A blog about Marinwood-Lucas Valley and the Marin Housing Element, politics, economics and social policy. The MOST DANGEROUS BLOG in Marinwood-Lucas Valley.
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Your laptop, phone and camera may be searched within 100 miles of the Border
Court Upholds Willy-Nilly Gadget Searches Along U.S. Border
- By David Kravets
- 12.31.13
- 2:59 PM
- Edit
A federal judge today upheld a President Barack Obama administration policy allowing authorities along the U.S. border to seize and search laptops, smartphones and other electronic devices for any reason.
The decision (.pdf) by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in New York comes as laptops, and now smartphones, have become virtual extensions of ourselves, housing everything from email to instant-message chats to our papers and effects.
The American Civil Liberties Union brought the challenge nearly three years ago, claiming U.S. border officials should have reasonable suspicion to search gadgets along the border because of the data they store. But Judge Korman said the so-called “border exemption,” in which people can be searched for no reason at all along the border, continues to apply in the digital age.
Alarmingly, the government contends the Fourth-Amendment-Free Zone stretches 100 miles inland from the nation’s actual border.
The judge said it “would be foolish, if not irresponsible” to store sensitive information on electronic devices while traveling internationally.
Korman ruled:
Laptops have only come into widespread use in the twenty-first century. Prior to that time, lawyers, photographers, and scholars managed to travel overseas and consult with clients, take photographs, and conduct scholarly research. No one ever suggested the possibility of a border search had a chilling effect on his or her First Amendment rights. While it is true that laptops may make overseas work more convenient, the precautions plaintiffs may choose to take to ‘mitigate’ the alleged harm associated with the remote possibility of a border search are simply among the many inconveniences associated with international travel.The ACLU said it was mulling an appeal.
“We’re disappointed in today’s decision, which allows the government to conduct intrusive searches of Americans’ laptops and other electronics at the border without any suspicion that those devices contain evidence of wrongdoing,” said Catherine Crump, the American Civil Liberties Union attorney who argued the case in July 2011. “Suspicionless searches of devices containing vast amounts of personal information cannot meet the standard set by the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. Unfortunately, these searches are part of a broader pattern of aggressive government surveillance that collects information on too many innocent people, under lax standards, and without adequate oversight.”
The case was brought on behalf of 29-year-old Pascal Abidor, whose laptop was seized for 11 as he was traveling by rail from Canada to his parents’ New York residence in 2010. He was an Islamic studies graduate student in Canada.
At an Amtrak inspection point, he showed his U.S. passport to an agent. He was ordered to move to the cafe car, where they removed his laptop from his luggage and “ordered Mr. Abidor to enter his password,” according to the lawsuit.
Agents asked him about pictures they found on his laptop, which included Hamas and Hezbollah rallies. He explained to the agent that he was earning a doctoral degree in the modern history of Shiites in Lebanon.
He was handcuffed and then jailed for three hours while the authorities looked through his computer, according to the suit. Numerous agents questioned him, the suit says.
They released him and kept his laptop, until his lawyer complained.
Plaintiffs in the suit also include the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Press Photographers Association. The lawyers’ group maintains search policy exposes privileged communications. The photographers say the policy interferes “with their ability to do their work.”
The decision supports a conclusion 10 months ago from the Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog that said that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security.
The President George W. Bush administration first announced the suspicionless, electronics search rules in 2008. The Obama administration followed up with virtually the same rules a year later. Between 2008 and 2010, 6,500 persons had their electronic devices searched along the U.S. border, according to DHS data.
More FBI Hacking: Feds Crack Wi-Fi to Gather Evidence
More FBI Hacking: Feds Crack Wi-Fi to Gather Evidence
- By Kevin Poulsen
- 04.17.09
- 11:52 AM
- Edit

Buried in the 150 pages of CIPAV spyware-related documents released by the FBI Thursday is a tantalizing nugget that indicates the bureau’s technology experts have more than one way to hack a suspect.
In early 2007, FBI agents with one of the bureau’s International Terrorism Operations Sections sought hacking help from the FBI’s geek squads. The agents were working a case in Pittsburgh, which is not described in the documents, and wanted to know "if [a] remote computer attack can be conducted against [the] target."
The FBI’s Cryptographic and Electronic Analysis Unit, CEAU, responded with two options. One of them was redacted from the released document as a sensitive investigative technique. The other is described this way: "CEAU advised Pittsburgh that they could assist with a wireless hack to obtain a file tree, but not the hard drive content."
