’t dissuaded other riders either – they’re dissuaded for other reasons. Across the Southern California Association of Governments region, annual transit trips per capita have fallen from a high of 42 in 2007 to 34 in 2016. The biggest enemy of transit these days, as it has been for the past 100 or so years, is the automobile.  I’ve never bought the idea that Angelenos have a “love affair with cars.” They just have the misfortune of living in a city where driving a car makes it a lot easier to do other things — like, say, hold down a job. Under the right circumstances, Angelenos would be just as happy to walk, bike, or take transit as they are to drive. Unfortunately, the circumstances are far from right. UCLA reports that, between 2000 and 2015, private vehicle ownership increased, from 1.7 to 2.4 vehicles per household. This dramatic increase stems largely from increased car ownership among newcomers to the region, who tend, by and large, to be low-income immigrants. The share of foreign-born households without a car dropped by 42 percent between 2000 and 2015. These tend to be the very same people who comprise the vast majority of transit riders in the region: the often-pitied class known as “transit-dependent riders.” The average resident of the SCAG-region made about 35 transit trips in 2016, but the median resident made none. That’s because less than 3 percent of the region’s commuters ride “frequently,” meaning that a small number of individuals take hundreds of rides per year, compared to none for most residents. When one of those high-frequency riders gets a car, ridership drops accordingly.  That’s a virtuous cycle, of a sort. What’s not so virtuous is the region’s housing crisis. Low-income residents essentially cannot choose where to live – meaning they can’t choose housing close to work, and they can’t choose housing that makes transit convenient. Really, the transit crisis results from the housing crisis. Los Angeles’ shortage of housing and shortage of high-density transit-friendly neighborhoods has run headlong into the obscene, bacchanalian overabundance of automobiles. They might not be making any more land, but we produce cars as if in an Ayn Rand fantasy (only to drive them in a drab, Gosling-less version of La La Land ). And for each new Tesla that rolls off the assembly line, that’s one more used Ford, Chevy, or Toyota to hit the market for cheap.  Meanwhile, the apartment equivalent of a 2001 Corolla is impossible to find. The housing shortage means that every time a unit is vacated – especially if it’s rent-controlled – rents keep going up. That’s because we don’t produce enough units – be they market-rate or subsidized – to keep up with demand. In other words, people with a little more change in their pocket can buy cars. But it takes a lot more than pocket change to find an optimal place to live. In fairness, the UCLA report cites the effects of ridesharing, gas prices, and, yes, the occasional wino who makes transit unpleasant. And some new rail lines are doing well, often beating ridership projections. But none of these factors compares with the increase in driving, and, I reckon, no factor fuels the increase in driving more so than the shortage of well-located, fairly-priced housing.  Transit-heavy areas were those that are either dense enough to support transit or poor enough to require transit. The UCLA report notes that 60 percent of the region’s commuters live in neighborhoods covering 0.9 percent of the region’s land area. Increasing that number will require development of new transit-oriented neighborhoods. It requires fancy new apartments for the would-be Tesla drivers. And it requires the equivalents of those 2001 Corollas – older apartments that trickle down to new tenants without somehow becoming more expensive with each passing year. The report also holds out hope for the elusive but tantalizing discretionary rider. Whether enough do-gooders and milennial urbanists can jump on board to compensate for the loss of the transit-dependents is anyone’s guess. Indeed, that too depends on having enough transit-oriented housing that the hipsters and the transit-dependent can live, and ride, side-by-side. That’s why, regardless of what this means for Metro’s farebox, the bigger issue here concerns the physical and social fabric of California’s cities and, indeed, of the California dream. For decades, the California dream and the American dream were one in the same: suburban-style homeownership (at least for folks of the correct skin color). Today, that dream is either inaccessible or unappealing to many Californians, and other dreams are in short supply. And so, the Automobile Dream — which used to be a complement to, rather than a replacement for, the American Dream — persists.  I don’t know exactly where this dream is driving everyone. I know, though, that it’s almost enough to drive me to drink. Just not while I’m riding a train.

Overturning a trial court ruling, the First District Court of Appeal has ruled that the City of Lafayette erred in refusing to place a referendum on a zone change on the ballot – further fueling momentum for the California Supreme Court to overturn a longstanding appellate court ruling regarding referenda on zoning ordiances.

