Sustainable Development Focus
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT - Jan 4 The Energy Department last month declared that it is spending $100 million over the next five years to create a research and development hub on desalination, a process that converts seawater and brackish inland water into freshwater. Announced roughly five years after Congress appropriated the funds under the Obama administration, the planned hub comes as once-periodic water shortages have become perennial, if not ever-present, in American communities, forcing policymakers to rethink how residents get freshwater – and reconsider technologies they'd once shelved. The investment is widely seen as the best attempt yet to jump-start the kind of advancements that would make the elusive process energy-efficient and cost-effective and make a resource out of vast unusable deposits like the saltwater that covers two-thirds of the earth's surface.
THE MERCURY NEWS - Jan 15 San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo on Tuesday pledged $10 million to help fund Governor Gavin Newsom’s ambitious housing development goals and hinted more money will follow from Silicon Valley tech companies. In a joint appearance, the new governor and the mayor of Silicon Valley’s largest city sent a message loud and clear — the state’s housing shortage is a top priority. The event comes five days after Newsom proposed a budget with significant funds for housing development, including $500 million to build homes for middle-income workers. Newsom signed an executive order Tuesday to help alleviate the shortage. The first part of the order will create an inventory of all state-owned property that could be turned into housing — a task that will be completed by April 30. The second, to be completed by Sept. 30, will move the building process forward by soliciting development proposals and long-term lease agreements. Newsom hopes to break ground on those properties in two years and move in residents in three.
UC NEWSROOM - Jan 16 The University of California now produces more on-site solar energy than any university in the country — drawing enough sun power to light up a small city. More is on the way, as UC stretches to become the nation’s first large university system to achieve carbon neutrality and move to 100 percent clean electricity over the next six years. In the late '60s, UC Davis students launched a public bus system, and UC Santa Cruz students started one of the first organic farms. More recently, UC students pressed the university to adopt clean energy policies and green building practices. Today, UC is looking to zero-out its carbon footprint, divert 90 percent of its waste from landfills, and use only clean electricity by 2025.
ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD - Jan 15 San Francisco is seeking input from technical experts to address the 16 recommendations in the $400,000 Tall Buildings Safety Strategy, released on January 10. The 14-month study, which created a database of the 156 buildings 240 feet or taller, primarily in the northeast section, is part of the city’s 30-year Earthquake Safety Implementation Program. Many of the recommendations require legislative, budgetary, and code changes. The city will decide this year which recommendations will be implemented through changes in the city’s building code, which is undergoing an update in alignment with the triennial update of the statewide building code. The city’s code update will be adopted later in 2019 and go into effect in 2020.
NORTH BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL - Jan 8 More than a decade ago, Santa Rosa officials calculated that over the next 20 years the city could create about 3,400 new housing units downtown and develop nearly 500,000 square feet for retail or office use on more than 600 acres near what would become its Railroad Square train stop. So far, the city is coming up far short on the residential side, with only 375 units created in the downtown area since 2007. The marginal gains on housing have prompted the city to redraw its long-term blueprint for downtown development, with potentially less stringent building standards to drive new projects and draw new residents to the heart of the North Bay’s largest city. Last Tuesday, the City Council and the Planning Commission held a special joint session to discuss the changes needed to redevelop the downtown area. Options include loosening restrictions on residential density, parking requirements, and limits on building height.
FRESNO BEE - Jan 4 A lawsuit filed recently in Fresno County Superior Court has accused county officials of discriminating against low-income residents of color by failing to execute key updates and programs regarding state housing laws and local land use polices. Filed last week by the organization Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability on behalf of the residents, the suit seeks a mandate for the county to comply with its general plan land use element and housing element programs. It also calls for the county to cease discrimination against the residents, who are calling themselves Comunidades Unidas por un Cambio (Communities United for Change). The county disagrees with the allegations made in the suit, saying updates to the general plan already are in motion.