Wi-fi hacking has featured prominently in some big cybercrimes, including the attack on TJ Maxx that exposed at least 45 million customer credit card numbers and other data. In that case, Albert "Segvec" Gonzalez and associates allegedly cracked the retailer’s WEP key and used it to gain entry to the corporate network, where he planted packet sniffers to scoop up the data.
But this is the first evidence that the FBI is using the same tactics. Presumably, suspects using one of the better encryption options — like WPA-2 — are immune.
It’s not clear why the FBI said it could only obtain a file tree — a hierarchical list of directories and files. It could be to avoid the risk of a judge later ruling that the search warrant was unconstitutionally over-broad, and consequently throwing out the evidence. Or maybe the bureau’s hackers don’t want to consume all of a target’s bandwidth while copying his entire porn directory into the FBI van on the street.
Homebrew "cantenna" photo courtesy Clicknmiken
Friday, January 3, 2014
Should we eat bugs? The new sustainable food of the future.
Will you be eating bugs in the future? Will it be in the new organic and sustainable food for school lunches?
It sounds crazy but the idea is not far fetched. People have been eating bugs for thousands of years. They can be nutritious and have a smaller "carbon footprint" than most protein sources. Government is getting more powerful. They ban all sorts of things. What is to stop them from mandating you to "eat your insects" for the good of the planet?
There is no such thing as a "free lunch".
Thursday, January 2, 2014
The Happy, Happy, Happy El Camino Real "Grand Boulevard" Scheme
Above is a Happy, Happy, Happy sales pitch for the Grand Boulevard project on the El Camino Real.
Everywhere in the Bay Area, Plan Bay Area is pushing massive urbanization schemes on local residents. The plans are wrapped up in pleasant sound names like "Smart Growth" and "New Urbanism" and it promises everything from "reducing obesity", to "lower crime" and "fight global warming". The planners at ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) www.planbayarea.org are projecting massive population increases at therefore claim all of this urbanization is needed.
Citizens in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties are fighting this government intrusion into their communities. Palo Alto just defeated a huge 80 unit building proposed for a single family neighborhood. Redwood City, San Bruno residents are also leading the charge. Most people are still unaware of the project and the draconian land use restrictions it will entail. As people become aware of the Smart Growth schemes, more are rising out against it all over California.
Living in the Lilliput future of Smart Growth-micro apartments
![]() |
The Marinwood Priority Development Area calls for more people in smaller living spaces. |
Editors Note: Urban Planning goes through its fads. The current fad is micro apartments in urban areas. It makes alot of money for developers and landlords but also burdens the city services by packing more people per square mile, calling for improvements to city infrastructure and services. I am certain there are not too many families (or couples) that choose this micro-apartment lifestyle. Why must SMART GROWTH planners force this lifestyle among we who prefer to live among nature in the suburbs? ............
Why Micro Apartments Are The Next Big Trend In City Living

AP Images
Mayor Michael Bloomberg reveals the new Living Small NYC project.
Urban dwellers must face the reality that cities are becoming increasingly over-crowded which means that housing is in short supply.
In New York City, 1.8 million one- and two-person households exist, but there are only 1 million studio and one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan, leaving a housing shortage.
The surge of tech wizards descending on San Francisco and the Bay area has caused rent in the city to skyrocket 22 percent since 2008, according to The New York Times.
London, too, is dealing with a housing crisis, where 1 in 10 people are on housing waiting lists, according to The Guardian.
In China, the firm Dragonomics estimated nearly 50 million of China's 230 million urban households live in "substandard quarters often lacking their own toilet and kitchen." To combat this issue, China would have to build 10 million apartments a year until 2030.
Clearly there is an urban housing crisis happening around the world, and it's forcing cities to rethink their approaches to real estate. But there's a solution: micro-apartments.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/micro-apartment-trend-2012-10#ixzz2CFhur44i
Randal O'Toole critiques "Smart Growth" as is planned for Marin
Streetcars, Light Rail, Housing & TODs from portland politic on Vimeo.
Randal O'Toole talks about Portland's experiment in forcing people to live the "smart growth" lifestyle and how it is hurting Portland and Oregon. He shows how light rail and streetcars are a massive fraud and how Portland's Metro's land use dictates are destroying livability and home ownership.
The Transportation Regulatory Threat to the US Economy
The Transportation Regulatory Threat to the Economy (US) from demographia on Vimeo.
Presentation by Wendell Cox to the American Highway Users Alliance Conference in Washington, DC (23 June 2010).
