Speaker Toni Atkins of the California Assembly on October 2 appointed Gail Goldberg to one of two new public-member positions on the Strategic Growth Council (SGC). The SGC is about to set major aspects of policy for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities cap-and-trade grantmaking program. (See prior coverage at http://www.cp-dr.com/articles/node-3578.)
Goldberg is executive director of the Urban Land Institute -- Los Angeles. Atkins' announcement statement noted Goldberg's record includes service as planning director for both Los Angeles and San Diego.
As San Diego's planning director, Goldberg championed the "City of Villages" infill development strategy. Later as Los Angeles' planning director under Mayor Antonio Villraigosa, she kick-started long-delayed community plans including the controversial Hollywood community plan and took the lead in promoting Villaraigosa's "elegant density" concept.
[Updated 10/3/14:] The Urban Land Institute's response to the appointment provides further detail on Goldberg's career, board memberships and honors, which have included service on the Statewide Coordinating Committee for the Urban Land Institute's California Smart Growth Initiative.
SB 862, the budget bill that created the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, added two "public members" to the SGC: one to be chosen by the Speaker of the Assembly and the other by the State Senate Rules Committee. Goldberg is the Speaker's choice. As of this writing there was no word on an appointment from the Rules Committee.
Until this year the SGC had eight board members: the Director of State Planning and Research, six state agency secretaries, and one "public member" appointed by the Governor, who is currently billionaire Bob Fisher.
SB 862 reads in part: "The public members shall have a background in land use planning, local government, resource protection and management, or community development or revitalization and shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority."