CP&DR Vol. 33 No. 2 February 2018

The other day, Peter Detwiler – the now-retired guru of California local government – reminded me that this month marks the 40 th anniversary of the release of Gov. Jerry Brown’s urban strategy for California. It’s an impressive document – both pithy and visionary. And in this world of climate policy and the mandate for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, it’s worth remembering that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

A study from UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation found that bureaucratic impediments constitute the main reason San Francisco is the world’s second-most expensive city in which to build a home. According to the study, “the most significant and pointless factor driving up construction costs was the length of time it takes for a project to get through the city permitting and development processes.” Other reasons construction costs are so high is labor is more expensive, low-density zoning increases competition for scare land, and the approval process takes forever. The study found planning permit fees in San Francisco are about $5,000 per home while the national average is $500 to $2000. In most of the country, construction permitting is “by-right” meaning if a project meets local zoning and code regulations the developer gets to build, in San Francisco there is a discretionary individualized review process. Respondents to the Terner study unanimously state the most effective thing the city could do to reduce construction costs was to streamline the permitting process and reduce the fees. Reducing the red tape around housing would help ease the housing affordability crisis and racial segregation, income inequality, and displacement of low- and middle-income families. $6 Billion Expansion of 710 Freeway Proposed Los Angeles Metro released a staff report supporting the $6 billion project to widen the 710 freeway from the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach to downtown. Each year, tens of thousands of truck drivers make the 19-mile drive leading to congestion and pollution. The project would add a lane in each direction as well as changes to 24 major streets that cross the 710, and new interchanges with the 91, 5, and 405 freeways. Transportation and environmental activists say the alternative would not do enough to reduce emissions and would displace people in some of Southern California’s poorest and most polluted areas. Berkeley Looks to Cryptocurrency to Fund Housing Facing a shortage of federal funding for affordable housing, the City of Berkeley is exploring funding for affordable housing measures through cryptocurrency. The city is looking into an “initial coin offering” that would exchange a new cryptocurrency backed by municipal bonds for cash that would go toward affordable housing measures. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin refers it as an “initial community offering.” The city is partnering with UC Berkeley’s Blockchain Lab and municipal finance startup Neighborly. The hope is that backing the coin with tax-exempt municipal bonds would stabilize its value. “It’s not a speculation tool,” Berkeley Council Member Ben Bartlett told CityLab . “It’s like a non-profit, special purpose vehicle, meant to fund social good.” Coastal Commission Weighs in on Trump Drilling Proposal The California Coastal Commission signed off on to a letter urging the Trump administration to back away from some of the nation’s most pristine coastlines. The idea of offshore drilling in California is “economically infeasible, legally questionable, and politically a nonstarter” according to the LA Times. In the letter, the commission writes “we were outrages to learn that BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management) had recklessly threatened the health of California’s coastal environment… by proposing to expand drilling off the coast”. The California State Lands Commission, which has jurisdiction up to three miles offshore, also sent a letter this week condemning the plans saying they would not approve the construction of new pipelines. On Thursday, the Trump administration is holding its only public meeting in Sacramento about its drilling expansion plans. Alignments for L.A. Light Rail Line Considered The Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors’ Planning and Programming Committee is considering a new alignment for the proposed West Santa Ana Branch light rail line (WSAB) in its approach to Downtown Los Angeles. The 2015 Technical Refinement Study showed potential alignments for the approximately 20-mile light rail along Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue, all of which would have terminated at Union Station. According to the staff report, Metro seems to have settled on a shared right-of-way with the existing Blue Line but has six alternatives it is considering. Only three of the proposed alignments would include Union Station as the terminus. Other alternatives include to the Financial District, Fourth and San Pedro Streets in the Industrial District, and an Arts District route. The WSAB has an estimated budget between $3.5 and $4 billion, with partial funding from Measure R and M. The project includes a Phase 1 between Artesia and Green Line opening in 2032, and Phase 2 into Downtown by 2041.  