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Chow!
]]>I'm on the ECOS mailing list and I culled the list above from their various "Action Alerts".
So with that impending doom, one might think this whole ordeal was some precident setting phenomenon, a first bad step of somekind, a fall from grace on the part of Sacramento County. Far from it. This is pure spin (read:bullshit).
Here's the "Historical Perspective" I offer. :
WRONG DEVELOPMENT MIX DERAILS BID TO BOOST TRANSIT
December 13, 1999
Sacramento Bee | Section: MAIN NEWS Page: A1
By Stuart Leavenworth Bee Staff Writer
In 1992, Sacramento County had a grand plan: It would try to concentrate a mix of development around commuter rail stations, where people could easily walk to offices, homes and stores. Seven years later, county planners acknowledge their blueprint has been a whopping failure. Across the county, de velopers are building big-lot subdivisions, big-box stores and a necklace of parking near existing and proposed rail stations.]]> As a result, ridership is uneven on transit lines; future rail extensions are uncertain. And hopes for reducing traffic and auto fumes are becoming as hazy as the summer skyline.
"In short, we haven't been very successful in getting that kind of development strategy adopted," said Don Thomas, an assistant planner for the county.
"With every application (from developers), we are getting proposals for the standard subdivision design and big-box developments," said Rob Burness, a senior planner who helped craft the 1992 plan. "They are following the path of least resistance."
As county and city officials note, there are some partial successes. In downtown Sacramento, lofts and mixed-use developments are rising near some stations. In east Elk Grove, the county is working with developers to create village centers that could one day facilitate daily transit users.
Overall, however, "we have missed a lot of opportunities," said county Supervisor Roger Dickinson. "We are approving development that discourages people from walking, discourages people from meeting each other, and encourages more reliance on automobiles."
"There are some real consequences," he adds. Traffic is building, and pressure is mounting to widen highways and build sound walls. "All that costs money, but people don't realize that."
Who's responsible? Fingers point everywhere. Some blame last-minute compromises in the county's 1992 plan. Others blame NIMBYs (individuals who oppose certain developments "in my back yard"), banks and elected leaders, who have repeatedly waived requirements for transit zones at the behest of developers.
Even environmentalists say they have done a poor job of selling the public on rail-friendly development, which involves such plannerish gobbledygook as "high-density, mixed-use transit nodes."
"No one is going out to those communities, either from the government or public-interest groups, and making a case for transit," said Earl Withycombe, who leads the Environmental Council of Sacramento.
A fixture of town planning from Brazil to Canada, "transit oriented development" refers to a compact mix of apartments, shops and offices centered around rail or bus stations. Tourists to Europe often snap pictures of such transit villages without knowing it.
Since 1993, Sacramento has called for half-mile rings of "TODs" around the county, part of a policy to reduce auto emissions at new projects by 15 percent.
But the county plan hasn't been widely embraced.
In south Sacramento, neighborhood activists have helped defeat at least two proposals for TODs. One of these -- at the corner of Elk Grove-Florin and Calvine roads -- would have included a mix of apartments, homes and commercial development, served by buses and, eventually, light rail.
In the same vein, county supervisors this year allowed a Home Depot with 500 parking spaces to be built next to a future rail stop on Antelope Road, despite staff opposition. Other Home Depots have been built near RT stations at Power Inn Road and Sunrise Boulevard.
George Phillips, a Carmichael lawyer who represents Home Depot, said the company worked hard to reach "a darn good compromise" with the county. The Antelope Road store, he said, is designed to accommodate bus pull-ins and a park-and-ride lot. The company has also vowed to subsidize transit passes for its employees, he said.
"I think we ended up with a transit-friendly Home Depot," said Phillips.
Friendly for automobiles, say environmentalists.
In north Natomas, plans for a transit village near Del Paso and Commerce boulevards are also up in the air. The Lewis Operating Corp. is designing a 26-acre mix of shops and offices, and is setting aside land for a future spur of regional rail that could go one day to Arco Arena and the airport, said Greg Thatch, an attorney for the company.
But City Council rezonings have led to what some call "a retail land grab" in the area. Three years ago, the council approved the Natomas Marketplace, a collection of big-box stores near Truxel Road and Interstate 80.
That, in turn, has prompted two other proposals for big-box developments, and could undermine Lewis' transit-planned village.
County officials point to several reasons why their 1992 transit plan -- lauded as "visionary" at the time -- has been ineffective.
One problem is the uncertain extensions planned by Regional Transit. RT plans to extend a line to Meadowview by 2003, and Folsom by 2002. But lines to Elk Grove and Natomas haven't received funding, and RT isn't making promises.
As a result, neighborhood groups are reluctant to support transit-friendly development. In many cases, neighbors fear they will get the traffic of high-density housing without the transit.
"There's a chicken-and-egg question we have to deal with," said Burness. Without higher-density development, he said, Sacramento won't have the ridership for rail. But without assurances rail will be built, denser developments can't be sold, he added.
Another problem: Many rail stations are close to freeways and highways. That makes land adjacent to the stations attractive to big-box stores and other businesses dependent on motorists.
