California

Futurist Dr. Ray Kurzweil is part of a team of big thinkers on the faculty of Singularity University, a joint project of Google and NASA with a mission to solve "humanity's grand challenges."

February 3, 2009 - TechCrunch

As part of the city's drawn-out battle with outdoor advertisers, Los Angeles officials have ordered building owners to remove "supergraphic" ads plastered to the sides of large buildings.

February 3, 2009 - The New York Times

A program known as ‘cash for clunkers’ is being considered for inclusion in the Senate stimulus package to make the U.S. auto fleet more fuel-efficient and stimulate demand for new, cleaner cars. Will the older vehicles will be scrapped or resold?

February 2, 2009 - Bloomberg News

Artist Joshua Callaghan paints over utility boxes in his community to make them disappear into their surroundings.

February 2, 2009 - Joshua Callaghan

Republicans are using the budgetary process to roll-back environmental protections, claim environmentalists in California. The state is due to run out of funds in Feb and issue I.O.U.s unless the $18 billion gap is filled for the current fiscal year

February 2, 2009 - The Sacramento Bee

SF Streetsblog looks at cities that have timed traffic lights on busy bike streets to best suit their pace, and argues that Valencia St. in San Francisco is a prime candidate for retiming. (VIDEO)

February 1, 2009 - Streetsblog

Tijuana is literally built with the development waste of nearby San Diego, California. This video by Laura Hanna shows how.

January 31, 2009 - The Nation

Less than a year ago, downtown Los Angeles was seen as a rising star, on a path towards becoming a vibrant and humming urban core. But the economic dive has stalled many projects, and they could be stalled for quite a while, according to this column.

January 30, 2009 - Los Angeles Magazine

The Internet is a trove of great ideas about improving cities. Filling blogs and personal websites, the vast majority of ideas out there are little more than that: ideas. New York City's Streetsblog -- now a growing nationwide force -- is transforming the conversation into action.

January 29, 2009 - Mike Lydon

"Level of service" is a ranking used by transportation engineers to assess the performance of roads. Streetsblog argues that LOS distorts the development of mobility infrastructure by prioritizing cars over people.

January 27, 2009 - StreetsBlog-SF

Too important to fail? Victorville and Norco, CA have approved loans to local car dealers to keep them afloat.

January 27, 2009 - The Wall St. Journal

In a move that will disappoint auto manufacturers and labor but was met with great applause by the environmental community, Obama has taken the first step to granting CA's request for a waiver so it can set its own, stricter emission standards.

January 27, 2009 - CNN Politics

The Pasadena Planning Commission has again rejected famed architect Richard Meier's plans for an Episcopal church in the city center. Commissioners believe the plan does not fit with Pasadena's historic character.

January 26, 2009 - The Architect's Newspaper

L.A. is at war with outdoor advertising. Though activists have urged the city to make moves to block video billboards, it's not really clear which side is winning the war, according to this piece from Design Observer.

January 26, 2009 - Design Observer

San Francisco building codes encouraged the creation of privately-owned, publicly-accessible spaces across the downtown. These spaces have gone underused and are little understood. A new report from SPUR attempts to clear the fog.

January 24, 2009 - Streetsblog

Plans to scrape hundreds of thousands of acres of the Mojave Desert for solar panel installations may endanger wildlife and are pitting environmentalists against each other.

January 23, 2009 - Salon.com

This editorial argues that the San Francisco isn't ready for a complex scheme that the public dislikes, raises little funding, and would send an 'unwelcome' message to visitors.

January 22, 2009 - San Francisco Chronicle

January 22, 2009 - Nate Berg

It's one of those good news-bad news revelations: the housing and job crises are causing more people to stay put. NY's out-migration was the lowest since the Census tracked outflows in 1982. More residents left Florida than arrived, a first.

January 21, 2009 - The New York Times

PBS' NOW goes to California to look at new state requirements for renewable energy, and the battle over where the new infrastructure will go.

January 21, 2009 - NOW