California Cities Score on Bloomberg ‘What Works Cities’ List Bloomberg Philanthropies released  its "What Works Cities" list. These cities use data and evidence to improve services, inform local decision-making, and engage residents.Los Angeles was the gold certified winner of 2017 with the award of “best at using data”. Silver certified cities in California include San Diego and San Francisco. All have publicly committed to enhance their use of data and evidence to improve services, inform local decision making and engage residents. By adopting the WWC Standard, they are a part of a national network of local governments committed to using data to improve performance and results that make their residents’ lives better.  Ten Projects Named for Bay Area Resilience Challenge The Resilient by Design/Bay Area Challenge announced  locations for the resilience design projects to be pursued by 10 international design teams over the next half year. During the design phase, local residents, public officials, engineers, architects, and other experts will come together to create resilient solutions that address the impacts of climate change. The sites are located all around the Bay Area: Oakland, North Richmond, South San Francisco, South Bay, San Rafael, Alameda Creek Watershed, among others. The challenge is cosponsored and hosted by MTC but is a multi-stakeholder collaboration. The 10 design teams were selected from 51 teams made up of over 350 local and global experts. Quick Hits & Updates The Santa Ana City Council is considering becoming the first city in Orange County to implement rent control. The city’s housing division manager Judson Brown said city and census data show a 10 percent increase in median rent from 2010 to 2016 with median household income falling 1.5 percent in the same period. A report from USC Lusk Center for Real Estate found that apartments in the Anaheim-Orange-Santa Ana market area had the lowest vacancy rates in the county last year. A study from the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) found that an earthquake similar to the 1906 one that shook San Francisco Bay Area would lead to nearly 69,000 homes collapsing and more than 200,000 people being displaced. The report is intended to raise awareness around the devastation major earthquakes could cause and looks at 16 different scenarios along the many faults in the region using a hazard tool from FEMA. The hope is that cities will enact mandatory retrofit ordinances to reduce the amount of housing loss we would see. Palo Alto City Council unanimously approved a Housing Work Plan that includes more than a dozen policies aimed at spurring residential construction. The programs include changing the zoning code to provide more incentives for residential development, requiring housing projects to provide below-market-rate units, and relaxing density requirements for housing projects downtown. The goal of the plan is to produce about 300 units per year. According to a report released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the county needs more than 22,000 new supportive housing units and 11,000 short-term rental vouchers to functionally end homelessness. The January 2017 count found LA County has an estimated 58,000 homeless people. Officials plan to use the gap report and homeless count to strategize on the best way to spend money from Measure H, the voter-approved 1/4 –cent sales tax that is expected to generate $355 million annually for ten years. Long Beach has crafted a plan to complete eight critical infrastructure projects that are key to hosting a successful Olympics. Long Beach is expected to host seven events, including men’s and women’s water polo, sailing, handball, triathlon, open water swimming, and BMX biking. Long Beach City Council directed the city manager to prepare a plan, needs assessment, and timeline for the 8 by 28 initiative. City staff will now come back with a report on where the city stands on the projects, what needs to be done, and how to close the funding gaps. According to an LA Times analysis, 640 brick buildings in more than a dozen Inland Empire cities have been marked as dangerous but remain unretrofitted despite decades of warnings. In Redlands as many as 74 buildings would not withstand a major earthquake. The more affluent coastal cities have retrofitted thousands of buildings. San Francisco officials have filed a lawsuit against the state saying the law signed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown allowing ride-hailing companies to have a single business license to drive anywhere in the state is depriving the city of fees that could offset maintenance and traffic costs created by the services. