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Coastal Commission OK's Elimination of Some Parking Requirements in San Diego A San Diego policy to effectively wipe out parking requirements for new housing projects built near mass transit cleared a key hurdle when the California Coastal Commission approved allowing the change in the city's beach areas. Commission members rejected recommendations from their staff, who said the new policy shouldn't apply to a large swatch of Pacific Beach because it could worsen the area's already chronic parking shortages. The new policy eliminates rules requiring developers to create at least one parking spot per unit for most projects and more parking for larger apartments. It also requires developers, who are free to build parking spots if market studies show there is strong demand for it, to "unbundle" the cost of a parking spot from monthly rent. The only neighborhoods eligible for the new policy are those near transit hubs, which are defined as being located within half a mile of a trolley line, a bus rapid transit station or two high-frequency bus routes. Report Identifies Nexus of Sustainability, Housing, and Equity for Infill Development  The Planning and Conservation League released a reportEquitable Infill Incentives, with the aim of developing a menu of criteria for directing California’s housing and infrastructure investment in a way that will achieve housing, environmental, health, and equity goals simultaneously. Based on consultations with cross-interest experts and government agencies, the report recommends VMT reduction as a superior proxy metric for GHG reduction and downstream conservation, public health, and social equity gains from improved land use. To qualify for “infill” incentives, a project should meet (or be projected to meet) a minimum VMT threshold or be within half a mile of a transit stop; not be on areas deemed essential to protecting public health; conform to local regulations; and not include demolition of rent controlled units, historic structures, or older housing that may still be viable. For cases in which demolition is warranted, cities should replace and increase the number of affordable housing units within the project site or within a half-mile radius. Finally, the report recommends substantial assistance for tenants displaced by demotion, including assistance with finding comparable housing within a half mile of the project, funds for relocation and rental assistance for 36 months, and right of first return to occupy a comparable unit in the new development at the same rent. Study Identifies Potential for Housing on Land Owned by Religious Institutions  As cities grapple with where and how to build more affordable housing, identifying land that could support new development has become a top priority. The UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Studies analyzed one option that provides a potential solution: expanding the ability of religious institutions to build housing on their land. Faith-based organizations often own underutilized land and/or structure which could be used to expand the supply of affordable housing. A Terner Center analysis finds that approximately 38,800 acres of land statewide--roughly the size of the city of Stockton--are used for religious purposes and potentially developable. A significant share of that acreage (45 percent) is located in the state's "high" or “highest" resource opportunity areas, signaling an opportunity for building housing in neighborhoods with lower poverty rates and greater economic, educational, and environmental amenities. Using their land assets for affordable housing would provide significant untapped benefits for the organization from supporting the organization's charitable missions to providing revenue that can stabilize the organization's finances. Yet faith-based organizations face severe challenges in leveraging their property for housing, including limited financing options, regulatory barriers, and limited real estate knowledge. CP&DR Coverage: Housing Legislation Led by Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, the leadership of the state Senate is quickly pushing throug h a new set of five planning and environmental review bills designed to speed up housing approvals. Many of the bills are focused on expanding exemptions under the California Environmental Quality Act – a tactic that is being used with increasing frequently around the state. The bills are scheduled to be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, June 9. Meanwhile, a less coordinated set of four bills on the Assembly side are also moving through that house’s committees. At the same time, an expansive CEQA bill carried by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, failed to make it through the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality but may be reconsidered soon. Quick Hits & Updates  With a wave of evictions predicted as Covid-related renter protection orders come to an end across the country, renters living in single-family homes and smaller multifamily buildings are more likely to be negatively affected but have fewer federal protections, according to a recent study  from Harvard University. Only 12 percent of the units in small rentals (2-4 units) are covered by the CARES Act eviction moratorium, and by one estimate nearly 20 percent of renters in small multifamily apartments may have difficulty paying full rent if at-risk wages are lost. A federal judge has rebuffed an attempt by the Trump administration to dismiss a 17-state lawsuit - led by California, Maryland, and Massachusetts - that challenges the administration's attempts to weaken protections for endangered and threatened species. The U.S. District Court judge said states made a sufficient case that they would be injured by the rule, and will allow the case to go forward. Despite promises to the contrary, consultants for the California High-Speed Rail Authority say when service starts in 2028, the train will operate at a loss and the state will absorb the cost. This contradicts the language in Proposition 1A, passed in 2008 to fund the project, that appeared to explicitly ban subsidies. Plans to redevelop CityView Plaza in downtown San Jose