An Unlikely Smart Growth Advocate Comes To Power

"In 20 years as a self-taught expert on urban redevelopment, Rick Cole has touted ideas once dismissed as radical but that are increasingly embraced by the mainstream in local government... Over the last two decades, Cole, 50, has impressed admirers as a visionary whose passion for urban reform has persuaded even rivals that change was necessary... Cole was educated as a journalist, but never really worked as one. He is considered an urban planning expert, but is not trained in that specialty. He is a smart, sharp-tongued fellow who follows his own instincts to such a degree that he didn't hold a permanent, full-time job until he was 30 years old and running for City Council in Pasadena, his hometown."

Thanks to Laura Kranz