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said “Uber and Lyft need to play by the same rules as every other business in San Francisco.” While Uber did not respond, Lyft said the streamlined business licenses allows for predictable costs and reasonable privacy protections. The City of Los Angeles has  identified  119 public lots that it is hoping to transform from asphalt to multistory apartment buildings to house chronically homeless people. Plans are already underway to develop housing on large public lots in Venice and Hollywood, while officials review the rest to determine which could support housing. Los Angeles City Council is considering two measures aimed at clearing obstacles to getting more people into housing and combatting the homelessness crisis. One measure would allow permanent supportive housing projects to avoid a review process while the second would slash parking requirements and allow homeless housing projects with up to 120 units (and 200 units in downtown) to avoid environmental review. Critics of the proposed measures fear they will concentrate homeless housing into specific neighborhoods. OCTA released its Orange County Transit Master Plan, which will set the agenda for transit investment for the next twenty years. OC Transit Vision presents multiple strategies for bolstering the system, such as upgrading bus technology, and adding new programs like on-demand service. However most of the investments are seen in making the current system faster, more reliable, and increase ridership. The cost to implement the entire plan is estimated to be $2.6 billion. A coalition of tenant advocates in Long Beach are collecting signatures to put citywide rent control on the November ballot. The proposed ballot measure would cap yearly rent hikes for most apartments built before 1995 at five percent or lower and establish a citywide Rental Housing Board, which would be funded through fees charged to landlords. The group has until end of July to gather 27,462 signatures. San Diego City Council and Mayor Kevin Faulconer have proposed temporarily relaxing a rule requiring developers to build groundfloor retail space in new projects and instead convert into live spaces. The goal would be to expand the city’s live-work rules to quickly create more housing- especially for artists, artisans, website developers and other San Diegans who want to live where they work. The Bay Area has just hit its highest level of residents out-migration in more than a decade. Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s study shows the out-migration says workers are moving to Sacramento, Austin, and Portland for a variety of factors but primarily, the high cost of housing. According to Redfin, the cities with the highest in-flows are Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Nashville. The Department of Water Resources commissioned Professor David Sunding from UC Berkeley to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed Water Fix Delta tunnels project. His report concluded that benefits outweigh the costs to ratepayers in every scenario he analyzed under a one-tunnel approach. Last year key San Joaquin Valley agricultural districts announced they couldn’t afford the project, Brown’s administration announced that officials were moving forward on a phased-in approach to the tunnels, starting with building a single pipe under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in coming years. According to a citywide voter survey in San Francisco, nearly three-quarters of voters would support a bond measure of up to $500 million to improve the city’s disintegrating seawall. The measure is heading to the ballot in November. According to the port of San Francisco, the existing seawall rests on unstable bay mud and is vulnerable to lateral spreading and settlement in a major earthquake, which could destroy or seriously damage utilities, light rail, and buildings along the Embarcadero. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors moved forward with a plan to establish rent control at mobile home parks in unincorporated areas within the county. The approved motion gives county departments six months to amend the county code and cap annual rent increases. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is accusing Uber of “thumbing its nose at the law”. Herrera seeks company data going back to 2013 for an investigation into whether Uber and Lyft have been obeying state and local laws, which only Lyft has cooperated on. The main issues at question is whether the companies offer incentives encouraging drivers to commute long distances before starting shifts of up to 16 hours, whether double parking is causing traffic troubles, accessibility to people with disabilities, pollution from increase in vehicles, bad road behavior, and algorithms that disfavor certain neighborhoods. According to California EPA data, areas of Bankers Hill, Barrio Logan, and downtown San Diego have  some of the highest concentrations of diesel emissions in San Diego County. The measurements are part of CalEnviroScreen, an interactive tool that analyzes more than a dozen sources of pollution with socioeconomic and public health conditions to identify environmentally-disadvantaged communities and prioritize funding for grants and other programs.

At the signing ceremony for last year’s housing package, sponsors and co-sponsors all spoke briefly, in alphabetical order. As Sen. Scott Wiener tells it, he was going to use his remarks to emphasize that the 15-bill package — which emerged from a torrent of 130 introduced bills — was just a start. By the time Wiener’s turn came up, nearly every one of his colleagues had said much the same thing — to his delight.