are a step closer to fruition after the San Jose Planning Commission voted to approve a 3.8 million-square-foot office development proposal that will now go to City Hall for final approval. Council members--who are also considering a petition to declare the site a historic landmark- are expected to vote on the project sometime this summer. Ford Ord , in Monterey County,will receive the National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse award from the Environmental Agency for transforming the former Army base into a thriving environmental, economic and community asset. The EPA said that from start to finish, the development at Fort Ord has been a model that will benefit other large redevelopment projects in the future. (See related CP&DR coverage .) A former top deputy to L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar has agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge, while the FBI says he played a central role in a "criminal organization" at City Hall. The wider scheme involved city officials, developers and their associates who conspired to exchange bribes of cash and gifts for a leg up for development projects. The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved two motions that will redirect over $500 million in 'arts fees' from now-cancelled or planned cultural events and instead make the money available as grants to arts organizations and spaces that have been economically devastated during the pandemic. Despite documented evidence of the continued presence of harmful chemicals on the site, a Mountain View property is slated for imminent removal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of Superfund sites. The "delisting" announcement comes as construction on a 226-unit apartment complex approved by Mountain View City Council in 2019 is likely to begin soon. The city of Hollister was put on notice in a letter from the California Department of Housing Community Development, which stated the city must void or suspend its growth management program or be in violation of the Housing Crisis Act of 2019. Under the act, which became effective Jan. 1, localities are prohibited from enacting new regulations that might limit housing. HCD previously told Hollister its housing element was under review. The San Jose Historic Landmarks Commission is working to protect San Jose's former courthouse from demolition. Built in 1973, the building was designed by a master architect in the brutalist style, and embodies San Jose modernism. But its spare design is not universally beloved, and preservationists will have to make the case (again) to save it as city council considers a 3.4 million-square-foot office campus on the same space. The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to remove 10 contaminated buildings at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The lab's location in the hills above the San Fernando and Simi Valleys for years posed a considerable risk in the event of a wildfire followed by heavy rainfall. The debris will be transported out of state to a radioactive waste facility for disposal, officials said. Wildfires in California are becoming more frequent and more severe, but a study finds that housing in burned areas is paradoxically going up in value. These neighborhoods are predominantly white and affluent, further subverting expectations: typically, low-income urban communities of color are disproportionately vulnerable to climate impacts.

Planners often focus on the minutiae of their cities. But cities are greater than the sum of their parts. CP&DR  Editor Bill Fulton speaks with Contributing Editor Josh Stephens about his new book,  The Urban Mystique: Notes on California, Los Angeles, and Beyond . It's a look at the human side of urban planning and at what's great, and not-so-great, about the built environment that Californians have dealt themselves. Josh and Bill discuss the origin of the book, its relationship with its namesake The Feminine Mystique, and its implications for American cities that will seek to revive and rebuild themselves when the coronavirus pandemic subsides. One note: This podcast was reported before the  protests in cities across the country related to racial injustice and the death of George Floyd became widspread. Available on Spotify and other podcast platforms here . Recorded May 29, 2020.

Cities are made of asphalt and concrete, gasoline and dollar bills, joy and strife. For me, one of the most influential figures worked in wind, sun, and fabric. The artist Christo died this week. Born in Bulgaria and based in New York City, he and his late wife Jeanne-Claude (deceased in 2009) — never was there a more elegant dual mononymic couple — invented and, across decades and continents, continually reinvented their own genre of landscape art. Their images are as indelible as they are surprising: pink islands, orange paths leading nowhere, buildings softened and shimmery. Their early work grew out of the land art movement of the 1960s and ‘70s, unfurling reams of fabric on desolate natural environments. They hung an enormous curtain across a canyon in Colorado, and they celebrated the landscape of California with 1976’s Running Fence, a 25-mile-long, 18-foot-high strip of fabric running over hill and dale westward from Sonoma County, across Marin County, and into the Pacific at Bodega Bay. They returned to California in 1991 to erect one half of The Umbrellas, in which hundreds of larger-than-life yellow umbrellas were planted in the Grapevine Pass north of Los Angeles. The other half of the piece consisted of blue umbrellas in Japan. As much as we may appreciate an untrammeled landscape, I think we can agree that there are moments when human imagination and natural grandeur complement each other in captivating ways. It was in cities, though, where Christo’s whimsy reached its full force: islands in Miami’s Biscayne Bay surrounded by hot pink aprons; Paris’ most important bridge, the Pont Neuf, draped in ivory-colored nylon, reflecting the lights of the world’s most romantic city; the entire Reichstag in Berlin, trussed up like a special delivery; saffron-colored curtains winding through Central Park. Next summer, Christo will posthumously wrap the Arc de Triomphe. The