When Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network CEO Russell Hancock talks about transforming El Camino Real into the Northern California version of the Avenues des Champs Elysees, one begins to wonder what color the sky is in his world.
The feds influence planning and development in California only indirectly. Environmental regulation such as the Endangered Species Act and the way money is spent, especially on transportation, help shape the landscape.
It has been a long time since that influence has changed. But in the next 12 months, two federal bills are likely to chart the federal course for the next decade or longer.
The City of Fresno's policy of not requiring mitigations for developments' impact on state highways is illegal, according to the Fifth District Court of Appeal.
If anything has become clear during the months since voters approved a $19.9 billion transportation bond last November, it's that freeways are still king. The first $4.5 billion allocated by the California Transportation Commission (CTC) was aimed solely at roads, mostly for expanding freeway capacity. Another $3 billion for pavement — including $1 billion for Highway 99 — is scheduled for allocation by June.
Parking is the demon of urban design. Like a gargoyle on a tower thumbing its nose at passers-by below, California's inflexible parking requirements seem to mock developers, housing advocates and city officials alike. >>read more
President Bush's signature on the federal transportation bill in August opened the spigot for $21.6 billion in federal money for California. The bill funds hundreds of specific projects, ranging from a $25 million "non-motorized transportation pilot program" in Marin County to carpool lanes on the San Diego Freeway in Los Angeles to a study of a new transportation corridor between western Riverside County and Orange County. >>read more
The California High-Speed Rail Authority finds itself living something of a double life these days. The authority has received great interest since the September 11 terrorist attacks, yet the authoirty is going broke and could close down in 2002.
