California

While transportation activists in Los Angeles are getting behind a plan to cram 30 years of transportation projects into a decade, environmentalists in nearby San Diego want to do 50 years worth in the same amount of time.

January 26, 2011 - Streetsblog LA

Artist Tracy Snelling makes obsessively detailed miniature reconstructions of mundane landscapes like liquor stores, strip clubs, McDonalds and Walmarts.

January 25, 2011 - Hi Fructose

Redevelopment agencies are vital to job creation and necessary for central cities to stem suburban job sprawl, claims Gerald Metcalf, executive director of a SF urban think tank (SPUR), countering CA Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed elimination of them.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle - Sunday Insight

There are 12 community benefit districts in San Francisco, which raise their own taxes to create funds for various local projects. But some argue they favor big businesses.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle

A group of city leaders and activists gathered in Sacramento to protest Governor Jerry Brown's plan to close the state's redevelopment agencies.

January 24, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently visited Washington D.C. to discuss his plans for expedited transit projects in L.A., but the new congressional leadership is not as supportive as the old.

January 22, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Rising sea waters are eroding the coast of California. The City of Ventura faces reality, and moves a wasting bike path inland.

January 20, 2011 - The Los Angeles Times

Redevelopment agency officials throughout California are moving rapidly to prevent a threatened takeover by the state (to reduce deficit) by signing deals on projects potentially prematurely. LA just turned $1 billion in 275 projects to the city.

January 20, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Three California schools are seeking to quantify the effects of efficiency-conscious driving in a study to establish a baseline for drivers' behavior.

January 19, 2011 - TheCityFix

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood responds to a Washington Post editorial that condemned not only the California High Speed Rail project, but President Obama's vision for a national high-speed rail network.

January 17, 2011 - The Washington Post

For many immigrants in Los Angeles, bicycling is the only viable way to get around. A group of activists is trying to make that transportation reality safer and more reliable.

January 14, 2011 - Good

Motorists driving into San Francisco during the morning rush hour are getting onto the Bay Bridge four minutes faster since July, largely due to congestion pricing.

January 14, 2011 - AltTransport

The city still known for its smog will not have its buses to blame - the last of its diesel-fueled ones retired Jan. 12 in a celebration. All but 7 of the 2,221 buses will be compressed-natural-gas powered; electric and gas-electric the remainder.

January 13, 2011 - Los Angeles Times: Environment

Mayor Villaraigosa of L.A. and Mayor Chuck Reed of San Jose have both spoken publicly against Governor Jerry Brown's plan to eliminate all of the state's redevelopment agencies to save cash.

January 12, 2011 - Curbed LA

Just as failing industries marked the decline of the Midwest after WWII (hence the name 'Rust Belt'), the new declining cities will be denoted by their percentage of foreclosures, found particularly in California, the Southwest, and Florida.

January 10, 2011 - International Business Times

California's high-speed rail project is in fact going to be built despite the state's looming budget crisis, but many are beginning to question what kind of impact the project will have if the right development around train stations is not met.

January 7, 2011 - The Bay Citizen

As San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom prepares to leave for Sacramento to become Lt. Governor, he praises the latest road diet plan - reducing busy Cesar Chavez St. from 6-4 lanes with landscaped median and bike lanes and views it as part of his legacy

January 7, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle

It's not just the High Speed Rail project making news these days in California. The three 79 mph, state-subsidized inter-city lines: Capitol Corridor, San Joaquin, and Pacific Surfliner (nation's second busiest), all registered riderships gains.

January 7, 2011 - San Francisco Chronicle

Eli Broad, a powerful force in the Los Angeles art world, today unveils the design for a $130 million building that will house his personal contemporary art collection. Broad hopes it will help be part of a revitalization of downtown L.A.

January 6, 2011 - The Los Angeles Times

California Governor Jerry Brown is settling into his new office by taking on one of the state's most controversial laws: the property tax increase limits enforced by Proposition 13.

January 6, 2011 - Los Angeles Times