James Brasuell, AICP is the former editorial director of Planetizen and is now a senior public affairs specialist at the Southern California Association of Governments. James managed all editorial content and direction for Planetizen from 2014 to 2023, and was promoted from manging editor to editorial director in 2021. After a first career as a class five white water river guide in Trinity County in Northern California, James started his career in Los Angeles as a volunteer at a risk reduction center in Skid Row. Prior to joining Planetizen, James worked at the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design, as an editor at Curbed LA, as editor of The Planning Report, and as a freelance contributor for The Architect’s Newspaper, the Urban Land Institute – Los Angeles Chapter, FORM, KCET, and the California Planning & Development Report.
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Case Threatening the California Coastal Act
A conservative and partisan court handed a victory to public access and California's environmental law by refusing to hear an appeal sought by billionaire Vinod Khosla.
A New, Renter-Friendly Politics Emerges
There are signs that politicians at every level are responding to the concerns of renters like never before. If only renter-friendly housing policies were matters of simple consensus.
Miami-Dade Wants to Add 13 Miles to the Dolphin Expressway
The extended tollway would cut beyond the Urban Growth Boundary into the Everglades.
BART Development Law Signed
Under a law signed today by Governor Jerry Brown, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) gains the power to rezone its properties. It's a decisive victory for state preemption over local control in the face of California's housing crisis.
Waiving Development Fees to Spur Apartment Construction
One way to increase housing supply is to make it cheaper to building multi-family housing, like Toronto recently decided to do.