Growing up Urban

The political climate of land-use planning

For decades, devising a clear solution for California’s suburban sprawl and ensuing car culture has been the Holy Grail for smart-growth advocates. One trip on any of the Golden State’s perpetually clogged roadways during peak hours shows how ineffective most of those efforts have been. But with the state’s historic attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in full swing, this might be changing.

As with Assembly Bill 32, the state’s primary greenhouse gas reduction plan, the impetus for this shift has come via state lawmakers in the form of Senate Bill 375, a measure that requires regional planners to make greenhouse gas reduction part of their overall growth strategy. In theory, the measure, authored by Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a former Sacramento councilman, will do a lot more than that. According to the law’s proponents, SB 375 could finally push California developers out of the sprawl business and toward creating more sustainable communities where people live closer to public transit and their jobs. (click title to continue reading)

Rich Ehisen

Rich Ehisen is an award-winning journalist, editor, and public speaker who has spent more than twenty-five years interviewing and reporting on politicians, athletes, authors, CEOs, celebrities, artists, cops, doers, and dreamers all over the country. He is the managing editor of the State Net Capitol Journal, a LexisNexis publication that covers all 50 statehouses, and his freelance work has appeared in a variety of publications across the country.

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