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Parking Policies, Budget Preview, Forest Management, Shrinking Beaches

Welcome to Monitor Notes, a weekly roundup of news items, event announcements, and updates on past Bay Area Monitor articles.

 

Parking Lot in Life

You better not pout, although you might want to when it comes to Bay Area parking. So come hear solutions being piloted during a Silicon Valley at Home discussion tomorrow (December 6). Panelists will discuss parking needs related to housing, as well as its high cost of development. The discussion comes as San Francisco officials make changes to eliminate minimum parking requirements in new developments, per a San Francisco Examiner article. Decision makers are continually looking for ways to address the many thorny issues involved in setting parking policy, as we reported back in 2015.

 

Budget for this Policy Event

Curious about the state’s finances? Mark your calendar for Tuesday, December 11 when the California Budget & Policy Center hosts an event exploring the state budget process and issues to watch in 2019. Panelists will explore key debates shaping policy at the state and national levels and what’s at stake for low- and middle-income residents. Sign up here for a waitlist ticket or listen to the live webcast. It should be useful — the California Budget & Policy Center advances informative dialogue, as we affirmed when covering California’s expenditure plan for cap-and-trade auction proceeds at the nonprofit organization’s annual conference last year.

 

Firing Away at New Policy

NBC News article examines the timely forest management issue and how recent blazes are challenging officials to consider policy to help limit “runaway superfires” amid the drought and dry hillside realities of open spaces. It’ll be interesting to see what legislation results when the next session begins in January and whether there’s emphasis on controlled burns or hillside home building restrictions. Tree health is a big piece of the puzzle, which researchers are attempting to sort out in the Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative, described in Aleta George’s newest Monitor article.

 

Planning for Full Flood

Communities across California and the U.S. are planning for a future in which homes will be threatened by increased flooding from rising seas and storms. A new NPR report examines this difficult city planning challenge and what it means for people in seaside towns like Del Mar where the choice amounts to staying and fighting the expected impacts, or bailing. Check out the report and then read Robin Meadow’s Monitor piece on local tidal marsh restoration projects and how they guard against sea level rise.

 

Monitor Notes is produced by Cecily O’Connor. To receive it by email, scroll to the bottom of this page, enter your email address in the box under “RECEIVE EMAIL UPDATES,” and click the red “SIGN UP” button.

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