skip to main |
skip to sidebar
After attending a workshop on discussing the California Environmental Quality Act or CEQA as so many people have come to call it, I have been compelled to write about it. Since its first adoption in 1970 by then Governor Ronald Reagan (a bipartisan effort) this statue has been California's most powerful piece of environmental legislation. Because of it, countless communities have been able to challenge developers and corporations from increasing pollution and toxic waster in their neighborhoods.
Most recently, I have heard of the Chevron oil refinery located in Richmond, CA (near the Bay Area). Community organizations and residents continue to challenge big corporations in an age where it is increasingly expensive to do so.
Currently, the Governor of California is proposing exempting 125 projects over a 5 year period from having to comply to CEQA. Read the articles and make up your own mind. But it doesn't look good.
The California League of Conservation Voters has an action page up for you to contact your legislators to tell them how you feel about this, but its going to be a hard battle to protect this statute and ensure that the quality of life of Californians will be protected. I'm going to do that right now.
I stumbled upon this latest report published by the Public Policy Institute of California that will hopefully shed some light on the enormous problems facing the state, only a microcosm of the entire country and the global issue. The report, California: Planning for a Better Future 2025 is a report that I would like to discuss in greater detail, but wanted to ponder of it a bit.
With the backdrop of yesterday's announcement from the City Controller of Los Angeles, Wendy Greuel that the city is essentially broke and will be unable to pay city employees starting on May 5 if nothing is done, this raises questions about how money is being spent locally and how we continue to fall into greater and greater debt. Not only did the U.S. taxpayer bail out banks, but now our cities are falling apart at a faster rate. Our urban places are going to suffer if we are not able to think of fresh new ideas to fix our broken systems of governance. More to come on the unending saga of City of L.A. bankruptcy, but for now, we'll just pondering over the PPIC report.
I just heard about this conference coming up in Kentucky (who would have thought?) on creative cities. Having written my final graduate project on the concepts of creative economies and creative cities, of course I am intrigued that Richard Florida is one of the speakers (his concept of the rise of the creative class was pretty simplistic, but did bring the idea of creative cities out into the mainstream). In any case, I am hoping to find out some info on the updates of the conference when it starts in a couple of days.
I have been motivated to begin to blog given the swift changes that have been occurring in the United States in recent days. After hearing President Obama speak of his proposal to begin offshore drilling after three decades, I am appalled by his audacity to claim that the U.S. needs to rely more on "homegrown fuels and clean energy" when really what is the core issue of minimizing energy consumption altogether. A definite unpopular issue, but critical to the future of our cities and the country.
This week has also sparked the end of the first transit system that I have heard halting service because of the economic crisis. Clayton County, Georgia transit system is no longer functioning, while people are stranded figuring out how to get to work and school in an around Atlanta's suburbia is disheartening. The urban poor and forgotten in this case, when really, the fundamental right of access is being violated all in the name of a global economic crisis.
These were two events that were fundamentally pivotal in the conception of the blog. I look forward to posting thoughts on events happening in and around Los Angeles and beyond. I am excited that this is the beginning of a new project, called thoughtful urbanism.
