Voters and elected officials adopt policies on assurances of beneficial impacts, but they often interact with other decrees to produce what are called “unintended consequences.” Redevelopment has been a classic example for nearly seven decades, and it may be on the verge of another twist. Redevelopment, authorized in the early 1950s, was aimed at encouraging […]
California fire officials have learned through hard experience to temper their optimism. Having just endured more than a decade of rampaging fires — 14 of the 20 most destructive fires in state history have occurred since 2007 — fire bosses say this year the glass is half-full. “We’ve got a few things going for us […]
We live in volatile economic times, with global markets reacting moment by moment to the latest bits of data and the utterances of central bankers and politicians — even the tweets from the White House. California’s economy is much too big — the fifth largest in the world, we are constantly reminded — to avoid […]
Pacific Gas and Electric’s customers were warned about the cost of massive wildfires that it may have sparked. Even before California’s largest utility filed bankruptcy proceedings at the start of the year, lawyers, policymakers and consumer advocates all cautioned that the company’s liabilities in those fires would, one way or another, hit the pocketbooks of […]
Is the cleanest, greenest electricity in the world green enough for California? For years, the people of the Northern San Joaquin Valley have been trying to get hydropower recognized for what it is: the original source of clean electricity. Our efforts have been stymied by people who feel entitled to decide what is, or isn’t, […]
When Michele Beserra looks at her 3-year-old granddaughter, she sees a warm, loving girl with light brown curls and a nurturing instinct—the kind of person she hopes will become a nurse or a community advocate. But the 56-year-old Beserra becomes emotional when she thinks about her granddaughter’s new home: a tent on a plot of […]
Most of us learned the dangers of making political predictions about 31 months ago. But it’s still pretty hard to resist. So with the prospect of a major battle over Proposition 13 looming on next year’s general election ballot, the likely combatants on both sides of the split roll fight are sifting through the results […]
We’ve all seen it, the smoker who takes one last drag and flicks the cigarette butt onto the ground. It’s instant litter that California Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson wants to prevent by banning the filters in most cigarettes. The Democrat from Santa Barbara’s bill, SB 424, would ban filtered cigarettes, disposable plastic holders and mouthpieces, and […]
A few things about summertime in California have become utterly predictable: cineplex superheroes, beach crowds and a record-setting state budget. Two years ago, we told you the state’s budget hit $180 billion—and that with that money you could buy the Los Angeles Lakers 60 times over. Last summer, the state budget set a new high […]
Let me start with an admission: government officials—at all levels—don’t do a good job of engaging the public as we grapple with big, complex challenges. Hearings only go so far. Videos and social posts get into only so much detail and nuance. And, most importantly, most of what we do is based on how we […]
Work used to be much simpler for the California Department of Transportation: widen highways, fill potholes, build new freeways. Alas, those quaint days are gone. To get an idea of what planners must prepare for, state officials recently hosted a demonstration of a drone air taxi that will require devising a “highway above the ground,” […]
An unprecedented haul of tax dollars generated by a roaring economy. A governor who campaigned on a big-ticket policy agenda of long-time lefty favorites, including universal childcare and state-funded healthcare for all. A Legislature so thoroughly packed with Democrats it gives rise to a new term—”giga-majority.” Californians could be forgiven for expecting it all to […]
When the year began, the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom had just two must-do jobs – pass a state budget and do something meaningful about the state’s chronic and corrosive shortage of housing. The budget is a slam-dunk, thanks to the state’s fat treasury. Housing, however, is a smellier kettle of political fish. Midway through […]
In January, two of the biggest adversaries in California housing politics appeared on the verge of detente. California developers and the construction unions that build their homes were reportedly near a deal that both sides hoped would unleash a bounty of homebuilding across the state. Developers would agree to employ more unionized carpenters, plumbers and […]
Throughout college, Atticus Reyes traveled an hour each way from his upper valley home in Ojai to Cal State Channel Islands a few miles off Ventura County’s expansive coastline. Reyes arranged his first two years of classes so he would only be on campus two days a week—a strategy that allowed him to avoid hundreds […]