Umbrellas, along I-5, in 1991. I grew up in a family of Christo fans. We had posters and prints (revenue from which funded the actual pieces) and went on outings to see pieces in situ . They have their detractors, of course, in people who think his work is ugly, irreverent, or pointless. But I was always thoroughly charmed. A cliche about art is that it is supposed to help people see the world differently. Christo literally made the world look different. But those playful, innocent aesthetics belie Christo’s larger purpose. To state the obvious: global landmarks do not wrap themselves. In college, I majored in English, so I was contentedly steeped in novels, plays, and essays. But when Christo and Jeanne-Claude spoke on my campus, I of course attended. And it was there — at a lecture on visual art, of all things, by two of the least bureaucratic people you could imagine — that I discovered land use policy. Christo’s pieces are no mere “public art,” like the typical sculpture deposited arbitrarily in the plaza of an office building or the median of a boulevard (often paid for as penance by a developer). And they aren't just place-based. They are based in, and rely upon, specific places that are unique and irreplaceable. And they don’t just occupy those places. They borrow those places. They use and transform them, and then they give them back. Christo didn’t wrap just any bridge. He wrapped the Pont Neuf. He didn’t wrap just any capital building. He wrapped the Reichstag. He didn’t try to cover just any river. Only a certain stretch of Colorado’s Arkansas River fit his specifications for a five-mile fabric cover (which was ultimately abandoned). Walter Benjamin questioned the purity of art in the face of the ability to reproduce it mechanically. Christo brought it back by creating pieces that are literally unreproducible. The Gates, in New York City's Central Park, in 2005. By wedding his art to specific places, Christo committed himself to the mundane business of public policy. He didn’t wander around Europe looking for governments willing to give up their bridges. He fought, pressured, and cajoled the Parisian government for permission to wrap that specific bridge. He didn’t get turned down by Berlin and decide he’d try Sacramento instead. He went all the way to Mayor Bloomberg so he could erect over 7,000 “gates” on Frederick Law Olmsted’s turf. He worked with cities. He convinced them that whimsy can comport with the public interest. He made all the mundane assurances: safety, security, accessibility, financial solvency, liability, and all the rest. Art is supposed to be about freedom: With a brush and a canvas, a keyboard and a mixer, a pen and paper, you can create anything, right? But what if your art requires a permit? What if your art requires consent of a landlord? What if your art might block views or impact ecosystems? What if your art might fall on someone? What if it blocks egress or impedes the right of way? These are questions most artists (like most people) deliberately avoid. Art is the opposite of bureaucracy. Artists retreat to their studios to avoid tedious questions such as these. But Christo embraced the tedium. He met it head-on, and he figured out how to triumph over it (and even Triomphe over it). He did so because, in addition to clearly loving the sport of it, he knew that the result would be worthwhile. Consider the gauntlet Christo had to run when he created Running Fence. He needed permission from two counties, 59 private landowners, and the California Department of Transportation. He presented at 18 public meetings and two court hearings, and he had to commission an environmental impact report. The process took four years, for a piece that existed for 14 days. Every developer reading this is hereby in awe of Christo. Formally, Christo's work seems aggressive apolitical, and it is. But Christo himself was never apolitical. His politics aren’t in his artwork — politics enable his artwork. Unlike many other political animals, Christo used politics for the better. He does the hard work of lobbying so that people can experience joy. And, unlike, say, his contemporary Jeff Koons, who spends relatively little money to create pieces that he sells for eight figures, Christo spent small fortunes preparing works that he gave away for free. How’s that for a special interest? Christo, like his art, is sui generis . But everyone who works in and with the public realm can learn from him. Four years to get a permit for a fence — that literally vanished without a trace? Christo was messing with us. He knew that bureaucracy is a farce, and he toyed with it even as he was probably infuriated by it. Cities need to speed it up, whatever “it” may be, so we can get to the good stuff before we all keel over. Here’s where traditional planning and development parts ways with art. If you don’t like Christo’s work, that’s your loss. But it doesn’t really matter. His work is temporary (and costs nothing). You get to hate it for only a week or two, if you see it at all. Let’s get excited about the things that really matter. Let’s get excited about a low-income housing development. Let’s get excited about services for the homeless. Let’s get excited about complete streets. Let’s get excited about equity and opportunity. Let’s get excited about creativity — both the process and the result. And, yes, let’s get excited about public art. If we look closely enough, we can see that Christo and Jeanne-Claude have revealed regulation for us. That is their enduring unwrapped gift. We don’t have them to help us anymore. It’s up to the rest of us, planners, developers, and citizens alike, to decide whether to make it ugly or beautiful, elitist or equitable. The lesson for planners: Take a risk. And make it easier for good things to happen. If it’s good enough for Paris, good enough for Berlin, good enough for New York City, then a little whimsy is good enough for every city. Christo is gone. Jeanne-Claude is gone. Their pieces came and went. But great cities endure. Planners who take inspiration from them can make their cities just a little greater, and a little more enduring. Umbrellas image courtesy of Kenneth Hagemeyer via Flickr . Gates image courtesy of Chad Fennell via Flickr .

