Blog Entries - November 2008

Climate Change: Local Government Response

joel.ellinwood@lawyer-planner.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0100

National Business Institute is offering "Climate Change: Local Government Response" on December 12, 2008 at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel, 1230 J Street in Sacramento.

The faculty for this seminar are land use and environmental attorneys Timothy D. Crimin of Meyers Nave, Eric W. Davis of Somach, Simmons & Dunn and Joel Ellinwood, AICP Lawyer-Planner. Topics include Planning, Land Use and Climate Change; Local Government Operations and Initiatives and CEQA and Climate [...]

OPR asks for the time and CARB sends instructions on how to build a watch

joel.ellinwood@lawyer-planner.com — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0100

[first published in California Planning & Development Report on October 30, 2008]

The old joke about the man on the street who asked a scientist for the time and instead got a two-hour lecture about how to build a watch (and the poor fellow never did find out what time it was) was played out again in Sacramento this week when the California Air Resources Board staff released its "Preliminary Draft Staff Proposal Recommended Approaches for Setting Interim Significance Thresholds [...]

Governing from the center - Chicago style

joel.ellinwood@lawyer-planner.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0100

When I delivered the three absentee ballots from my household to my poling place on Tuesday morning, November 4, I told the election workers I was from Chicago and so I was following the adage, "vote early and often." At first they weren't sure whether to laugh or call the cops.

Barack Obama's choice for his chief of staff of fellow Chicagoan, Congressman Rahm Emmanuel, known for his tough, competitive, but smart style, reminds me that for good or ill, all the presidents in m [...]

Homebuilders on global warming - Yes We Can!

joel.ellinwood@lawyer-planner.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 08:00:00 +0100

I spent the Thursday afternoon after the election at a meeting of Northern California homebuilders listening to presentations on the economic outlook for the coming year. The CEO of a large national homebuilding company and one of the most highly regarded locally based builders both acknowledged that green building, infill development and other more sustainable practices are, "the right thing to do." They made references to being stunned reading Thomas Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded, [...]