California

Richard Close, a member of the Oversight Board supervising the dissolution of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, discusses the challenges of defining 'enforceable obligations' and the legal battles he anticipates in the coming year.

July 3, 2012 - The Planning Report

A new report by Oakland, CA nonprofit Urban Strategies Council reveals that a massive surge has occurred in investor-speculator ownership in the city's low-income neighborhoods in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

July 2, 2012 - InfoAlamedaCounty.org

The alternative plan directs a sizable percentage of the initial $6 billion allocation to the Bay and LA regions to upgrade existing commuter lines at the expense of greater investment in the Central Valley. Funding plan may be determined by July 6.

July 2, 2012 - California Watch

Should Los Angeles be investing more in bus-rapid transit?

July 2, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

The court set a standard of "reasonable anticipation" that improved cleaner technologies will be developed, allowing government agencies to set more stringent standards for that anticipated future.

June 29, 2012 - Governing

Economist David Birch coined the term "gazelle" to refer to small businesses that double their size every four years. Charlie Gandy says these gazelles are incredibly useful when it comes to placemaking.

June 29, 2012 - Project For Public Spaces

In pollution-heavy San Joaquin Valley of California's Central Valley, some cities are considering replacing Fourth of July fireworks with laser light shows. Locals aren't so sure.

June 28, 2012 - Governing

A Los Angeles-based farming company aims to bring fresh, locally grown food to communities all around the city and transform their work into a political statement to shine a spotlight on sustainable practices.

June 27, 2012 - Good

The city recently launched SFBetterStreets.org to be a central source of information to help residents with street improvements like traffic-calming, parklets, bike corrals, plantings, art installations, and sidewalk fixtures.

June 25, 2012 - Streets Blog San Francisco

Under intense political pressure to retain the full application of the CA Environmental Quality Act to CA High Speed Rail project, Gov. Brown withdrew his proposal to allow the project certain exceptions to lawsuits.

June 23, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

While the east coast suffers through a brutal early summer heat wave, researchers in Los Angeles have announced the findings of the most advanced regional climate modeling ever conducted, which shows that So Cal will feel the heat soon enough.

June 22, 2012 - Streetsblog LA

Hot on the heels of the hard fought passage of a new community plan for Hollywood comes news that the City Council has approved five years of funding for L.A.'s planning department to revise the city's zoning code, for the first time since 1946.

June 21, 2012 - Curbed LA

Wealthy families are using San Francisco's rent-controlled apartments as vacation homes, to the detriment of landlords and low-income families, for whom the regulations intended to preserve affordable housing were designed.

June 20, 2012 - San Francisco Chronicle

Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a controversial new Community Plan for Hollywood, the first update since 1988, that allows increased density around transit stations, to the consternation of some neighborhood groups.

June 20, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Thanks to new technology embedded in the asphalt, the days of left-over meter minutes are gone in this southern CA beach city. Depending on whom you ask, parking is now managed more efficiently or the city is just making more money.

June 20, 2012 - The New York Times - U.S.

A bill in California that would reduce parking minimums in transit-oriented areas has drawn opposition from an unlikely group: the American Planning Association.

June 19, 2012 - California Planning & Development Report

As cycling expands rapidly in the second-most dense city in America, the infrastructure to support this growth has not kept up, inflaming tensions over the ownership of public space, reports Maria L. La Ganga

June 18, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

The June 14 shut down of BART's Transbay Tube that transports 110,000 daily East Bay/SF riders on four of the five BART lines resulted in one of the worst commuter nightmares the region has seen, showing how indispensable BART is to the Bay Area.

June 18, 2012 - San Francisco Chronicle

While California's high speed rail project will be beneficial for the environment by turning polluting car and plane trips into zero-emission travel by train, there are formidable environmental challenges it must overcome in the construction phase.

June 16, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

Although cities are looking to technology to help them better connect to their residents, get them involved in decision making, and share data, Silicon Valley has been slow to catch on. Emily Badger looks at one company trying to change this.

June 14, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities