‘We actually have the space to build out’ | How Sacramento and the Bay Area are becoming a mega-region

by Andie Judson :abc10 – excerpt (includes video)

Working from home means you can change where home is. Massive migration in Northern California has impacted housing prices, politics and more in the Sacramento area…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento is changing. 

People are moving here as well as away. It’s indicative of what researchers found and what residents here are seeing — a massive amount of migration is happening in Northern California, especially from the Bay Area to Sacramento.

“We had a decade of change in two years, essentially,” Bernadette Austin, the Executive Director at the UC Davis for Regional Change told ABC10. “And an easy thing to point to is flexible work schedules.”…(more)

Fire Prevention

Saratoga is one of the 6 communities in Santa Clara County with zones designated as Very High Fire Hazard Severity by CAL FIRE. This page describes the City’s efforts to plan for and prevent wildfires. 

Wildland Urban Interface (WUI)

The Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) area of Saratoga is at the greatest risk for wildfire. The WUI covers roughly half the City, covering the western hillsides of Saratoga. This part of the City is subject to special regulations and requirements due to the fire risk. The City works closely with Santa Clara County Fire Department and the Santa Clara County FireSafe Council to help provide information and resources to property owners in the WUI.

• WUI Map (PDF)…

Wildfire Risk Mitigation Policies

Given the potential for wildfire in Saratoga, the City has worked to identify fire-related hazards in the City of Saratoga and measures to mitigate these potential risks.   

• City of Saratoga Safety Element (adopted February 20, 2013) 

The Safety Element helps guide development in the City of Saratoga in a manner that effectively addresses potential hazards, including wildfire, and includes strategies for reducing risks associated with specific hazards.

• Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) (adopted August 1, 2018) 

The CWPP identifies specific wildfire risks in the City of Saratoga and strategies for minimizing those dangers. Since Saratoga is served by two separate fire protection agencies that operate independently of the City, the CWPP calls for a collaborative that includes Santa Clara County Fire, the Saratoga Fire Protection District, other local fire agencies, the City, the County, and other local government organizations, and local non-profit partners… (more)

A New Water Source That Could Make Drought a Thing of the Past

By Ellen Brown : scheerpost – excerpt

Oceans of water are beneath our feet, and new technologies are extracting it economically without ecological damage.

Lack of fresh water is now a global crisis. Water shortages mean food shortages, with hunger creating death tolls substantially exceeding those of the current Covid-19 crisis. According to the United Nations, some 800 million people are without clean water, and 40% of the world’s population is impacted by drought. By one measure, almost 100 percent of the Western United States is currently in drought, setting an all-time 122-year record. Meanwhile, local “water wars” rage, with states, cities and whole countries battling each other for scarce water resources. 

The ideal solution would be new water flows to add to the hydrologic cycle, and promising new scientific discoveries and technologies are holding out that possibility. But mainstream geologists have long contended that water is a fixed, non-renewable resource —and vested interests are happy to profit from that limiting proposition. Declaring water “the new oil,” an investor class of “Water Barons” —including wealthy billionaire tycoons, megabanks, mega-funds and investment powerhouses — has cornered the market by buying up water rights and water infrastructure everywhere. As Jo-Shing Yang, author of “Solving Global Water Crises,” wrote in a 2012 article titled “The New ‘Water Barons’: Wall Street Mega-Banks are Buying up the World’s Water”:…(more)

Housing justice relies on a strong CEQA

By Ashley Werner, Special to CalMatters

For generations, public agencies have directed highways, landfills, meat processing plants, warehouses and other polluting facilities to South Fresno neighborhoods, an area of the San Joaquin Valley that is predominantly populated by lower income households and people of color.

This activity has turned South Fresno into one of the most environmentally burdened neighborhoods in the state. Every day, thousands of trucks rumble past homes and schools. Domestic wells have run dry as warehouse landscaping springs up around them.

2020’s devastating hardships brought important truths about the enduring legacy of structural racism and inequity in California to the forefront of public awareness. Some recognized for the first time that many communities suffer from a lack of access to clean air, reliable drinking water, quality housing, safe parks and other basic amenities due to this legacy.

It does not need to be this way...(more)

Bring Your Own Brigade. There is light and hope for the western states.

