State bond money and local tax dollars are flowing into new school construction at record rates, and school officials are learning that a "green" campus is both better for students and teachers and is less expensive to operate.

Many things have improved in the past 30 years. Examples are the quality of digital cameras, the design of camping tents and the critical standing of comic books. Others have gotten worse, such as gasoline prices, the narrowing separation between church and state and the reputation of postmodern architecture. But - has sustainable planning gotten better or worse?

Marin County has adopted a new general plan that emphasizes "sustainable communities" and reflects a strong concern about global climate change. Although the Board of Supervisors adopted the Marin Countywide Plan only in November, there is already evidence the plan could serve as a model for other jurisdictions in California and across the country.

A roundup of green news: San Francisco may soon have the most stringent environmental building standards in the country; the state's "million solar roofs initiative" gets a slow start; new Oakland office tower would be among the tallest and greenest.

Green building strategies are being embraced by a growing number of local and state governments. In some cases, the trend is being driven by a desire to reduce water and electrical use in areas where those critical resources are in limited supply or costly to import. Some elected officials also seem motivated, however, by frustration over the Bush administration's foot-dragging in response to scientific warnings about global warming, and are determined to take steps on their own to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Cities and counties cannot regulate tailpipe emissions or, for the most part, coal-burning power plants. They can, however, regulate land use and building design, and that's where they are focusing.

A federal law protecting religious institutions from land use regulations does not extend to a Masonic Temple operated for commercial purposes, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled.

A federal judge has told Half Moon Bay to pay a property owner for making his property unbuildable; Placer County has sued a former planning commissioner for alleged Subdivision Map Act improprieties; government agencies are suing over a San Diego State expansion plan; Humboldt County has dropped proposed timber zoning resrictions; and more news about flood issues in Sacramento.

The housing market flopped, and global warming became an issue of overarching concern. Without question, those were the two biggest land use stories of 2007 here in California. Those two stories alone made it a big year for California land use news.

Of course, those of us who write about land use in California like to think that every year is a big year for land-use news. After all, with 100 million acres and 37.7 million people, California has the right basic ingredients.

We have heard, with sadness, that his Honor the Mayor of Los Angeles and his special friend of some months, Ms. Mirthala Salinas, former political reporter for Telemundo, have called it quitsville. The great hook-up of power with beauty, of City Hall and Spanish-language media, of two lonely narcissists, each in search of the perfect audience, is over. And with that romance, an era passes.

Larry Livingston, who died the other day at the age of 89, was one of California planning's true pioneers. And through a courageous public declaration of his own disillusionment, he became a symbol of the practicing planner's frustration.

Proponents of placing land use ballot measures before voters in San Mateo and Riverside have lost separate appellate court rulings.

Blackwater in Iraq means a swirl of controversy over private security forces guarding American diplomats – a job that in the past was done by uniformed U.S. military personnel.

The City of Sacramento took a giant leap on Tuesday when the City Council approved Thomas Enterprises' plan to redevelop the rail yards just north of downtown. But there is no guarantee the direction that Sacramento leaped is forward.

Driving through the Napa Valley last Saturday, the feeling crept over me once again. It's an uneasy, hemmed-in feeling that I often get while traversing the floor of this long, narrow, beautiful valley. Grapevines to the right. Grapevines to the left. Grapevines behind me. Grapevines in front of me.

Okay, I admit it. I felt claustrophobic.