CP&DR

District Considers Public Housing for Teachers

Feb 1, 2001

Deals, Morris Newman, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

We were driving up the coastal area of hilly San Mateo County, just north of Silicon Valley, when we saw something ahead on the shoulder of the road. When we got a little closer, we saw it was a middle-aged man wearing a tweed jacket with elbow patches. He was holding up a sign: "WILL TEACH SCHOOL FOR HOUSING." While this story is fictitious, the need for affordable housing for teachers in the Bay Area is very real. Several school boards, including those in San Francisco, San Jose and M...

SF Bay's Health Could Depend on More development

Feb 1, 2001

Environment Watch, John Krist, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

For more than a century, commercial and residential development has been consuming the wetlands, tidal flats and beaches surrounding San Francisco Bay, the largest and most biologically rich estuary on the West Coast. Now, those same development forces may help reverse the trend, making possible the restoration of thousands of acres of critical wildlife habitat. Although one would assume that environmentalists welcome the change, the prospect has not been embraced wholeheartedly by the...

Bay Area Is Next

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Featured Articles, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

While the regional housing needs debate drags on in the southern part of the state, the nine-county Association of Bay Area Governments is finalizing its Regional Housing Needs Determination for the 1999-2006 planning cycle. Although, ABAG's process of allocating 230,000 housing units to its jurisdictions has not been without bumps, it does not show signs of derailing. Only 10 jurisdictions appealed ABAG housing targets, with a decision due on those requests at the end of January. The apparent...

Downtown Cinemania Fades to Black

Feb 1, 2001

Stephen Svete, Trends, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

The act of going downtown to see a movie is another great example of America's nostalgic relationship with its urban past — kind of like shoeshine boys, hopping onto streetcars, and tossing nickels at newsboys shouting headlines. Nostalgia aside, the post-war suburbanization of culture led to a downtown exodus not only of housing, offices, and retail, but also of cinemas.

Adult Business: U.S. Supreme Court Won't Resolve Permit Application Process Conflict

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

The U.S. Supreme Court has dropped its consideration of a case that many people hoped would resolve conflicts over processing of adult business permit applications. The court dismissed a case from Wisconsin because the adult business had withdrawn its application, so "the case no longer qualifies for judicial review," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for a unanimous court. The court had accepted the case because lower courts differ on the meaning of "prompt judicial review." The court in FW/PBS v. Da...

Inverse Condemnation: Jury Awards san Diego Commerical Builder $94.5 Million for Damages

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

A San Diego County Superior Court jury has awarded a developer $94.5 million in damages in an inverse condemnation lawsuit. The developer of a struggling business park near the Mexican border filed the lawsuit after arguing with the city since the early 1990s. Roque de la Fuente II contended in court that the city breached a 1986 development agreement, dooming development of his 312-acre business park. De la Fuente contended the city made permits difficult to obtain by increasing fees and conditions...

BIDS: Business Improvements District Is Told to Conduct Meetings in Public

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

A Hollywood property owners association that governs a business improvement district must abide by local government open meeting laws, the Second District Court of Appeal has ruled. The unanimous three-judge panel held that the City of Los Angeles "created" the Hollywood Entertainment District Property Owners Association (POA) to assume the city's legislative functions regarding the Hollywood Entertainment District II Business Improvement District. The court rejected the argument that the POA, which i...

Municipal Liability: Neighboring Property Owner Loses Lawsuit Over City's Building Review

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

A state appellate court has rejected the argument of a landowner who claimed that the City of Fort Bragg was liable for losses suffered when the city approved an adjacent building. In 1997, the city granted a building permit to David Codling for construction of a two-story building on a vacant lot next to the Barracks Mall, a two-story structure with businesses on the ground floor and apartments above. The Barracks Mall had been built to the lot line, and the city allowed Codling to do the same — putt...

Bush Team Could Have Significant Impact on Resources in the Golden State

Feb 1, 2001

Insight, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001, William Fulton

xz Despite a thin mandate and a deadlocked Congress, incoming President George W. Bush is likely to make significant changes in shaping the federal government's role over California's land resources. In particular, his provocative selection of former Colorado Attorney General Gail Norton as Interior secretary is likely to create a major shift in the way the federal government approaches management of federal lands in California – and may also signal a shift in the way the Endangered Species Act is...

Slow-Growth Politics Gain in Fast-Growing Temecula

by Paul Shigley on Feb 1, 2001

Local Watch, Paul Shigley, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

Two years ago, heavy equipment churned up dust and closed lanes on nearly every major street in Temecula. The city was in the midst of a $60 million road improvement project undertaken to help catch up with rapid growth that has characterized the southwestern Riverside County community for years. In retrospect, the massive road project could not have come at a better time for slow-growth advocates, who in November 1999 elected two of their own to the City Council. The council now has a 3-2 pro-growth ...