For at least the past year, well-meaning public officials, developers, and activists have bemoaned the housing crisis every which way. The moaning is rightful and well intentioned given the severity of our crisis. But surprises are scarce in these discussions. It’s like the proverbial journalistic nonstory “Dog Bites Man” over and over again. Last week at the UCLA Ziman / Fannie Mae  Affordable Housing Symposium , the man bit back.  Despite the citywide and statewide housing shortage, downtown Los Angeles has added units and buildings at a torrid pace. So much so that Kevin Ratner, president of developer Forest City West, revealed that his latest project, Axis DTLA , is struggling to find renters. Ratner sounded surprised at his own data: whereas new developments have attracted, according to him, an average of 20 new residents per month en route to nearly full occupancy, Axis is getting only about eight per month. Many applicants, he said, are under-qualified, with felony records and lousy credit scores. At the same time, he admitted to a possible flaw in his business model: there just aren’t enough wealthy renters to go around.  Hm.  Naturally, Ratner is distressed. But he’s also bullish. He has another development opening soon and just announced yet another. Meanwhile, competing developments are forging ahead.  Ratner’s situation is an early test of whether there’s such thing as a free market in rental real estate — and whether constraints on the market will cause it to implode before developers like Forest City can make a real dent in the city’s housing shortage.  A few months ago, the vacancy rate among newly opened downtown developments was measured at 12 percent  as thousands of new units, mostly in high rise buildings of over 10 stories, have come on-line. This is an astronomical number in the context of recent Los Angeles real estate history. Remember, L.A. is reportedly the most rent-burdened and one of the most supply-constrained cities in the country. Even at 12 percent, rents have “ stabilized ” at at average if around $2500 per month. Metro-wide, the rental vacancy rate is less than 3 percent .  Many opponents of so-called luxury market-rate development have seized on the 12 percent figure as proof of a conspiracy to inflate rental rates in L.A. They claim that developers like Forest City are artificially inflating prices such that units go wanting (or get turned into short-term rentals). Of course, this analysis is nonsense in the short term. Every building is 100 percent vacant the moment is opens, so making a fuss about a 12 percent vacancy rate is like saying a roast is undercooked after being in the oven for two minutes.  In the longer term, one of two things will happen: Ratner will be patient and eventually find the well qualified renters he’s looking for, or he’ll lower his prices.  Critics of luxury housing aren’t holding their breath — according to them, the fix is already in. But many in the burgeoning YIMBY and “market urbanism” movements are arguing that the vacancy rate, and possibly lowering of prices, represents the proper functioning of the market and the triumph of intensive, dense development, just as we learn in Economics 101.  Lest we get too excited about a beautiful equilibrium, we still have to worry about Ratner. The trouble is, a rental rate that would lead to (nearly) full occupancy might not lead to a full return on investment for Forest City. That’s because, regardless of how bad the housing crisis is, it must still contend with immutable costs such as construction costs, entitlement costs, and, of course, the cost of land. All of this leads to relatively thin margins in the first place -- which, as Ratner noted, makes publicly traded real estate developers pretty unattractive to investors who demand handsome quarterly profits. In other words, a big developer can try to be “greedy,” but he may have to settle for single-digit returns.  Of course, this could be the plight of just one developer in one submarket. But there’s no reason not to believe that similar scenarios, with similar combinations of costs, economic pressures, and regulatory burdens, are playing out in plenty of other California cities.  So, now we’re faced with a paradox: California needs housing, and it needs dense housing. And unless Jerry Brown is going to surprise us with $30 billion he’s been hiding in Colusa’s doggie bed when he leaves office, we’re going to need the private sector to develop most of it. So, I’m not sure whether to cheer for higher vacancy rates and (possibly) lower prices or boo at the notion of a slowdown in infill development.  Or, to put it another way, I’m not sure whether we’re at halftime in California’s housing crisis — or the two-minute warning.

Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke indicated that the agency will allow mining on 1.3 million acres of formerly protected California desert following Pres. Trump’s decision to dramatically reduce the size of national monuments. Under the Obama administration, these environmentally sensitive lands were placed on the National Conservation Lands list thus banning new mining activity. However, the new administration found that after reviewing mineral exploration levels and mining data in the desert, the agency concluded that mining operations, subject to existing environmental regulations, “do not pose a significant threat to the protection of cultural, biological, and scientific values.” In California, these areas include the low desert lands bordering Joshua Tree National Park, high desert areas north of Pioneertown in San Bernardino County, lands adjacent to Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, and huge areas of eastern Imperial County. Starting March 9, mining companies prospecting for rare-earth metals, gold, sand and other minerals can stake claim to those areas. Nationally, there are about 36 million acres in the National Conservation