Smart Growth vs. Wisely Planned Communities

Over the past several years, a new catch phrase has sprung up in the environmental community: “smart growth”. It arose as environmentalists struggled to find an attractive alternative to the low-density auto-oriented development that has become endemic to American suburban areas. [Read More]

Does CEQA have a future?

Ever since its scope was defined in Friends of Mammoth v. Board of Supervisors (1972) 8 Cal.3d 247, 259 [104 Cal.Rptr. 761, 502 P.2d 1049], CEQA has become a bone of contention between environmentalists on the one side and development interests on the other. One primary reason for this is that CEQA, unlike NEPA, has some teeth. [Read More]

A Short Diatribe on Political Campaign Reform

It’s hard these days to find anyone who’ll openly take the position that they oppose campaign reform. Just as George Bush Sr. could declare himself an environmentalist during the 1992 Presidential campaign, most politicians, indeed, even representatives of special interests, profess support for campaign reform. [Read More]