There are proposals to expand the restrictive land use regulations and anti-automobile policies that have been adopted in places like Portland (Oregon), California, Seattle and other areas to the rest of the nation.
These radical land rationing or densification (smart growth) policies would lead to greater traffic congestion, more intense local air pollution and longer travel times by failing to provide sufficient roadway capacity for growing demand. Because of the association between superior mobility (minimized travel times) and economic growth, such policies are also likely to constrain job creation and lead to higher rates of poverty. Finally, the slower, more "stop and go" traffic would increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) per mile (because fuel efficiency declines markedly in congestion), which could cancel out any GHG reductions from reduced levels of driving.
In addition, smart growth rationing policies, which contributed so substantially to the housing bubble and subsequent bust would substantially increase the price of housing in more affordable metropolitan areas, such as Atlanta, Indianapolis, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and others. In these metropolitan areas, house prices were kept within historic norm, even during the housing bubble, as their more liberal land use regulation permitted sufficient housing to be developed to meet the increased demand from more profligate lending policies.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Videos on "Smart Growth", "Sustainability" and Agenda 21 from Around the World.
MAKING OF "WE LOVE MOUNTAINS" from La Raka Films on Vimeo.
Realizador: Román RodrÃguez
Productora: La Raka films
Cámara: Alberto Cascales
Montaje: Román RodrÃguez
Agencia: Sapristi
Clientes: Agenda Local 21 Denia/ Diputació de Barcelona/ F.A.O.
Música: Orbor "Richard Et Jean Francois"
Saint-Camille: entre l'enracinement et l'essor from Agenda 21C on Vimeo.
Saint-Camille, entre l'enracinement et l'essor.
Réalisation : Ky Vy Le Duc // La Ruche
www.rucheruche.com
AGANAKTISMENI - indignados - promo - teaser from Pietro Menditto on Vimeo.
Athens meat market methaphor of the social butchery..." the debt crisis that used to be a phenomenon in third world country now is in the center of capitalist economy " AGANAKTISMENI indignados a film about greek collapse...by Pietro Menditto, Piero Ricca
shot and directed by Pietro Menditto
http://pietromenditto.tumblr.com/
Mr Durable habite à Rouen from nikodio on Vimeo.
8 spots réalisés pour la ville de Rouen dans le cadre de la campagne sur le développement durable de la ville.
Ici ce sont les 8 spots mis bout à bout.
Animation, réalisation : NikodiO
Décors : Lison De Ridder
Voix : Julien Flematti
Musique / Dc Takata
Trailer Documental "La Voz del Viento" from Mosaic Project on Vimeo.
Jardins Partagés | Saint-Genis-Laval | Grand Lyon from Idaya on Vimeo.
Réalisation : Jean-Charles Modave, Corinne Blanchet & Claire Brivet
www.abcd-durable.com
Prise de vue, son, montage : Jean-Charles Modave
Club du développement durable du Grand Lyon
www.grandlyon.com
Force est de constater que les ressources naturelles s'épuisent et qu'il y a une réelle dégradation de notre environnement.
Avec l'apparition du calcul de l'empreinte écologique, nous sommes capables d'évaluer l'impact de notre mode de vie sur l'environnement. Il apparaît clairement que les réserves de la terre ne suffiront bientôt plus.
Nous sommes donc tous concernés par la mise en œuvre du développement durable. Citoyens, acteurs publics et privés, associations, collectivités locales, tous sont encouragés à s'investir afin de répondre aux demandes et besoins spécifiques liés à leur territoire.
C'est pour cette raison que le Grand Lyon, depuis une dizaine d'années, a fait du développement durable une des priorités politiques.
Son engagement se traduit par des projets phares et par la mise en place d'un Agenda 21.
Lumix GH2 176 Mbit/s GOP 1 by Driftwood
Lumix 14-42mm & Summilux Leica 25mm
Mini Hagues Pro
Rode Video Mic Pro
Manfrotto 190XPROB & 804RC2
Methods and Markers for Sustainability from Professor Greg Möller on Vimeo.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Imagining Smart Growth Cities in Marin from Kansas City Promotional Film
Here is a slick video animation of Kansas City pushing all of the same concepts of "Smart Growth" that are being pushed in Marin. Notice the light rail and the justification of intensive urbanization using all of the same concepts used in Plan Bay Area and the Marin Housing Elements. In Marin, Plan Bay Area bureaucrats want all land with 1/2 mile of the 101 highway to become the "city centered corridor" just as it is pictured here.
