San Mateo County Times

CA Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed perhaps the most important air quality bill of the year just before the deadline to the dismay of the state's environmental and health community. Alaska Gov. Palin's letter asking for the veto may have played a role.

In a huge blow to a city already polarized by a ballot-box planning initiative affecting open space on the November ballot, a judge has halted downtown redevelopment by rejecting the Environmental Impact Report in part because of the 'shadow effect'.

Instead of requiring developers to complete traffic studies for individual projects, one Northern California city has commissioned a comprehensive traffic study, and asked developers to help foot the bill.

The land use policy in the US Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement calling for smart growth caused a Bay Area mayor to refrain from signing the agreement, believing that limiting density would be better for the environment.