okie dokie. ookie dookie? um. yeah. the planning story. i have a feeling this will be terribly boring now, but i geek on this stuff. first, background...

in 1978 californians passed proposition 13 which basically froze property taxes in the state, allowing only small increases each year and the home could only be reasessed if it was sold. a majority of the property tax was not given to the city it was collected in, but to the state government who then disbursed the funds as they saw fit. local governments lost control of most of what was their primary income. there are many other aftershocks that occurred from prop 13, the biggest change occurred when cities and counties now sought to raise money through sales tax dollars. 'the fiscalization of land use' in plannerese.

this spawned scores of strip malls, big box retailers, car dealerships built by cities seeking revenue. development that was once shunned from cities was now welcomes with open arms. and open pocketbooks. cities and counties fight over the placement of auto malls and shopping malls, courting businesses with tax breaks and a trip through the express lane of the planning department. all of this activity led to sprawl, as cities grew like amoebas over the landscape with glowing signs and lakes of asphalt. dense development, new urbanist design principles and public transportation were pushed neglected as cites courted developers. proposition 13 has been the biggest force in shaping the california landscape in the past 20 years.

'regional planning' became a meaningless term. why work together? share our revenue? not going to happen.

assemblyman darrell steinberg has introduced AB 680, which would "would redistribute new sales tax in the six county Sacramento region in a manner that promotes smart growth, increases equity in the region, and fosters cooperation in the region." well, now, that makes just way to much sense to be an assembly bill. 'smart growth' and 'sustainability' are terms that are thrown around as ways to ease traffic congestion, improve air quality, and create more open space. yet nothing seems to be done to actually do anything about it.

this bill is groundbreaking in the californina planning world, and could radically change our landscape. may regions do have a 'regional planning body' - and they are often called 'area governments' leading to such delightful acronyms such as ABAG (association of bay area governments) and SCAG (southern california association of governments). but these planning bodies have no real power and can only recommend things. AB 680 would be the first bill to force the governments in a region to work together, a la portland's successful METRO.

of course, the bill faces huge hurdles as prosperous cities are not willing to share their wealth. the rich don't want to share any of their prosperity with the poor. isn't that the way it always works?

it will be interesting to see if they can push this bill through. i would be STOKED. it could then spawn similar bills in different california regions. we may just be able to put a halt to the disease of sprawl. hell, i may even consider heading back to the planning world...i care so passionately about it, yet most of the jobs do nothing to advocate better planning. *sigh* another chapter in the why alissa aint a planner diary...