It is as if all of the politicians and planners went mad and developed the plans together. I believe the planners / politicians are following a "planning fad" for high density that will quickly fade once the political and economic realities are realized. Street cars are enormously expensive, inefficient and polluting. Families show overwhelming preference for suburban lifestyles over gritty urban centers. The smart growth lifestyle is antithetical to our decentralized, dynamic world economy of today.
Monday, December 30, 2013
The Answer Sheet: 11 telling stories about 2013 school reform
The Answer Sheet
11 telling stories about 2013 school reformBy Valerie Strauss December 26 at 4:00
I know it’s more common to do a Top 10 list but here are 11 of The Answer Sheet’s most popular posts in 2013, some that I wrote and others that some of my wonderful guest writers have authored. I have chosen posts that seem to me to be revealing about the path that corporate-influenced school reform took in the past year and about what is ahead for 2014. The subjects include the Common Core State Standards, the demoralization of teachers, Teach For America and the standardized testing obsession.
1. Teacher’s resignation letter: ‘My profession … no longer exists’
My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust. … We have become increasingly evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important product, to twist a phrase from corporate America, which seems doubly appropriate to this case. — Gerald Conti
2. Blind, severely disabled boy forced to take standardized test and They made him take the test
Nobody in Florida stopped the state from forcing a 9-year-old boy named Michael, who was born with a brain stem but not a complete brain, from taking an alternative version of the standardized Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Other severely disabled children are forced to take standardized tests too, and not just in Florida.
3. A warning to college profs from a high school teacher
You are a college professor.
I have just retired as a high school teacher.
I have some bad news for you. In case you do not already see what is happening, I want to warn you of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in your classroom, even if you teach in a highly selective institution… – Ken Bernstein
4. Principal: I was naive about Common Core
When I first read about the Common Core State Standards, I cheered. I believe that our schools should teach all students (except for those who have severe learning disabilities), the skills, habits and knowledge that they need to be successful in post secondary education….
I confess that I was naïve. I should have known in an age in which standardized tests direct teaching and learning, that the standards themselves would quickly become operationalized by tests. Testing, coupled with the evaluation of teachers by scores, is driving its implementation. The promise of the Common Core is dying and teaching and learning are being distorted. The well that should sustain the Core has been poisoned. — Carol Burris

Education Secretary Arne Duncan (By Jacquelyn Martin-Associated Press)
5. Arne Duncan: ‘White suburban moms’ upset that Common Core shows their kids aren’t brilliant
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan caused a firestorm when he said that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.” What was he talking about?
6. Professor: Why Teach For America can’t recruit in my classroom
The title is self-explanatory.
7. What if Finland’s great teachers taught in U.S. schools
Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish expert on education around the world, wrote this important post that touches on the fundamental problems with corporate-influenced school reform movement and issues surrounding the subject of “teacher effectiveness.” The answer to the question in the headline is not as obvious as it may seem.
8. The biggest scandal in America
There are plenty that could take top prize, but here’s a case for a scandal you may not think much about.

Bill Gates (By Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
9. Gates gives $150 million in grants for Common Core Standards
My profession is being demeaned by a pervasive atmosphere of distrust. … We have become increasingly evaluation and not knowledge driven. Process has become our most important product, to twist a phrase from corporate America, which seems doubly appropriate to this case. — Gerald Conti
2. Blind, severely disabled boy forced to take standardized test and They made him take the test
Nobody in Florida stopped the state from forcing a 9-year-old boy named Michael, who was born with a brain stem but not a complete brain, from taking an alternative version of the standardized Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. Other severely disabled children are forced to take standardized tests too, and not just in Florida.
3. A warning to college profs from a high school teacher
You are a college professor.
I have just retired as a high school teacher.
I have some bad news for you. In case you do not already see what is happening, I want to warn you of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in your classroom, even if you teach in a highly selective institution… – Ken Bernstein
4. Principal: I was naive about Common Core
When I first read about the Common Core State Standards, I cheered. I believe that our schools should teach all students (except for those who have severe learning disabilities), the skills, habits and knowledge that they need to be successful in post secondary education….
I confess that I was naïve. I should have known in an age in which standardized tests direct teaching and learning, that the standards themselves would quickly become operationalized by tests. Testing, coupled with the evaluation of teachers by scores, is driving its implementation. The promise of the Common Core is dying and teaching and learning are being distorted. The well that should sustain the Core has been poisoned. — Carol Burris

Education Secretary Arne Duncan (By Jacquelyn Martin-Associated Press)
5. Arne Duncan: ‘White suburban moms’ upset that Common Core shows their kids aren’t brilliant
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan caused a firestorm when he said that he found it “fascinating” that some of the opposition to the Common Core State Standards has come from “white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.” What was he talking about?