By William Fulton

In the late 2000s, the parklets craze swept through cities, symbolizing what was then a nascent movement to reclaim street space from cars. San Francisco permitted some two-dozen of them and became, arguably, the parklet capital of the world. But what was a clever amenity with a cute name may become a lifeline for some urban businesses struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. Widespread permitting of parklets is one of the ways that cities are repurposing public and semi-public spaces to create more room for pedestrians to practice social distancing – and for businesses to operate safely in the open air. “Given the limited vehicular traffic that we have on the streets now with people sheltering in place…this presents a unique opportunity to reclaim our public spaces for public use,” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin. In recent weeks, cities throughout California have fast-tracked programs and permitting schemes to allow restaurants to set up dining areas in parking lots and on sidewalks. Cities are also allowing fitness and yoga studios to take over public space for classes. Most ambitiously, some cities are closing off streets to traffic entirely in order to allow residents to walk, job, and ride bikes — either for fitness or for commuting — without having to compete with cars. Some programs and proposals around the state include:

Newsom Proposes Loosening of CEQA for Homeless Housing Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing waiving CEQA regulations for cities and counties that want to convert hotels into homeless housing using federal coronavirus relief funding. His plan was sent to the California Legislature to be added to the state budget negotiations in the form of a "trailer bill" addition to budget talks. It could have a huge effect in cities like San Francisco, where more than 1,100 hotel rooms are housing homeless people as part of the governor's "Project Roomkey" initiative, which has acquired 15,000 hotel rooms statewide. San Francisco Mayor London Breed has expressed support for the plan; hotel industry leaders say they want to examine the proposal before taking a position on it. Homeless organizations have said it could be a win-win in the future, ensuring revenue for hotel owners who might struggle in the economic downturn while at the same time creating cheap homeless housing. Project Roomkey has received a chilly welcome in some California cities that are currently suing the state to prevent vulnerable homeless from taking up residence in their city. For previous  CP&DR coverage of CEQA and homelessness, click here .  “Split-Roll” Prop. 13 Measure Qualifies for November Ballot  A measure that would revise Proposition 13 has qualified for the November ballot, having garnered well over the million signatures required for inclusion on the ballot. If passed, the measure will allow cities to assess property taxes on commercial and industrial properties at their full market value as determined by regular assessments. Since 1978 when Prop. 13 passed, cities have only been allowed to reassess property value for taxation purposes when those properties are sold. The new initiative, dubbed "Schools and Communities First," would maintain the Prop 13 limits for small business, agricultural land, and residential property. Backers of the initiative say as much as $12 billion each year could be made available for schools and local government through the revised tax policy. (See prior CP&DR commentary .) Cities May Sue Oil Companies over Climate Change  A panel of federal judges ruled that California cities and counties can sue oil companies for damages related to climate change in state court, where cases may be easier to win than at the federal level. The decision was in response to a suit brought by five cities and three counties, including San Francisco, that are seeking financial help to build seawalls and strengthen infrastructure in preparation for rising seas and extreme weather. The Ninth Circuit Court also validated a separate ruling by another federal judge who allowed California courts to take up climate cases submitted by the counties of San Mateo, Marin and Santa Cruz and the cities of Richmond, Santa Cruz and Imperial Beach (San Diego County). None of the legal efforts has yet to be deliberated on their merits - that may soon change now that the procedural matter of jurisdiction appears closer to being settled. Quick Hits & Updates  At least 40 California cities have banded together to lobby for direct federal money to cities with fewer than 500,000 residents on a per capita basis to be used to replace lost revenue due to impacts of COVID-19. The group, which calls itself the California Mayors Coalition, cited the $6.7 billion in expected lost revenues to the State's 482 cities - the overwhelming majority of which did not meet the 500,000-resident threshold needed to receive funds from the CARES Act. (See related CP&DR commentary .) A judge sided with Metro and the Federal Transit Administration against Beverly Hills High School , ruling Metro it did not act in bad faith in its decision to tunnel the Purple Line subway extension under Beverly Hills High School. The judges ruling notes that transit authorities fulfilled their obligation to thoroughly document the selection process. (See related CP&DR commentary .) Under a new bill that passed committee and will go to the State Senate floor, distressed restaurants and nonprofits that have experienced a 40-percent drop in revenue or have limited their capacity to accommodate social distancing will have increased bargaining power with landlords. The bill would prohibit landlords from evicting tenants, allow tenants to walk away from leases with minimum financial penalties, and give them a year to pay back rent. (See related CP&DR commentary .) Faced with a state budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed "pausing" three-quarters of a billion dollars worth of renovation work planned for state buildings in downtown Sacramento. According to the budget summary, "With an increased remote workforce, the administration... will evaluate the state's real estate portfolio to determine which agencies and departments may be able to reduce lease space." The Sacramento Transportation Authority voted to endorse a half-cent sales tax measure, which is expected to generate $8 billion for transportation improvements. The