How Land Use Policy Helped Turn California Blue

"For those of us who have forgotten — or never knew — Pastor makes this history abundantly clear in his new book State of Resistance. Starting in the 1950s, State of Resistance offers an accessible, lively account of California’s dramatic, and rapid, transformation from conservative, Republican, white-dominated promised land to liberal, Democratic, multiethnic redoubt. For planners, State of Resistance may prove indispensable for understanding the larger political trends in which they are working."

"Pastor adds a chilling layer to the common narrative that describes Prop. 13 as an older generation’s attempt to stick it to younger generations. Pastor reminds us that California’s new suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s "were highly segregated even as they were being rewarded with new schools, new roads, and even federal and state largess.” As the original suburbanites aged in place, they would have seen minority young adults moving in the their neighborhoods and minority children enrolling in local schools in 1978. Prop. 13 was thus the attempt (largely successful) of an older white generation to stick it to younger generations of color."