The California Dream: Transit Oriented Development?

"JUST a decade ago it seemed far-fetched -- the idea that large numbers of people might actually want to use mass transit here, or walk to shops, or bike to school or work. Those things happened in places like Palo Alto and Willow Glen, but they were the exception. Why live in California if you can't put the top down and drive everywhere? But nowadays, a top-down drive can burn out your lungs -- and darned if driving everywhere hasn't turned out to mean there's traffic everywhere. As a consequence, the California dream seems to be shifting. There's a growing consensus that we need to build communities differently. We need to build (and rebuild) in areas within cities instead of out in open land, and create neighborhoods that encourage walking, biking and taking mass transit."