Board of Supervisors will take the measure up next in July, voting to formally put the tax, called Measure A, on the ballot. The Del Mar City Council will consider a resolution to seal a 464-page EIR that was prepared for a blufftop resort that didn't pass muster at the ballot box. The developer asked for the draft EIR to be kept on file for future use, but opponents of the resort say the draft EIR study failed to take into account crucial climate change factors like increased storm intensity and bluff erosion. Under a plan put forward by a coalition of environmental and municipal groups, the decommissioned Potter Valley Project would be completely overhauled to improve Eel River fish passage and fisheries. The plan calls for one of the two dams--Scott's Dam--to be removed altogether, draining Lake Pillsbury. To move forward, the group will need approval from the FERC. To meet growing regulatory challenges, the California Geologic Energy Management Division  launched an initiative to standardize buffer zones between oil facilities and sensitive sites like schools, residences, and hospitals. The initiative has been opposed by the oil industry but praised by environmental activists. The Santa Barbara City Council voted to move forward with an expedited accessory dwelling unit plan to speed downtown housing development, a move seemingly spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. The council plans to vote on all 20 amendments by July 21 - a full six months earlier than expected. Los Angeles City Council will take up a proposal that would use "Art Development Fees," or fees paid by developers of large projects to fund public art events, as relief grants to small art organizations. Ordinarily those fees would go toward festivals, art exhibitions, and cultural diversity events, but could now be critical to keeping art and cultural institutions solvent until COVID-19 closures are lifted. Upon learning Gov. Gavin Newsom and Oakland Coliseum director Henry Gardner were in talks of using the Coliseum as a potential "surge site" for treating COVID-19 patients, the Oakland A's baseball team said the A's will defer rent payment until they "have a better understanding of when the Coliseum will be available for our use." Gardner says the agency has "every expectation" the payment would be made on time.

This essay is excerpted from the introduction to The Urban Mystique , newly published by Solimar Books. You can purchase the book here . The notion of a childhood origin story remains relevant to anyone who lives in cities because, in many ways, everyone who lives in a city is still a child. Whether we live in Beacon Hill or Greenwich Village, Livermore or Santa Clarita, or Richmond or Compton, we are all passive subjects to the decisions made by planners and developers years and generations ago. Too many Americans are resigned to living and working in mediocre places. Too many of them, like the homemakers invoked by the title of this book, live in quiet desperation, unaware of the impact their environments have on them and unable to do anything about it. Therein lies the urban mystique. Feminist pioneer Betty Friedan described the “feminine mystique” as a sense of tension and ambiguity about women’s roles in the 1950s, especially in suburbia. For her, gender roles, and gender discrimination, were directly tied to urban form. The wonderful things about homemaking—raising children, living comfortably, contributing to a loving marriage—contrasted with feelings of isolation, boredom, and purposelessness, among others. I tend to apply that sense of tension and mixed feelings to many other aspects of the American, and Californian, urban experience. I've never been a homemaker. But I grew up in Los Angeles, in one of its many not-quite-urban, not-quite-suburban neighborhoods. I was steeped equally in the city’s mythology and its imperfections. Cities are wonderful places, but they can be terrible places too—sometimes all at once. Cities’ mystique lies in the idea that their value is not necessarily evident or definable. The urban mystique is different for everyone. But, as Freidan implies, we must at least acknowledge that it exists. We must acknowledge that cities can be special places and that they must not simply be a collection of demographic data, economic output, and real estate transactions. Why are they special? Because people are special. And more people live in cities than anywhere else. Cities are where some people go to survive and where some people go to chase, and sometimes achieve, their highest ambitions. Cities will never be “perfect” the way the suburbs have been rumored to be. They can be better than perfect, though, as long as we don’t pretend that perfection should be the goal. And, ideally, they require everyone to contribute to their evolution. Urban life should center on inspiration and improvement, not passivity and resignation. I’ve been lucky enough to write during a fascinating decade. Cities have grown more quickly in other decades (1980s). And they have suffered more problems in still others (1970s). But, I’d argue, the 2010s have been about as interesting it gets. Much of the stuff about which I am most cranky has been improving. Many of my fellow members of Gen X feel just as I did about their upbringing and have been working like crazy to reclaim the urban experience for themselves and the next generation (and their parents’ generations, in some cases). Principles of smart growth, new urbanism, and environmentalism have permeated the mainstream so fully that we rarely even refer to them as such anymore. What makes Los Angeles frustrating and unpleasant is the very same thing that makes it fascinating: it was built imperfectly, at an imperfect time. Now, Los Angeles—along with the rest of California—is trying to reinvent itself. That’s a difficult process: to shoehorn a new city into the old. In a 2015 CP&DR article on Los Angeles’s new mobility plan, I equated the process of urban redevelopment to the infusion of adamantium into the bones of Wolverine. It’s the geekiest thing I’ve ever written (and I don’t even like comic books), but it’s apt because, well, they are both unspeakably painful processes. This evolution stretches all the way back to Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis, on which I wrote my undergraduate thesis. He described the continent’s endless tracts of empty land as America’s escape valve and the thing that made America uniquely American. Turner pronounced the Frontier “closed” in 1890. By then, San Francisco had a population of 300,000 and Los Angeles 50,000. But the Frontier found new life in the suburbs, as cities expanded and conquered their own hinterlands. That lasted for another century. This process is what Los Angeles Chief Design Officer Christopher Hawthorne refers to as the “Third L.A.”