California

If a San Mateo County agency has its way, congestion pricing will be applied to two toll bridges to create additional revenue and reduce congestion as was done successfully on the S.F./Oakland Bay Bridge last July - but there are major differences.

February 1, 2011 - San Mateo County Times via Mercury News

The Oprah Show says San Luis Obispo, California is America's Happiest City, citing urban planning decisions like making the town pedestrian-friendly with wide sidewalks and limiting fast food drive-throughs.

January 31, 2011 - Oprah.com

Sharrows are a great way to give cyclists access to the full traffic lane without designating a bike lane, but as this case in San Francisco illustrates, not all applications are good ones. The presence of a bus-only lane created the problem.

January 31, 2011 - The Bay Citizen

Developer FivePoint Communities has cleared hurdles, and the financing flowing again for two major California projects, one on San Francisco's Treasure Island and one at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station near Irvine.

January 31, 2011 - Builder Magazine

The mayor of the small town of Lancaster, California, has proposed broadcasting recordings of bird noises along one of the city's main streets to "make people happier".

January 31, 2011 - CBS

At the subway stop at Wilshire Blvd. and Vermont, developer Jerry Snyder halted construction on his planned vertical retail mall, saying that the apartment market is comparatively "very strong."

January 28, 2011 - The Los Angeles Times

In the heart of Koreatown in Los Angeles, an experimental community took over 2 apartment complexes in the '90s. Today, it's a thriving group of folks trying to live greenly in the big city.

January 28, 2011 - GOOD Magazine

In what looks like a developing battle between states and cities over redevelopment, the California state comptroller announced that he will audit 18 redevelopment agencies.

January 28, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

When Los Angeles drained Owens Lake to bring water into its quickly growing urban basin, it simultaneously created a dry lakebed and one of the worst dust pollution problems in America. Various efforts to fight the problem have only failed.

January 27, 2011 - Places

New Urbanist Stefanos Polyzoides is profiled by the Los Angeles Times, which mentions a few projects the architect and planners is working on in East L.A. and Fresno.

January 27, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Former Palo Alto Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto has formed "Friends of Caltrain" to help prevent the train from spiraling downhill due to lack of funds. The tri-county train faces a $30 million deficit, with a total budget of just under $100 million.

January 26, 2011 - Streetsblog San Francisco

While transportation activists in Los Angeles are getting behind a plan to cram 30 years of transportation projects into a decade, environmentalists in nearby San Diego want to do 50 years worth in the same amount of time.

January 26, 2011 - Streetsblog LA

Artist Tracy Snelling makes obsessively detailed miniature reconstructions of mundane landscapes like liquor stores, strip clubs, McDonalds and Walmarts.

January 25, 2011 - Hi Fructose

Redevelopment agencies are vital to job creation and necessary for central cities to stem suburban job sprawl, claims Gerald Metcalf, executive director of a SF urban think tank (SPUR), countering CA Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed elimination of them.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday Insight

There are 12 community benefit districts in San Francisco, which raise their own taxes to create funds for various local projects. But some argue they favor big businesses.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle

A group of city leaders and activists gathered in Sacramento to protest Governor Jerry Brown's plan to close the state's redevelopment agencies.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently visited Washington D.C. to discuss his plans for expedited transit projects in L.A., but the new congressional leadership is not as supportive as the old.

January 22, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Rising sea waters are eroding the coast of California. The City of Ventura faces reality, and moves a wasting bike path inland.

January 20, 2011 - The Los Angeles Times

Redevelopment agency officials throughout California are moving rapidly to prevent a threatened takeover by the state (to reduce deficit) by signing deals on projects potentially prematurely. LA just turned $1 billion in 275 projects to the city.

January 20, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Three California schools are seeking to quantify the effects of efficiency-conscious driving in a study to establish a baseline for drivers' behavior.

January 19, 2011 - TheCityFix