Enjoy and open to a new way of seeing threat of fire. 

This is an important film helping us to shift our relationship with fire.It is a must see for those in harm’s way.And for those who love them. Please watch. 

Two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker captures the horror and heroism of the deadliest week of wildfires in California history and explores the causes of what she calls a “global fire crisis” in the CBSN documentary “Bring Your Own Brigade.”
Aug 20, 2021

WATCH HERE:   https://www.cbsnews.com/video/bring-your-own-brigade/
reviews:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bring-your-own-brigade-movie-review-2021
https://www.thewrap.com/bring-your-own-brigade-film-review-camp-fire-malibu-wildfires-documentary/

Colorado River, Lifeline Of The West, Sees Historic Water Shortage Declaration

Kirk Siegler : npr – excerpt (excerpt) includes audio track and transcript

The first-ever shortage declaration on the Colorado River forces arid Western states to re-examine their relationship with resources many take for granted, drinking water and cheap hydroelectricity.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For the first time ever, the U.S. government declared a shortage on the Colorado River last week. That means states like Arizona that rely on the river for their water supply are seeing big cutbacks as a punishing drought continues in the west. The Colorado River and its tributaries are a lifeline to some 40 million people in multiple states, including in California, who rely on it for drinking water. The river also irrigates countless farms and generates lots of cheap hydropower. So a shortage on the Colorado is a big deal, and we wanted to hear more about that. We asked NPR’s Kirk Siegler to talk us through it. He covers the West and has been reporting on the Colorado River for years…(more)

CaRLA Disappointed in Huntington Beach Housing Lawsuit Ruling

by Greg Magofña : CaRLA – excerpt

An absurd ruling in our Huntington Beach Lawsuit

We are simultaneously disappointed in and surprised by a trial judge’s ruling last week to deny 48 units of desperately needed and zoning-compliant housing in Huntington Beach on the grounds that the project is not protected by the Housing Accountability Act. This ruling flies in the face of court precedent elsewhere in the state and is a blow to housing, potential tenants, and the Housing Accountability Act that was created specifically to prevent spurious disapprovals of housing such as this. It is a complete misinterpretation and misapplication of a statute intended as much as possible to facilitate the approval of housing developments.

This ruling simply cannot stand. However, before we appeal in court, we must appeal to pro-housing supporters everywhere. Your financial support is needed now, more than ever…

We are also gearing up for the appeal of San Mateo’s illegal denial of zoning-compliant housing where the ruling was so bad, California’s Attorney General Xavier Bercera had to intervene on behalf of California housing laws, and we need your help! …(more)

California Renters Legal Advocacy and Education Fund frustrated by loss.

Zoning changes could put a hurt on Black homeownership

By Badly Barber : wired – excerpt

I am a Black grandparent, homeowner and member of the Altadena Town Council. I grew up in a single-family home, and my husband and I have lived in our house in Altadena for more than two decades. Homeownership helped my family build wealth and provide stable, quality housing, and gave us our piece of the American Dream. But state and local politicians are threatening homeownership among the Black community by damaging single-family zoning laws…

Our homes have been sanctuaries that people know they can always return to, and we plan to pass our homes to our children so they can build wealth. We also are very engaged in our community because we have a vested interest as homeowners. Our homes, in a real way, give us political power and a voice at the table. But state and local elected officials in California–and across the United States– now seek to alter single-family zoning so that big developers can rush into middle- and working-class communities of color, demolish single-family homes and build pricey, market-rate apartments in their place. That dangerous agenda is playing out in California through Senate bills 9 and 10, which would gut single-family zoning and open the door for predatory developers — many of whom are regular campaign contributors to state and local politicians…(more)

Can California support 10 Million More? State Water Plan vs. State Housing Plan

Powerpoint Produced by Richard Johnson
Can-California-Support-10-Million-More.pptx

Will San Diego’s High-Speed Rail Survive Slow Urban Growth?

By Joshua Emerson Smith : governing – excerpt

The two hundred miles of high-speed railway rely upon dense urban growth around transit stations to achieve long-term success. But as California and San Diego birth rates and population decline, some worry it’s too costly a risk…(more)