—the pioneer city and the post-World War II boom town being the first two. I’ve called it “the backwash of sprawl.” The unseemly metaphor is deliberate. We’ve built some heinous stuff: cheap, low-density development from the coast to the mountains to the desert. Now this form of urbanism faces a reckoning. The political element of these challenges has gotten more contentious and more colorful of late. Several of these pieces refer to the rise of the YIMBY (“yes in my backyard”) movement and its venerable predecessor and antagonist, the NIMBY movement. Both have gotten more active with the rise of the housing crisis in the early 2010s, as the recession wore off and young Californians with disposable incomes—and penchants for urban living—found themselves with far too many homes to choose from. This debate also includes the social justice community, which rightfully fears for low-income residents who are being displaced, and it includes what I call the “radical left,” which is more outspoken, more militant, and reviles for-profit development. That’s why, for every great new development, be it a renovated loft building, light rail line, affordable housing complex, or community garden, there are countless others who cherish (or at least tolerate) the 20th century model of urbanism. And there are discontents who, either out of spite or genuine concern for their livelihood, resist the changes that many of us believe cities need. In that sense, the title of Bill Fulton’s book The Reluctant Metropolis is as apt as ever. Any place housing 15 million people is nothing if not a metropolis. But many of Los Angeles’s citizens still resist metropolitan life. They didn’t buy into it 50 years ago—when center cities were genuinely unpleasant (and when white people were more overtly racist)—and they don’t want to buy into it today. Sometimes, the best thing you can say about Californians is that we couldn’t care less about one another: you do your thing, I’ll do mine. That attitude might be great if, say, you want to become a Hollywood star or just put food on the table as a day laborer, but it is not a recipe for a great city. In Los Angeles and across the state, we do some things really well and some things really badly—sometimes at the same time. We protect some environmental treasures while bulldozing others. We preserve historic architecture while putting up crap left and right. Most notably, I think, we have ourselves one of the most spectacular natural environments in the developed world, and, excepting some gems, we delight in sullying it with utterly mediocre cityscapes. On the days when Los Angeles gets me down, I find some solace in looking up at the Santa Monica Mountains. To its credit, Los Angeles gets better year by year—in some ways. I get excited about new transit lines and many of the new developments. Sure, I try to stay balanced and objective in my news reporting, but I’m still a human being and a resident. The city is different enough now to keep me interested. I realize, of course, that the things I love aren’t universally loved. Much of the backlash against so-called gentrification and hipster-fication is understandable (if not always warranted). My fear, which I imply in several of these pieces, is that these rivalries are going to lead to stagnation, at best. I hope they will not. Our greatest challenge is to make sure that urban life serves everyone so that rich and poor, marginalized and powerful are all enriched by one another. You can purchase The Urban Mystique here .

CP&DR Contributing Editor Josh Stephens speaks with California APA President Julia Lave Johnston about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the planning profession. Click here for access on other podcasting platforms, including Spotify.  Related Articles Virus Crisis Forces Planning to Go Virtual Planners Should Not Let Density Debate Infect Their Work Q&A: Julia Lave Johnston  (Nov. 8, 2015)

CP&DR Vol. 35 No. 5 May 2020

From 1942 to 2007, the Concord Naval Weapons Station, a two-site 13,000-acre facility in and around the Contra Costa County suburb of Concord, played a significant role in post-World War II national defense. Since its decommissioning in 2007, the base has been the subject of a new battle, this time over its transformation into one of the Bay Area’s largest master-planned developments. A treaty seemed imminent earlier this year but has given way to a stalemate that could rival that of the Cold War. In March the Concord City Council was on the verge of approving a $6 billion proposal by Lennar to build almost 13,000 housing units and 5 million square feet of retail and commercial space on roughly half of the 5,028 acres located within the Concord city limits. The other half would be reserved for parks and open space. As is often the case with projects of regional import, Lennar’s proposal met its match in local politics. But now the project has fallen apart, at least partly because of failed negotiations between the developer, Lennar, and the local Building Trades Council. In mid-March, the city council voted against extending the agreement’s March 31 expiration, effectively killing Lennar’s project. Concord will continue with the project without Lennar and plans to begin its search for a new master developer before the end of this year, assuming the COVID-19 crisis calms. In 2007, the Navy deemed the facility surplus land in Round 5 of its multiyear Base Realignment and Closure program and stated its intent to transfer the land to the city. Phase one of the development - 500 acres of land to be developed into more than 4,400 housing units – began in 2013. In the housing-strapped Bay Area, the full build-out represents what the city website refers to as a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” Concord chose Lennar Concord, LLC, and Lennar subsidiary Five Point as the project’s master developer in 2013 – a decision that itself proved divisive for stakeholders who disagreed over how the project’s potential could be best realized.

