California
Richard Meier Church Sent Back to Drawing Board
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.
L.A.'s Billboard War
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.
Cracking San Francisco's Private/Public Spaces
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.
The Tortoise and the Glare
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.
Even for SF, Congestion Pricing "Too Much"
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.
New Yorkers Stem Tide To Florida
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.
Alternative Energy Grid Vs. Locals and Enviros
PBS' NOW goes to California to look at new state requirements for renewable energy, and the battle over where the new infrastructure will go.
Big Ads are Hazards to Safety, Business
Outdoor signs, some of them quite large, have gone up around Los Angeles despite a 90-day moratorium on them. Tenants of buildings with such multistory "supergraphics" draped over their windows share their grief.
Carbon Emitters Anonymous
Berkeley, California has launched a citywide program that offers support to residents who wish to reduce their carbon footprints. Like Alcoholics Anonymous, these support groups are "part social, part confessional and partly about accountability."
Key Highway Lawsuit Settled In California
One down, nine to go - that's how many hwy projects Gov. Schwarzenegger wants exempted from environmental review in order to be 'shovel ready' for the Obama stimulus. Hwy 50 was settled to the delight of enviros who negotiated a big win for transit.
States Prepare To Raise Gas Taxes
Plummeting gas prices, roads in disrepair, and soaring state deficits have caused some state politicians to, gasp, attempt to raise gas taxes - last raised over 15 years ago in some states.
Cars Are Here To Stay, Transit Is Not The Answer
UC Davis Professor Daniel Sperling, a transportation expert and member of CA's ARB has co-written "Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability". In this radio interview, Sperling describes cleaner auto technologies but dismisses transit's role.
Seeking Sponsors As Infrastructure Dies
This piece from New Geography looks disparagingly at an idea in San Francisco to allow corporate sponsorship of the Golden Gate Bridge in order to raise money for infrastructure projects.
Restoring the San Joaquin
One of the largest and most complex river restorations in the West, on the San Joaquin River, should pass the Senate later this week- but not without controversy.
No Superfund Status for Rocketdyne Site
California has rejected a proposal to list a polluted nuclear testing facility as a federal Superfund site. State officials believe they can clean it up more quickly and thoroughly.
'Green' Governor Fast-Tracks Highway Construction
Environmentalists reject CA Gov. Schwarzenegger's attempt to waive new highway construction projects from environmental review to qualify for Obama's stimulus package, offering 'fix-it-first' construction and public transit projects as alternatives.
SF's Parking Experiment to Test Shoup's Theories
San Francisco's federally-funded parking experiment SFPark will be a live test of the theories of dynamic parking management popularized by Donald Shoup.
Critics May Miss The Green Point of the SmartCode
Communities aren't going to get a green code implemented, or any code, without that code appealing to developers, says Sandy Sorlien. They're building our new sustainable places and infilling our old ones.
California's High Speed Rail Struggles Through Recession
The economic recession is hurting the California High Speed Rail Authority, the lead agency developing the high speed rail network for which the state's voters approved $10 billion in bonds in 2008. With no buyers, the bond money is unavailable.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