6. Professor: Why Teach For America can’t recruit in my classroom
The title is self-explanatory.
7. What if Finland’s great teachers taught in U.S. schools
Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish expert on education around the world, wrote this important post that touches on the fundamental problems with corporate-influenced school reform movement and issues surrounding the subject of “teacher effectiveness.” The answer to the question in the headline is not as obvious as it may seem.
8. The biggest scandal in America
There are plenty that could take top prize, but here’s a case for a scandal you may not think much about.

Bill Gates (By Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
9. Gates gives $150 million in grants for Common Core Standards
See who got some of the money.
A Christmas Present to Marin from a Hollywood Court ruling rejecting "Densification"
The Law's No Ass: Rejecting Hollywood Densification
![]() |
Hollywood Urban Planners must tell the truth to the public. "The Law's no ass", says Judge Goodman. |
The city of Los Angeles received a stunning rebuke, when California Superior Court Judge Alan J. Goodman invalidated the Hollywood Community Plan. The Hollywood district, well known for its entertainment focus, contains approximately 5% of the city of Los Angeles’ population. The Hollywood Plan was the basis of the city's vision for a far more dense Hollywood, with substantial high rise development in "transit oriented developments" adjacent to transit rail stations (Note 1).
The Hollywood Plan had been challenged by three community groups
(Savehollywood.org, La Mirada Avenue Neighborhood Association of Hollywood, and Fix the City), which argued that the approval process had violated provisions of California law, and most particularly had relied on population projections that were both obsolete and inaccurate. [Editor's Note: ABAG estimated population projections of 15% growth compared to the Department of Finance projections of 2% ]
Judge Goodman called the Hollywood Plan "fatally flawed," and noted that it relied on errors of both "fact and law."
He ordered the City to:
(1) Rescind, set aside and vacate all actions approving the Hollywood Plan and prepare a replacement that is lawful and consistent with the City's general plan.
(2) Grant no permits or entitlements from the Hollywood Plan until it has been replaced with a lawful substitute.
An "Entirely Discredited" Population Baseline
The principal issue in the case revolved around out-of-date and erroneous population estimates (Note 2). The city based its densification plan on an assumption that the population of Hollywood would rise from 200,000 in 2000 to 224,000 in
2005. This estimate was produced by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), which is the metropolitan planning organization for all of Southern California outside San Diego County. SCAG had further projected that Hollywood's population would rise to 250,000 by 2030.
To house these additional residents, the city reasoned that higher density development was necessary. In a related matter, the Los Angeles City Council approved Millennium Hollywood, a pair of 35 and 39 story mixed use towers. This was in spite of warnings from the State Geologist that the property was bisected by a dangerous earthquake "rupture" fault (Note 3). Litigation is pending.
But there’s a fly in this planning ointment, rather than gaining population, Hollywood is losing people. Before the Hollywood Plan was finally approved, 2010 United States Census data was released that indicated the population had dropped to 198,000. This revealed both the SCAG estimate of the actual population and its 2030 projection to be highly inaccurate. Judge Goodman referred to the SCAG 2005 estimate as "entirely discredited."
Elementary Questions Raised
Nonetheless, the city proceeded based upon the incorrect population data. This led the Judge to raise elementary questions about the process (paraphrased below).(1) Why was the SCAG population estimate used as a baseline by the city of Los Angeles if the US Census count, readily available before the environmental process was completed, had shown a significantly smaller population?
(2) Why was the 2030 projection (from SCAG) not adjusted in the Plan based on the new, lower 2010 US Census population count?
The City defended using the stale and erroneous population data. Judge Goodman commented: "That clearly is a post-hoc rationalization of City's failure to recognize that the HCPU (Hollywood Plan) was unsupported by anything other than wishful thinking" (parentheses and emphasis by author). The Judge continued that this resulted in a "manifest failure to comply with statutory requirements."
The Judge set out the burden faced by the City to achieve a legal (and rational outcome):
...if the population estimate for 2030 were to be adjusted based on what the 2010 Census data had shown, then all of the several analyses which are based on population would need to be adjusted, such as housing, commercial building, traffic, water demand, waste produced -as well as all other factors analyzed in these key planning documents.
To its discredit, the city incredibly argued that "it was entitled by law to rely on the SCAG 2005 population estimate." The Judge disagreed. Any other conclusion would have proven "the law to be an ass" (Note 4).