"That is especially true with the Highway 50 corridor," said Burness. "It's an accident of geography that we have to deal with."
Some business leaders say that, in light of this geography, the county should be more realistic. Instead, said Curt Haven, CEO of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce, the county has rigid rules and little to show for it.
A few years ago, he said, Cordova had retail developers who wanted to redevelop an old Lumberjack store site on Sunrise Boulevard. But since the area was close to the future Sunrise rail station, "All these red flags went up," said Haven. "Regional Transit and the air quality district ganged up on them."
The county approved the project, but Haven said it was a needlessly long ordeal.
RT officials say that, if anything, they have been slow to voice concerns.
In coming years, Sacramento and RT planners hope to take a more proactive approach to developing transit projects.
But what's missing, said Burness, is a broad support for transit. That includes support from business groups, which have a stake in preventing Sacramento from turning into another Los Angeles, he said.
"In Silicon Valley, business groups have taken the lead in advocating transit-oriented development," said Burness. "That hasn't been happening here in Sacramento County."© The Sacramento Bee
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The Steeps, a mountain bike blog centered on Southern California singletrack trails launched a wiki called "SingleTrackWiki", and is inviting contributors from the US and abroad to submit trail info and pics. They've incorporated some Google Maps api functionality to the site so that users can map the trails they ride and submit.
Pretty cool use of wiki and google maps.
Trail entry for Maxwell Road, Lake Hughes, CA (Santa Clarita Valley)
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I got my weekly Thinkgeek junk mail, and decided to peruse their catalog for new crap. Came across this really cool LCD/WiFI enabled picture frame.
ThinkGeek :: eStarling Wi-Fi Gmail / Flickr Enabled LCD Frame
It also allows you to display flickr photos via rss and send your mobile pics as well.
Also mentioned by Engadget and Red Ferret
King Research and Education Institute Stanford University
King Speeches/Sermons (Quicktime/Realplayer)
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OK, no biggie. While I was there, I figured I might as well get the full eye examination and get my pupils dilated, just to make sure everything was ok. It had been 5 yrs since I'd had that done, and thought I should take a peek for safety's sake.
Well, they found something, in my left eye. They call it a "Choroidal Nevus". The O.D. at first called it a "freckle", but strongly encourage me to get an appointment with an Ophthalmologist.
This is the first pre-cancer type medical condition I've discovered. I thought I'd be a lot more alarmed when I was told about something like this, but at the time, my overriding concern was to be able to get a pair of glasses that night. I was also getting very "interested" in the friendly optician that was assisting me, and she discovered as much after taking my blood pressure.
I've yet to make the appointment, and just recently changed my primary doctor, so I guess I'll have to go in on my vacation and see whats up. The O.D. said they would most likely start a regime of 3-6 mo. monitoring appointments, then if after 2 years, no growth, increase to 12 mo. intervals. From what I've read, the statistics are promising that nothing will ever develop. I would opt for
irradiation and/or laser surgery before throwing in the towel, and going Sammy D/Pirate style, otherwise known as Enucleation
I never thought it would be my eyes that would give me a problem. My imagination wandered a little after reading up on these "freckles", but I've chilled out after crunching the numbers, and learning of the success of treatment they have with early detection. I kept wondering if I hadn't broke my glasses, how long it would have been before I discovered this? I guess that answer will only come with time.
Here are a few sites I've been browsing:
Even Santa gets a little nausea from XMas and commercialism.
]]>Took this and other photos on the way down Florin from the Sac County Registrar of Voters. I was headed east, and the inside of the cab of my truck filled with orange light as the sun broke through the clouds. I had to stop and take some pics of this. Stopped at Excelsior Rd. @ Florin. Also tried a few B & W shots. It struck me that it looked like what I'd imagined future time would look like colliding with and ripping through into our time.
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I took this on Thursday on the way home. Since my 08/2005 photo, the couches have been replaced with an abandoned truck shell, and trash is strewn all over the place. If the owner is amenable to paying my gas and dump fees, I'l clean it up for him.
What really cracks me up seeing this, is that the city council swaggered and postured with Raleys intitially over their participation in the Mills Shopping Center Remodel.
They (a council member and staff) threatened, or intimated, that they would hinder the smooth processing of Raley's construction of the Anatoilia store should they "become difficult" over the Mills remodel. This made it's way into the newspaper. Amazing!
These bozoos can't even manage to keep a dumpy, closed bar's parking lot clean and they are boasting about muscling the most committed retailer/grocer in Rancho Cordova history.
Completely moronic. They did an about face in the Grapevine as soon as was humanly possible to print and distribute their "re-statement" or clarification.
Although it would suck for the shopping center and the neighborhoods adjoining Folsom Blvd, it would serve the city council right to be the first elected offcials in Rancho history to run off a committed business parner who'd stuck by Rancho through thick and thin, in what has to be one of the most dangerous and theft prone locations in Rancho Cordova to open a store near.
I guess the council can go back to sending "mean letters" with frowning face stickers to the owners of the Stagger. It seems to get them off or something.
http://www.knightreplicas.com/
Resistance is futile!
http://www.knightreplicas.com/
Resistance is futile!
