In an indication of the increasingly acrimonious nature of land-use disputes, a prominent San Diego land-use lobbyist and a community activist opposed to a church project sued each other for libel. The activist then filed an anti-SLAPP suit -- which was not successful. Now the lobbyist can move forward with the libel suit.
As a recent San Diego ruling reveals, cities have no choice but to defend their decisions to abide by statutes like the Density Bonus Law. At the same time, they are trying to "thread a needle" to challenge those laws in court.
As the recent fights over housing show, there are not "progressive" and "conservative" cities. There are just cities open to change and cities closed to change.
Cities across California are eliminating parking minimums in order to reduce automobile dependency and promote better urban design. The state legislature is getting in on the act too.
Amid shifting shopping habits, a developer will transform the postmodern concrete fortress of Horton Plaza into a mixed-use technology campus to attract jobs to downtown San Diego.
Cities with big retail and tourists sectors are likely to experience the worst revenue drops immediately; can all cities keep their planners on the payroll?
