Southern California "lifestyle" center developer Rick Caruso won two recent rounds against the owners of traditional shopping malls. The rulings, one published and the other unpublished, both came from the Second District Court of Appeal. >>read more

An attempt to certify the validity of parcels in Ventura County created during the 1940s has been rejected by the Second District Court of Appeal. The court found that the land in question was subdivided illegally during the 1940s, and the county has no obligation to recognize the subdivision now. >>read more

To its supporters, the California Environmental Quality Act is a powerful mechanism for protecting air, water, wildlife, land, public health and safety. Critics, on the other hand, regard it as a powerful mechanism for mischief, allowing activists to delay or halt projects they oppose even if the activists' complaints are without merit. >>read more

Construction is scheduled to begin during the first half of 2006 on what will be, for a short while anyway, the tallest courthouse in California. The federal courthouse at Broadway and State Street in downtown San Diego will reach 22 stories - 407 feet - into the sky. >>read more

State lawmakers are likely to consider numerous bills that could restrict redevelopment authority, require greater state oversight, limit use of eminent domain, ease redevelopment opponents' access to court and impose other requirements on redevelopment agencies. >>read more

Voters in Loma Linda could soon make decisions that greatly affect how the San Bernardino County city of 21,000 people grows. Referendums of two specific plans that call for a total of 2,400 housing units are likely to appear on the June 2006 ballot. And petitions for a general plan initiative are currently circulating.

Slow-growth advocates dominated local balloting during the November special election, winning 16 of 24 easily classifiable local ballot measures. In the northern part of the state, voters rejected large housing projects in Livermore, Davis and Monterey County. Voters did what they could to block redevelopment efforts in Humboldt County and the City of Half Moon Bay. In advisory elections in Amador and Yuba counties, voters said no to Indian casino development. >>read more

Treasure Island has nearly every necessary feature to make it the most exciting new residential development in San Francisco. This 403-acre island between San Francisco and Berkeley has superb views of downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz and Angel islands, and the Bay Area's ridgelines. It has dozens of acres of green fields and an environmentally sensitive coastline, to make it a regional eco-attraction. >>read more

Criticism of the Cal-Fed Bay-Delta Program continued to pile up during November. First, the Department of Finance released a draft report on Cal-Fed implementation that found a mixed record of progress. One week later, the Little Hoover Commission recommended dissolution of the California Bay-Delta Authority, which began overseeing the Cal-Fed program in 2003. >>read more

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a critical habitat designation for the California red-legged frog that is 80% smaller than originally proposed. The Golden Gate Audubon Society and Californians for Renewable Energy have sued Alameda County for their environmental impact report. >>read more

New Jersey is not California. New Jersey is an intense and partisan place filled with rough-and-tumble politics, gritty urban centers both decrepit and revived, political corruption, ethnic tension, and the suburban snobbery that goes with a desire to escape all of the above. >>read more

A water district may enter into a reimbursement agreement with a developer for the construction of oversized infrastructure to support anticipated growth, the state Attorney General's Office has concluded. >>read more

In an unusual case from the wilds of Plumas County, the Third District Court of Appeal has rejected the claims of a property owner who argued that a county ordinance allowing a neighbor's livestock to graze on his land amounted to an unconstitutional taking. >>read more

In a decision similar to other recent rulings, an appellate court has rejected an environmental impact report for a proposed business park in Santa Clarita because the project EIR's discussion of water sources was inadequate. >>read more