Lands program, designed to “offer the American people exceptional opportunities for hunting, solitude, wildlife viewing, fishing, history exploration, scientific research, and a wide range of traditional uses.” LAO Calculates Impact of Split-Roll Prop. 13 New analysis by the Legislative Analyst’s Office finds that a new ballot initiative aimed at how commercial properties are taxed under Prop. 13 could raise $6 to $10 billion more each year for schools and other programs and services. The initiative would change the constitution so that commercial and industrial properties- land not intended for housing development- would be taxed based on their current market value. This idea is called a “split roll” since it would not affect protections for residential properties. Additionally, commercial properties valued below $2 million would be exempt. Another Prop.13 related ballot initiative would expand protections for homeowners over 55, allowing them to take their tax base with them anywhere in the state as often as they move. Los Angeles County Considers TOD Strategy As Los Angeles Metro is planning for new rail lines across Los Angeles County, supervisors Janice Hahn and Hilda Solis have introduced a motion which calls for the county to “align planning efforts across both regional plans and infrastructure plans to best position the County to implement transit-oriented development” surrounding new rail stations. This action is prompted by language in Measure M, which requires any jurisdiction located within half-mile of a new transit stop to pay three percent of total project costs. This requirement can be satisfied by investment in active transportation and other first-last mile projects that are included in the project costs. Metro’s expansion plans could result in as many as ten new stations in unincorporated communities whose land use policies are determined at the county level. The county has imposed “Transit Orented Development” specific plans along the Blue and Green Lines, including West Athens, Willowbrook, and Florence communities. Fresno Plan Would Double Park Space Fresno City Council unanimously adopted a new Parks Master Plan that will serve as a guide to more than double park space, primarily in underserved neighborhoods. The city has 1,023 acres of parks, about half of what the plan suggests is needed to adequately serve the current population of more than half a million people. The plan finds that “Fresno’s park and open space system is dominated by parks in poor condition that suffer from lack of investment, lack of adequate maintenance, and public safety concerns due to inappropriate activities.” Half of the city’s current parks are considered to be in fair condition, while almost one-third are in poor condition. This means the city as at least $110 to $112 million of deferred maintenance according to the interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Rudd. The Parks Master Plan identified a potential 2018 state bond as a possible source for repairs and improvements to existing parks; reliance on volunteers, foundations, private donations to help raise money; partnerships between the city and other agencies; corporate sponsorships; selling naming rights; increases to sales, property or hotel taxes; advertising sales; crowdfunding; user fees; permit fees for commercial sue of parks; and concession agreements. Four California Cities Recruited for Study of Downtowns The International Downtown Association (IDA) released a study, “The Value of U.S. Downtowns and Center Cities” which examined the value of downtown areas for citizens. The study analyzed more than 100 data points from 13 pilot cities, within five key principles: economy, inclusion, vibrancy, identity, and resilience. Four of the cities were located in California: Lancaster, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Santa Monica. In the study, the average downtown area was only three percent of the city’s total area but generated 13 percent of income tax revenue, 14 percent of sales tax revenue, 45 percent of hotel tax revenue, and accounted for 40 percent of the city’s total office space and nearly one-third of total jobs. The IDA’s data analysis found that every dollar invested in a downtown district has the potential to produce a greater return on investment than less economically-productive areas. Cities Submit SB 1 Project Lists More than 99 percent of the 482 cities in California submitted their Senate Bill 1 project lists to the California Transportation Commission. This action establishes eligibility to receive SB 1 funds for FY 2017-2018. The transportation funding will begin to flow to cities this month. In FY 2018-19, approximately $600 million will go directly to cities for road maintenance and rehabilitation projects to help improve street and road conditions. May 1 will be the deadline for FY 2018-19 project lists and October 1 for expenditure reports. Quick Hits & Updates According a recent Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll , 46 percent of respondents agree with the plan to split tax rolls under Prop. 13 while 43 percent are opposed. Most political observers argue a ballot measure should top 60 percent before opposition campaigns cut down the margin before an election. More than 99 percent of the 482 cities in California submitted  SB 1 project lists to the California Transportation Commission. This action establishes eligibility to receive SB 1 funds for FY 2017-2018. The transportation funding will begin to flow to cities this month. In FY 2018-19, approximately $600 million will go directly to cities for road maintenance and rehabilitation projects to help improve street and road conditions. May 1 will be the deadline for FY 2018-19 project lists and October 1 for expenditure reports. