M. Nolan Gray
Blog
What Can California Do About Dead Malls?
Across California, strip malls and storefronts are sitting vacant. In San Francisco, an estimated 2,900 businesses closed over the summer of 2020 alone. In Los Angeles, retail vacancies remain high. And in suburbs from Escondido to Folsom, once thriving “power centers” are empty. As a source of local employment and ...
Blog
Three Myths About Planning Los Angeles
Maybe it’s only natural, given that this is a city that earns its keep selling compelling stories. But all too often, these myths are wrong, and in some cases, they form the basis of bad policy. Let’s run through three widely believed misconceptions about planning in Los Angeles. Los Angeles ...
Blog
Where is California Still Growing?
Much has been made of the decline of California over the last year, and not without reason—the Golden State lost 173,000 residents last year. Worse yet, that’s probably an improvement: by one estimate, 650,000 people left California in 2020. Indeed, as a result of population stagnation over the 2010s, we ...
Blog
Thousands of Californians Live Out of Their Cars. Now What?
In the alley behind my apartment, there’s a man who lives out of an old Honda Accord. Each morning, he departs for work in what appears to be a fast-food uniform. In the evenings, he reclines and watches television on his phone. It isn’t glamorous, but in a West Los ...
Blog
Can California Tackle Zoning Run Amok in 2022?
The numbers are in on the cost of living in California, and it ain’t pretty: According to an analysis by the real estate listing service Zillow, as reported in the New York Times, home prices went up by a startling 12.3 percent between November 2020 and 2021. In suburban areas ...
Blog
Can California Make Room for Home-Based Businesses?
According to a recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California, a startling one-in-four Californians now works remotely, with one-in-seven blending office and home-based work. And if you ask Californians what they prefer, a third say they would like to stay fully remote next year, while a quarter say ...
Blog
Los Angeles’ Campaign To End Homelessness Isn’t Working. What Now?
A recent audit by the Los Angeles Controller’s office made it clear: Proposition HHH, the city’s signature $1.2 billion initiative to end homelessness, isn’t working. Launched in 2019 with an ambitious goal of building 10,000 homes, the program has thus far yielded fewer than 1,200. And while an additional 6,000 ...
California
How NIMBYS and CEQA Undermined a World-Class California University
Recently, Bay Area NIMBYs made international headlines when they convinced an Alameda County judge to order UC Berkeley to freeze enrollment. Casting students as an environmental nuisance, the decision could result in 5,100 fewer admission letters going out next month, and nearly $60 million in losses for the University of ...
Blog
Is California Turning on Outdoor Dining?
In July, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city’s emergency outdoor dining ordinance permanent. Adopted in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program empowered restaurant owners to convert adjacent on-street parking spaces into “parklets” where they could serve pandemic-weary patrons. The city’s parklet initiative, and ...
Blog
California Continued to Shrink in 2021
In 2021, as in 2020, the Golden State only continued to shrink. According to new data from the Department of Finance, California lost a startling 173,000 residents last year. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, 55,000 of those lost residents were victims of the pandemic, while a further 53,000 ...
What Can California Do About Dead Malls?
Across California, strip malls and storefronts are sitting vacant. In San Francisco, an estimated 2,900 businesses closed over the summer of 2020 alone. In Los Angeles, retail vacancies remain high. And in suburbs from Escondido to Folsom, once thriving “power centers” are empty. As a source of local employment and ...
Three Myths About Planning Los Angeles
Maybe it’s only natural, given that this is a city that earns its keep selling compelling stories. But all too often, these myths are wrong, and in some cases, they form the basis of bad policy. Let’s run through three widely believed misconceptions about planning in Los Angeles. Los Angeles ...
Where is California Still Growing?
Much has been made of the decline of California over the last year, and not without reason—the Golden State lost 173,000 residents last year. Worse yet, that’s probably an improvement: by one estimate, 650,000 people left California in 2020. Indeed, as a result of population stagnation over the 2010s, we ...
Thousands of Californians Live Out of Their Cars. Now What?
In the alley behind my apartment, there’s a man who lives out of an old Honda Accord. Each morning, he departs for work in what appears to be a fast-food uniform. In the evenings, he reclines and watches television on his phone. It isn’t glamorous, but in a West Los ...
Can California Tackle Zoning Run Amok in 2022?
The numbers are in on the cost of living in California, and it ain’t pretty: According to an analysis by the real estate listing service Zillow, as reported in the New York Times, home prices went up by a startling 12.3 percent between November 2020 and 2021. In suburban areas ...
Can California Make Room for Home-Based Businesses?
According to a recent report by the Public Policy Institute of California, a startling one-in-four Californians now works remotely, with one-in-seven blending office and home-based work. And if you ask Californians what they prefer, a third say they would like to stay fully remote next year, while a quarter say ...
Los Angeles’ Campaign To End Homelessness Isn’t Working. What Now?
A recent audit by the Los Angeles Controller’s office made it clear: Proposition HHH, the city’s signature $1.2 billion initiative to end homelessness, isn’t working. Launched in 2019 with an ambitious goal of building 10,000 homes, the program has thus far yielded fewer than 1,200. And while an additional 6,000 ...
How NIMBYS and CEQA Undermined a World-Class California University
Recently, Bay Area NIMBYs made international headlines when they convinced an Alameda County judge to order UC Berkeley to freeze enrollment. Casting students as an environmental nuisance, the decision could result in 5,100 fewer admission letters going out next month, and nearly $60 million in losses for the University of ...
Is California Turning on Outdoor Dining?
In July, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city’s emergency outdoor dining ordinance permanent. Adopted in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program empowered restaurant owners to convert adjacent on-street parking spaces into “parklets” where they could serve pandemic-weary patrons. The city’s parklet initiative, and ...
California Continued to Shrink in 2021
In 2021, as in 2020, the Golden State only continued to shrink. According to new data from the Department of Finance, California lost a startling 173,000 residents last year. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, 55,000 of those lost residents were victims of the pandemic, while a further 53,000 ...
