Death by Gentrification: Review of ‘How to Kill a City’
A few weeks ago, Richard Florida assured me and a roomful of other journalists that “not everything is a neoliberal plot.” Tell it to Peter Moskowitz.
Why Cities Should Back Off of Setbacks
For all their popularity, setbacks have little basis in engineering or architecture. They are simply regulatory whims.
It’s Time to Stop Demonization of Developers
Among the grandiose promises, half-truths, and outright whoppers that sponsors of Measure S proffered, one of the most consistent messages concerned the depravity of real estate developers.
Post-Recession, Master Planned Communities Come Back to Life
Ontario Ranch is but the most massive of a new generation of large master planned communities that are in various stages of development statewide. Technically, Ontario Ranch is an annexation, consisting of nine master-planned communities that are enormous — on the order of several thousand residential units — in their own right.
Coalitions Square Off Over Los Angeles Anti-Growth Measure
Measure S, on the March 7 citywide ballot, is by many accounts the apotheosis of so-called ballot-box planning – for better or worse.
Tech Windfall, Deportation Order Threaten to Snap Los Angeles in Half
Deportation is — to say the least — the most perverse way to solve a housing crisis.
Richard Florida’s Reckoning: Review of The New Urban Crisis
Richard Florida’s forthcoming book, The New Urban Crisis, will likely elicit one of two responses.
Richard Florida’s Reckoning: Review of ‘The New Urban Crisis
Today, many cities, and perhaps Florida himself, have become victims of their own success.
California’s Nastiest Urban-Rural Rivalry
Nasty as it sounds, Green Acres ‘Farm’ in Kern County is an apt symbol of the symbiosis between rural and urban areas.
How CEQA Helped Elect Trump
This year, while NIMBY’s were tittering about LULU’s, the “drill baby drill” crowd was marshaling its forces.
Dispute over Gas Station Erupts into Legal Battle in Sacramento
A permit for gas pumps at mixed use project in Sacramento has led to a protracted legal battle and a rare lawsuit against a city.
Revamp of Fresno Plans, Zoning Code Aims to Create “Next Great American Downtown”
Last month, the Fresno City Council approved a package of plans and regulations for greater downtown Fresno, including the urban core and surrounding neighborhoods.
Calexit in Reverse
If Donald Trump threatens to pull the nation back into the past, I suggest that California remains — as ever — its future.
California Voters Face Bumper Crop of Land Use Ballot Measures
While the presidential race has put the charms of federalism on full display, direct democracy has never been more robust than it is in California this election cycle. In jurisdictions of all sizes, Californians face the biggest crop of land-use ballot measures in years.
From Shanghai to Westchester: LAX Caught between Local, Global Forces
LAX is always under construction or renovation –in sometimes valiant, sometimes halfhearted, usually halting attempts to spruce up L.A.’s “nine terminals linked by a traffic jam.” It’s one traffic jam that may finally end.
Art Review: Ed Ruscha and the Great American West
No artist has ever depicted Los Angeles like Ed Ruscha. It’s worth a trip to San Francisco to see the de Young’s retrospective.