Housing Vs. Industry

As California's housing boom continues, finding sufficient land to enable businesses to expand is becoming increasingly challenging. The potential impacts on California's economy will be dramatic.

1 minute read

March 14, 2006, 2:00 PM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"Large tracts of land are increasingly hard to find in California's crowded cities. Freeways are more congested than ever. Elected officials and environmentalists are clamoring for developers to build new houses within existing urban boundaries instead of fostering more traffic and sprawl.

At the same time, California lost nearly 340,000 manufacturing jobs in the last five years, making some industrial zones look like remnants of a more vibrant age.

...But as a flood of houses and condominiums has been proposed over the last several years where smokestacks once belched, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities in California and throughout the country have been pressed to protect the ugly ducklings of urban land use â€" industrial neighborhoods.

...As planner [William] Fulton points out, 'housing developers can outbid just about anybody for any land.' And in crowded regions like the Los Angeles Basin and the San Francisco Bay Area, housing is as much in demand as jobs."

Thanks to Mindy Oliver

FULL STORY: Seeing Factories as Essential Parts

Monday, March 13, 2006 in The Los Angeles Times

Community / Economic Development Land Use California

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