Blogs

Given the scarcity of land in urban neighborhoods in California and the costs involved in acquiring land and building new parks, we must consider alternative approaches to meet recreational needs. There is, of course, no substitute for the development of new parks. But we can still pursue innovative, low-impact strategies to maximize recreational opportunities.  After all, though planners and public officials are always going to be compelled to create lasting monuments, recreation can take place in locations other than parks.  

For the handful of cities that have declined to serve as their own successor agencies, Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed governing boards that will oversee the dismantling of those cities' redevelopment agencies. The governor appointed one governing board per county, so in counties with multiple cities without successor agencies, one board will oversee all of those cities. 

Linn Warren, 59, of Davis, has been appointed director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Warren has been a program director at the California Housing Finance Agency since 2010, where he served in multiple positions from 2009 to 2010 and from 1995 to 2006. He was a program advisor at the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency from 2008 to 2009 and a special advisor at the San Jose Department of Housing in 2007. He was vice president at First Nationwide Bank from 1990 to 1995. Warren is a Democrat.

As redevelopment agencies shut down last week, criticism shifted from the decision to dissolve them in the first place to the method by which they were dissolved. Assembly Bill X1 26 has been roundly decried as sloppy legislation that was, according to some potential scenarios, never intended to be implemented. Critics say that its provisions may hinder successor agencies' ability to make bond payments and that it includes ambiguous language that could leave projects in limbo. 

Question: What is sound of urbanism in the California desert?

Answer: The sound of birds chirping. Over outdoor loudspeakers. 

A press release crossed our desk a few days ago, announcing that CT/KDF Community Development Partners has received funding to redevelop four existing retail buildings and make the entire shopping street sing – literally – with the sound of canned birdsong. 

Even though I'm a professional planner and am familiar with the gritty details, I find model cities appealing because they allow me to examine a city from angles and perspectives not possible in real life. The idea of building a city comprehensively from scratch is exciting, especially when compared to the incremental, piecemeal, and fragmented approach to planning most of us have grown accustomed to.  This sort of fantasy is on full display in Metropolis II, a dynamic kinetic sculpture by artist Chris Burden, currently showing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  

Towards the waning moments of yesterday's UCLA Extension Land Use Law and Planning Conference in downtown Los Angeles, I was on the verge of deploying the following tweet via @Cal_Plan: 

"Ucla Land Use Law Conf: am in a roomful of lawyers and all seem in accord: no one has voiced support for death of #redevelopment"

This week, as redevelopment agencies were shutting down in observance of yesterday's dissolution deadline, the State Senate approved a bill that would preserve former redevelopment funds that had been dedicated to the provision of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income residents. Senate Bill 654, sponsored by Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), passed on a vote of 34-1. It now advances to the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee and then to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The California Supreme Court's decision to strike down AB X1 27 and uphold AB X1 26 set off a frantic timeline by which redevelopment agencies essentially must preside over their own funerals while "successor agencies" take control of their assets and contracts. Since the Dec. 29 court decision, at least one legislative effort -- Senate Bill 659 -- and two lawsuits have tried to delay dissolution, but to no avail.

UPDATE: Friday afternoon Superior Court Judge Lloyd G. Connelly refused to grant a stay against the dissolution of redevelopment, rejecting arguments advanced in two separate suits, led by the cities of Cerritos and Carlsbad. The ruling means that the dissolution of redevelopment will proceed Feb. 1 as ordered by the state Supreme Court.

This week Gov. Jerry Brown announced a draft package of reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act. The reforms are intended to streamline and simplify certain types of urban developments in order to reduce costs and hardship for developers who are pursuing environmentally friendly infill projects. 

The reforms, drafted by the Office of Planning and Research, come in accordance with Senate Bill 226 and Assembly Bill 900, both of which were signed into law late last year. 

Despite intense lobbying from supporters of redevelopment, Senate Bill 659, sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles) appears headed for defeat. Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg (D-Sacramento) yesterday told the Sacramento Bee, "It's not going to happen." 

With only a few days to go before the February 1 deadline to dissolve the state's redevelopment agencies, the Department of Finance has published a website describing the dissolution process as mandated by Assembly Bill X1 26. The site is intended to answer a host of questions that have arisen among many agencies and cities throughout the state.