California

The eastern span of the Bay Bridge has had cost overruns, delays, scandal, and lukewarm architecture reviews, but the latest bad news is cause for concern—the bridge is leaking into structural elements and officials aren’t sure why or what it means.

February 12, 2014 - SF Gate

This is not our first story on preserving a huge donut sign. What makes this one special is that it's as much about Long Beach as it is about preservation. And what makes it ironic is whom they had to fight to keep the donut from being torn down!

February 12, 2014 - The Atlantic Cities

The vote to approve restrictions on immigration passed narrowly with 50.3 percent of the vote. The main repercussion may be how it impacts trading with its neighbors in the EU as immigration quotas may invalidate a 1999 treaty allowing free movement.

February 11, 2014 - The New York Times

The Inland Empire—suburban and exurban counties located to the east of Los Angeles—experienced some of the worst impacts of the housing crisis and recession. Yet, people still arrived there in droves during the recession.

February 10, 2014 - Los Angeles Times

A series of renderings asks the question: "What might it look like if tech campuses replaced their parking lots and provided all the necessary housing on-site?"

February 10, 2014 - First Cultural Industries

Weren't able to make it to this year's UCLA Extension Land Use Law & Planning Conference? No Problem! Los Angeles County Planner Dr. Clement Lau gives a quick recap . . . but mostly on the planning side of the program.

February 9, 2014 - UrbDeZine.com

Planners in the city of San Francisco have a proposed a $1.4 million study to examine the possibility of removing part of Interstate 280 in the city and convert a rail yard would yield 37 acres of prime urban real estate.

February 9, 2014 - SF Gate

Up and down the West Coast, Texas, and in some places on the East Coast, starfish are dying off and washing up on shore in distressing quantities. The so-called "sea star wasting syndrome" has also been called a “mass mortality event.”

February 7, 2014 - PBS NewsHour

Proponents of a ballot initiative that would require a vote for any development on the San Francisco waterfront that exceeds existing height limits have gathered enough signatures to put the issue to a vote.

February 5, 2014 - SF Gate

Palo Alto’s planned community zoning has existed since 1951. As the real estate market in the Silicon Valley heats up, residents are questioning whether developers are abusing the density and height benefits they receive from the zoning code.

February 4, 2014 - San Jose Mercury News

What lifts up to 1,750 tons? Goodbye "Left Coast Lifter". Hello "I Lift New York". The massive crane was barged 6,000 miles through the Panama Canal to begin construction of the replacement Tappan Zee Bridge, having completed the Bay Bridge job.

February 4, 2014 - New York Post

Los Angeles recently completed a comprehensive installation of LED streetlights—and New York City is not far behind. Among the unintended consequences of the new technology? Cities will now look completely different on film.

February 4, 2014 - No Film School

Hoping to encourage other cities to follow San Francisco's successful application of protected bike lanes, Asm. Phillip Ting (D-S.F.) would have Caltrans "develop minimum safety design criteria" for what would be a new class of bikeways in the state.

February 4, 2014 - San Francisco Bay Guardian

The city of San Diego adopted the Barrio Logan plan a few months ago, provoking a successful movement to place a referendum on a future ballot. The city’s mayoral race could hinge on the issue, with large military contractors as political donors.

February 3, 2014 - San Diego Reader

As an urbanist, it can be easy to think of gentrification as a macroeconomic trend or a collection of data points, not as an individual experience. A community organizer in Oakland would like to bring the issue home for the city’s newcomers.

February 3, 2014 - Oakland Local

There are few hot buttons in planning conversation like the word “density.” One writer in San Diego claims that the breakdown inspired by the term originates from concerns with cars, not buildings.

February 3, 2014 - Voice of San Diego

In Los Angeles, months of agitation by pedestrian and bicycling advocates have finally paid off.

February 2, 2014 - LA Streetsblog

Can the nation's largest state department of transportation, long oriented to building highways and fighting congestion, be brought into the modern, multi-modal era? The State Smart Transportation Initiative's report for Caltrans may do just that.

February 1, 2014 - The Sacramento Bee

The hit or miss efforts of cities to deliver citywide wireless networks has its latest case study: the city of Riverside in the Inland Empire of California is considering an effort to shut down or downsize its 2007 network.

January 30, 2014 - The Press Enterprise

San Diego's downtown street grid features smaller blocks than almost all other major U.S. cities. Small blocks mean more intersections, less distance between them, and a lot of interrupted bipedaling. Bill Adams reviews some potential fixes.

January 29, 2014 - UrbDeZine.com