Senate Democrats Introduce Mini-Package of Housing Bills  California Senate Democrats have announced a new legislative housing package that aims to boost housing supply with more moderate proposals that reduce planning costs and streamline approval processes. Scott Weiner's Senate Bill 902, his followup to SB 50 would allow local governments to skip the environmental review process for projects up to 10 units if buildings are located close to jobs and transportation. Senate Bill 995 expands the streamlined CEQA process to smaller housing projects with 15 percent affordable units. Cities would be encouraged to streamline duplex construction for homeowners who qualify in smaller neighborhoods under Senate Bill 1120. The bill would also allow them to divide their lots to build two duplexes, for four units total. Another bill, SB 1085, targets the "missing middle": cities and counties would be able to grant a density bonus if developers agree to allocate a number of units for a project as affordable and below 30 percent of the market rate. The package does not include new state dollars to building low-income housing - a reality brought on by an estimated $54 billion budget deficit. Los Angeles Ordered to Clear Homeless Away from Freeways  Under a preliminary injunction issued by a U.S. District Court judge, Los Angeles city and county officials have been ordered to provide shelter or alternative housing to the roughly 7,000 Los Angeles residents who live under or in the immediate vicinity of a freeway. Of the estimated 60,000 homeless across Los Angeles County, those near freeways face special risks, the judge wrote in the ruling, not only from contracting COVID-19, but also from exposure to pollution, carcinogens, and being hit by cars. It's unclear how city, county and homelessness officials will respond to the order, though the injunction stipulated guidelines on what shelter must be offered. Housing options must provide security, medical staff, showers and other hygiene facilities, and enough space to maintain social distancing. Officials have until Sept. 1 to relocate freeway-adjacent campers. While city and county officials don't have legal authority to force homeless people into shelters, they are allowed to enforce anti-camping laws to relocate them at least 500 feet from freeways. Frequency and Cost of Wildfires Grows Over Four Decades  In California, record-breaking fires in 2017 and 2018 destroyed communities and dominated headlines across the country. A newly developed data set that catalogs wildfire damages dating back to 1979 places California's recent devastating fire seasons into broader historical perspective. The Nature Conservancy analyzed data from Cal Fire and the state's resource assessment program and determined that recent spikes in fire activity is part of a four-decade trend of not only increases in wildfire frequency and in areas burned, but also an increased rate of change over per-decade averages. For example, there were 3,356 fires during the last decade (2009-2018), which is 1.4 times greater than the per-decade average for the prior 30 years (1979-2009). Burn areas saw the same 1.6 times increase. But from the first decade of the analysis to the last--between 1979 and 2018--the last decade's fires burned twice the area (7.08 mil acres) as those in the first decade (3.37 mil acres). Similarly, costs have increased over time, with Southern California bearing the brunt of those shifts. In the 80's, fires did $30 million in annual damages (calculated by average replacement cost for structures). From 1999 to 2010, that sum ballooned to an average of $1 billion annually. In 2018 alone, fires cost an estimated $4.5 billion on areas in which the state takes fiscal responsibility. CP&DR Coverage: De Facto CEQA Reform Has Already Arrived Despite perennial calls to reform CEQA in order to facilitate infill development, CP&DR’s Bill Fulton argues that CEQA reform has essentially already arrived. In recent years, cities have shifted away from issuing mitigated negative declarations and have adopted more widespread use of exemptions. Data from the Office of Planning and Research shows that issuance of MNDs has declined by over 50 percent since 2008 while use of exemption have pushed up about 30 precent in that time span. Fulton calls it “a revolution.”  Quick Hits & Updates Two nonprofit advocacy groups filed legal action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to secure stricter air quality standards in Imperial County. The EPA has justified its decision to weaken air quality standards by saying that pollution from Mexico is the primary cause of the county's poor air quality. The litigants emphasized the county's ability to limit its smog by taking steps like switching agricultural equipment from diesel to solar.  In a split vote, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners approved bond issuance for the Tahoe South Event Center, the final step in the project's approval process. Tahoe Township proponents cited the expected annual economic impact to Douglas County's south shore of $40-$60 million, an estimated tax surplus of $1 million, an additional 550 year-round employment opportunities for local, 800 construction jobs for two years, plus economic diversification.  A new report  from National Center for Sustainable Transportation at University of California, Davis outlines benefits that accrue to individuals, households, and communities from decreased dependence on cars. Private transportation accounts for nearly $10,000 or 15 percent of the average Californian's budget--second only to housing as the largest fixed cost. California could avoid $8.2 billion in public health costs by one estimate, just by using infill to promote a shift away from driving. