California

In an effort to seek an 11th hour reprieve from the scheduled elimination of the state's redevelopment agencies, two consortiums of cities have filed lawsuits in Sacramento Superior Court, reports Josh Stephens.

January 27, 2012 - California Planning & Development Report

Jon Bruner profiles Los Angeles Department of Transportation Engineer Edward Yu, and the ATSAC system run by Yu and his team, which controls the timing of traffic lights at each of the city's 4,114 intersections.

January 27, 2012 - Forbes

Ariel Schwartz writes about Popuphood, a project aiming to dramatically revitalize the Old Oakland neighborhood by offering six months of free rent to five retail establishments on one block.

January 27, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Exist

The San Francisco neighborhood of Chinatown temporarily removed parking from Stockton Street for a week during the busy Lunar New Year season. Aaron Bialick reports on the results.

January 26, 2012 - Streetsblog San Francisco

Yesterday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance meant to better tie planning for the county's unincorporated areas to positive public health outcomes.

January 25, 2012 - Curbed LA

With L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 'America Fast Forward' plan to fund 30 years of transportation improvements in 10 years going nowhere fast in Congress, Joel Epstein asks if the Mayor might be lining up our country's creditor-in-chief.

January 25, 2012 - The Source

A neighborhood in Tarzana, one of the few residential areas in Los Angeles County that allows raising livestock, battles developmental pressures. The latest proposal: razing five homes for an elderly care center.

January 25, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

As cyclists toured Watts and other parts of South Los Angeles, they were invited to share photographs and record places of interest along the way.

January 24, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Tom Vanderbilt writes about the current crop of self-driving cars in Wired. "After almost a hundred years in which driving has remained essentially unchanged, it has been completely transformed in just the past half decade."

January 23, 2012 - Wired

Eric Jaffe writes of an article appearing in the January issue of the Journal of Urban History in which the forgotten story of a time when Hollywood's jealous co-star tried to claim her throne is re-told.

January 23, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Facing strong headwinds from citizens, legislators, and analysts, Governor Jerry Brown threw his unequivocal support behind the state's proposed high speed rail project in his annual State of the State address.

January 20, 2012 - The New York Times

Ron Nyren examines the various types of projects that will be negatively impacted by California's decision to abandon redevelopment.

January 20, 2012 - Urban Land

Melinda Burns uses two California cities through which to investigate the reasons why the foreclosure crisis has impacted communities in dramatically different ways.

January 20, 2012 - Miller-McCune

Dave Gardetta highlights the work of Donald Shoup and others whose mission is to eradicate the parking minimum in Los Angeles.

January 20, 2012 - Los Angeles Magazine

Ever wonder why LA's skyline is so bland? Apparently it was planned that way.

January 18, 2012 - KCET Departures

The Supreme Court decision to approve the elimination of California's redevelopment agencies late last year set February 1st as the date of dissolution. A new bill in the state senate would slow down the clock.

January 17, 2012 - California Planning & Development Report

Long Beach is leading California's bicycle revolution in many ways, perhaps most creatively in establishing bike-friendly shopping districts.

January 16, 2012 - Grist

Writing in the online edition of the January issue of Planning, Bobbie Peyton explores what can be learned from the pioneering Foodshed Planning efforts of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego.

January 16, 2012 - Planning

An update on efforts by the City of Los Angeles to develop a new ordinance to allow artists to legally paint on the walls of private property.

January 16, 2012 - KCET Departures

In addition to the resignation of Roelof van Ark, CEO of the High-Speed Rail Authority, Chairman Tom Umberg has stepped down, though he will remain on the board. Gov. Brown has indicated he will merge the Authority with Caltrans.

January 15, 2012 - San Jose Mercury News