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) has managed to meet or exceed ridership and revenue projects in is first six months of operation. It will start on the Larkspur extension, which will bring the train’s riders to within a short walk to the Golden Gate Ferry to San Francisco. The SMART’s trains currently make 17 round trips between San Rafael and Santa Rosa on weekdays and five each way on weekends and holidays. SMART has carried more than 310,000 passengers since its start six months ago and collected an average of $76,000 in fares each week, $8,000 more than predicted. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) The City of Cupertino and lead-planning consultant, Opticos Design, are holding community meetings on the future of Vallco shopping mall- an almost entirely derelict 1970s-era shopping center. Development company Sand Hill would like to put forward a new project with millions of square feet of office space and hundreds of new homes. In 2016, Cupertino voters rejected on ballot measure that would have allowed the developers to construct their plans but also rejected the competing measure that would have thrown out the plan entirely.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a new partnership with Occidental College to accelerate LA’s pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations to end poverty, protect the planet, and broaden prosperity. Occidental College will provide brainpower, research, and data collection that will help keep the city on target for reaching the goals. Fresno City Council approved , 7-0, plans for a controversial 110-acre industrial park in South Fresno despite concerns by social justice advocates about the potential effects it could have on traffic and air quality in the area.City Attorney Doug Sloan said the property has been zoned for industrial uses for more than 30 years and the city can rely on the EIR that was done for the General Plan adopted in 2014 that included analysis for the project site. The project is expected to bring jobs to an area that has a high poverty rate. Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows officials have been in talks with Caltrans, CHP, and Placer County about creating a third traffic lane on Highway 89 between I-80 in Truckee and the Squaw turnoff for a BRT lane. This would help Squaw, which saw its 5,000 parking spots filled on busy days. However, a preliminary analysis found the existing highway shoulder is not wide enough the entire way from Truckee to allow continuous usage. Sierra Watch plan to publish a report this week saying these expansion plans would bring more traffic and environmental degradation to the Tahoe area, including pollution that would further reduce the lake’s famous water clarity. A team of scientists hired by Cadiz Inc. concluded that a proposed water transfer project in the San Bernardino County desert would not harm one of the largest wildlife water sources in the Mojave Desert- Bonanza Springs. The study found the aquifer in the Fenner Valley, where Cadiz plans to mine groundwater, and the aquifer that supports Bonanza Springs are independent. Environmental groups are skeptical about the Cadiz-sponsored findings. California Water Officials have approved $34.4 million in grants to eight desalination projects across the state including one in the City of Antioch, six brackish desalination plants, and a proposal for research at USC. Other projects that received funding are Doheny Ocean Desalination Plant in Dana Point, North Pleasant Valley Desalter Project, and a brackish water project in Camarillo. The funding comes from Prop. 1.  Analysis by the lodging analytics firm STR, found San Diego suffered a much bigger financial impact on its hotels than St. Louis did after the cities’ football teams defected to Los Angeles. San Diego saw room revenues fall nearly 16 percent last year whereas St. Louis showed a 0.2 percent increase after the Rams left in 2016. While STR researcher Raquel Ortiz acknowledged there are multiple factors that influence hotel performance, she believes the Chargers’ departure was clearly one of them. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is  considering  redevelopment of the Moscone Convention Center parking garage into a 320-foot tower with at least 650 hotel rooms and 100 affordable housing units. San Francisco saw citywide hotel occupancy rates around 85 percent last July, well above the national average of 66 percent. Having a mega hotel next to the convention center is desperately needed according to San Francisco Travel. Santa Monica officials are suing the company Bird, which operates deckles electric scooters in the city. While demand is high, with more than 30,000 users in the first four months, the city says it must make sure the sidewalks and streets are safe spaces for all people. While the company has a business license for the office, it doesn't apply to scooters being parked, used, and rented all over the city streets. Deputy City Manager Anuj Gupta says many young unlicensed teenagers are operating the motorized scooters. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued an order to the cities of Anaheim, Orange, Costa Mesa, and Orange County into court and plans to ask them to show that local anti-camping ordinances aren’t being used to criminalize homelessness among the hundreds of people being evicted from encampments along the Santa Ana River. Sheriff’s deputies and county workers began clearing the county’s largest encampment Jan. 22, and efforts have continued to ramp up since then. Homeless advocates and attorneys assert that there isn’t enough affordable housing or shelters for the estimated 500 to 1,000 homeless people being displaced. A report by INRIX analytics found Los Angeles region topped the list of metro areas with the worst traffic congestion for the sixth year in a row. Drivers in and around Los Angeles spent 102 hours battling traffic traffic congestion during peak hours in 2017. New York City motorists spent 91 hours and were third on the list, Moscow was second.