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Environmental Protection Information Center are suing the Trump administration for failing to protect the Humboldt marten. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service missed a stautorary deadline by which it was required to make a final determination on whether to list Humboldt martens for protection under the Endangered Species Act.  Inspired by a proposed office expansion that would add 95,000 acres of office space and just 24 homes, a Mission District representative on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is championing a rezoning plan that would limit office space to the ground floor level of new buildings. While the proposed project technically meets the block's urban mixed-use (UMU) classification, the intention behind UMU was a more even balance. Planning commissioners have unanimously backed the rezoning effort with minors. Commissioners excluded Dogpatch and Portrero Hill, which is currently under consideration for over 2,000 homes and thousands of square feet of office space on the decommissioned Portrero Plant site. Commissioners also amended the proposal to spare projects approved before Feb. 11. In hopes of attracting financial backers, the Sites Project Authority will scale back its plans for an ambitious reservoir project in Colusa County. Under the new approach, the price tag will be cut roughly 40 percent from $5.1 billion to $3 billion, and the reservoir's size will shrink by 15 percent. The amount of water the reservoir is expected to deliver on average was cut in half from 505,000 to 243,000 acre feet.  A federal judge blocked the Trump administration's plan to pump more water through the San Joaquin River Delta. The ruling will create immediate impacts on water supplies: San Joaquin Valley's farm irrigation supplies were already curtailed by a dry winter, and will lose an estimated 52,000 acre-feet of water this spring. The preliminary injunction lasts until May 31 unless it's extended. Several housing developments - many of which included plans for affordable units - in Monterey are on hold after Monterey Peninsula water officials denied the city's request for additional water reserves to serve those apartments. The city stands to lose 181 affordable housing units without the additional water. Of 303 units slated for construction across six sites, only 92 at a single site will move forward. (See prior CP&DR coverage .) The California High Speed Rail Authority's first phase will generate $46 billion in labor income and $131 billion in economic output over the course of the project, authority officials announced recently. Since its inception in 2006, CHSRA reports $3.6 billion in labor income up to $9.2 billion in economic output. Two land use officials in California have gotten themselves in trouble indirectly related to the COVID-19 crisis. In a special two-hour remote meeting, the Antioch City Council voted unanimously to remove Ken Turnage from his seat on the city planning commission following an off-color social media posting about "culling the herd" during the COVID-19 crisis. The comments fueled an online viral uproar that culminated in the local builder's booting from his appointed commission term. Separately, in Vallejo , Planning Commissioner Chris Platzer appeared to chug an alcoholic beverage and then toss a cat that he had presented to his webcam. Platzer resigned from the commission soon thereafter.  Landlords are challenging the legality of strict eviction bans that some California localities have passed that go beyond state eviction moratoriums to include banning late fees, giving tenants up to a year to repay back rent, and forbidding the posting of three-day pay up notices. While some cities have backed off after the threat of legal challenges, Costa Mesa said through a representative the city has no intention of easing restrictions.  A real estate consultant has agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge for running point on a criminal conspiracy to bribe a Los Angeles City Council member in exchange for support for major redevelopment projects. At the center of the allegations is the planned redevelopment of the Luxe City Center Hotel.  After a three-year planning effort, San Diego has released a draft document outlining the city's plan to upgrade its 5,700 acres of parkland and 13 reaction centers. The new parks master plan, which is currently available for public comment, is "focused on increasing access to all parks for everyone, regardless of their age, race, ability or geographic location," a city statement said. The Strategic Growth Council, in collaboration with the California Department of Conservation , is now accepting pre-proposals for funding Round 6 of the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC) . All prospective applicants for Land Acquisition grants must submit pre-proposals by May 29, 2020. Planning grant seekers are encouraged, but not required, to submit pre-proposals as well.

San Jose has been in a tussle for years now over rebuilding an historic railroad trestle in the Willow Glen neighborhood, adjacent to downtown. In the latest wrinkle – the second appellate court ruling in the last five years – the city prevailed in its effort to maintain a mitigated negative declaration even though the city was required to obtain a new Streambed Alteration Agreement from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.