Abuse of Discretion
The La Mirada Avenue Neighborhood Association argued that the city of Los Angeles had failed to exercise "good faith effort at full disclosure," contrary to the requirements of California environmental law. Judge Goodman appeared to agree, finding that the city of Los Angeles had abused its discretion, noting "A prejudicial abuse of discretion occurs if the failure to include relevant information precludes informed decision-making and informed public participation, thereby thwarting the goals of" the environmental process.Inaccurate Population Estimates and Projections
This is not the first time that Southern California population projections have been so wrong. With more than a century of explosive population growth, more recent trends may have eluded some of the planning agencies. In 1993, SCAG projected that the city of Los Angeles would reach a population of 4.3 million by 2010. SCAG's predicted increase of more than 800,000 materialized into little more than 300,000. This is not to suggest that projecting population is an exact science, nor that SCAG has been alone in its inaccuracy.In 2007, the state's official population projection agency, the Department of Finance projected that Los Angeles County would reach 10.5 million residents in just three years. But the 2010 US Census counted only 9.8 million residents (See 60 Million Californians? Don't Bet on It). In contrast with the previously accustomed growth from other parts of the country, Los Angeles County lost a net 1.2 million residents to other parts of the nation while the rate of immigration fell.
Not a Unique Problem
This instance of overinflated and inaccurate projections is not unique to Los Angeles. The use of out-of-date or erroneous information is increasingly being used in regional planning. Recently, the Association of Bay Area Governments and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved the San Francisco Plan Area Plan, which used population projections substantially higher even than those of the Department of Finance (despite that agency's previous over-optimism).As in Los Angeles, Plan Bay Area also used outdated data for automobile greenhouse gas emission factors that have long since been rendered obsolete by technological advancements. Other planning agencies around the nation have engaged in similar practices.
Planners in the Bay Area, SCAG and elsewhere in California are using similarly flawed projections that presume a substantial change in housing preferences toward multifamily and smaller lots. Yet, years later, the projected trends have not emerged in any significant way (See: A Housing Preference Sea-Change: Not in California).
Wishful Thinking: No Basis for Action
Judge Goodman's decision could have relevance well beyond Los Angeles and the state of California. Regional plans must be based upon current and reliable data, no matter how late received. To proceed based on faulty data is no different than not changing course when an iceberg appears in the navigation path. Wishful thinking has no place in rational planning.--------
Note 1: The Hollywood rail stations are on the Red Line subway, which was projected to carry 300,000 daily riders by 2000. The Red Line is carrying approximately 170,000 daily riders and would need three-quarters more to reach the projection for more than a decade ago (see: Report on Funding Levels and Allocations of Funds, Urban Mass Transportation Administration, 1991, page B-49)
Note 2: The plaintiffs also argued that the Hollywood Plan's densification would result in additional traffic congestion. This is a serious concern, given Hollywood's central location in the second most congested metropolitan area in North America (following Vancouver, which recently ended the decades long reign of Los Angeles). Greater traffic congestion is associated with higher population densities.
Note 3: LA Weekly said that the fault might be capable "of opening the Earth, splitting buildings in half" (See: How the Hollywood Fault Made Millennium's Future Uncertain, and L.A. a Laughingstock).
Note 4: "The law is an ass" (as in a donkey) refers to cases in which the law is at odds with common sense. This phrase was used by Charles Dickens, but appears to have first been used in a play as early as 1620.
Wendell Cox is a Visiting Professor, Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris and the author of “War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life.
Photograph: Los Angeles City Hall (by author)
Sunday, December 29, 2013
What Happens when the Power of the State gets Out of Control.- "Pepper Spray the Protestors"
We have been covering the expansion of surveillance and police powers. Some may ask, "How does this relate to the imposition of Plan Bay Area and the Housing Element on Marinwood/Lucas Valley?" . It is simple. When the government rules by absolute central authority, the people become an object merely to be moved or managed and no longer citizens in a democracy with rights.
Why not pepper spray the kids engaged in non violent protest? They are obstructing the demands of the authority and must be moved. Likewise, we are being subjected to top down controls of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) www.planbayarea.org and the County of Marin.
Why should the County of Marin care about the people of Marinwood/Lucas Valley?
They want to build affordable housing and plan to put 70% of all affordable housing in our neighborhood because it meets their criteria for "smart growth". They do not recognize the right of Marinwood/Lucas Valley to keep their community sound with sensible planning that is physically and financially sustainable.
We shall not be moved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)