Last week, with a $4.5 million budget deficit and no development activity, the Petaluma City Council took the drastic step of eliminating its entire planning department.
From Paul Shigley's Blog: "Elimination of a planning department would be a remarkable turn of events anywhere in California, but the fact that this is occurring in Petaluma is downright shocking.
As just about every planning student knows, Petaluma was the first city in California where voters approved a growth control initiative. That was in 1972, and land use planning has been a local priority ever since. Petaluma voters have rejected proposals to alter the 1972 limitations, and they approved an urban growth boundary in 1998. More recently, the city has focused on downtown redevelopment, and those efforts are so successful that travel writers are now visiting."
Read the full story: Petaluma Eliminates Its Planning Department
Another Reminder of the Futility of Carpool Lanes
What's the great 'fix' for the flawed Highway 101 carpool lanes in Marin and Sonoma counties in the Bay Area? Reduce the HOV time by two and a half hours during the peak commutes to enable solo drivers greater access to 52 miles of widened freeway.
Petaluma Transit Eliminates Fares
The agency is offering free bus rides for one year as part of an effort to boost ridership and encourage residents to choose transit over cars.
The Pandemic Baby Bust
The economic uncertainty of the pandemic has added to already declining birth rates in a troubling sign for the future of the American economy.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
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Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
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