California

High-Speed Rail: What's Good for Texas Is Good for California
It's becoming clear that Texas will beat California to having the first all high-speed train on the continent. Ethan Elkind suggests three ways that success for Texas Central's Dallas-to-Houston line will benefit the struggling California project.

Los Angeles Adds New Developer Fee to Pay for Parks
The city of Los Angeles has been improving its parks resources for several years, and a new funding mechanism should help continue that trend.

San Francisco Working on a New 'Subway Vision'
Planners in San Francisco have completed a public outreach process called Subway Vision. The goal is to create a framework for subway expansion in the city.

4 Ideas for Overhauling the Los Angeles Department of City Planning
A tradition as old as the Planning Department itself: proposing reforms to the planning and development approvals process in the city of Los Angeles.

L.A. Metro's Innovation Chief on the Appeal of P3s
The Office of Extraordinary Innovation at Los Angeles Metro is just over a year old. KPCC checks in.

Oakland's Lack of Affordable Housing Declared 'Public Health Crisis'
There's a physical cost to rising rents, and Oakland residents are paying the price.

Urban Growth Boundaries Gone Awry: Protection Without Infill
Joe Mathews of Zócalo Public Square views with a great deal of skepticism the urban growth boundaries the voters of Ventura County adjacent to Los Angeles County have enacted since 1995 due to the lack of infill. Another measure is on the ballot.

Google to Launch Rideshare in Bay Area
The service would operate through Waze, and take a different approach than Uber or Lyft.

Four Ways L.A. Metro Is Increasing Affordable Housing
A median-income family in the L.A. metro area spends 73 percent of their income on housing and transportation alone. L.A. Metro explains why and how they're taking huge steps to get affordable housing on land they own—where it will do the most good.

Theme Park Urbanism
An op-ed rejects a notion of urbanism that would find a home in Disneyland, for a version of urbanism that deploys the best efficiencies and benefits of the built environment.

State Law Paves the Way for More Granny Flats in California
The state of California stepped into to make it easier for local governments to approve permissive regulations of accessory dwelling units.
Over $14 Million Awarded to Eight Projects to Find Alternatives to Gas Taxes
The U.S. Department of Transportation is funding ways to transition from the gas tax to other user-based revenue mechanisms to fund transportation infrastructure. The federal gas tax hasn't keep pace with transportation expenditures since 2008.

White Flight Continues From Ethnoburbs Around the Country
As affluent whites have returned to more urban areas, some might think that white flight is a relic of the 20th century, but overwhelming evidence shows that white flight continues, just in a different place and time.
Cap-and-Trade Bill Boosts California's Struggling Biomass Facilities
California's new rigorous renewable portfolio standard of 50 percent by 2030 will support a renewable energy source that serves the dual purpose of reducing forest fire hazards.

Demographic Changes and Environmental Leadership in Sacramento
It has been a good year for environmentalists, but it hasn't come easily, as seen in the much-celebrated but delayed passage of SB 32 that continues the landmark emissions reductions first set in 2006. Joe Mathews explains the transitions underway.

Planetizen Week in Review: September 3, 2016
Books! Maps! Data! Renderings! What more could you want from one week?

Serenity Now! BART Finds a Solution to Its Screeching Trains
BART trains have always made a lot of noise—impacting riders and the people who live along the regional system's routes. Now there's hope that the racket could be a thing of the past.

Compromise Reached on $1.4 Billion in California Cap-and-Trade Proceeds
An earlier announcement awarded almost $400 million to transit agencies, but left a larger chunk of these funds still unsettled. On Wednesday, leaders agreed on a $900 million expenditure plan to cut emissions and address social concerns.

Mapping L.A.'s Zoning Changes Finds Little Room for Upzoning
A new study makes a visual case against the narrative that spot zoning and a broken development approval process are running roughshod over the entire city.

Los Angeles Wants to Use Housing Money to Boost MLS Soccer Stadium
Critics say the HUD program is meant to fund more direct anti-poverty measures, like affordable housing—not office, retail, and attractions.
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