A roundup of news and multimedia from the Unfamiliar Terrain team:
San Francisco
Mayor Lurie launches initiative to speed up S.F.’s slow permitting process (SF Chronicle): The Mayor announced a new effort to streamline the City’s permitting process as he seeks to bolster its economic recovery.
Lurie under YIMBY pressure to embrace aggressive rezoning plan (SF Standard): Pro-development factions are warning the Mayor that a “too-timid approach” could be politically risky.
Photos That Capture the Soul of San Francisco (New York Times): Taken in the late 1960s and early 1970s, these long hidden photographs by Barbara Ramos have just been published in “A Fearless Eye.”
Bay Area
What It Will Take to Close Oakland’s Structural Deficit, Part 2: Budget-Setting, Spending, and Revenues (SPUR): This article provides background on Oakland’s budget-setting process, where its revenue comes from, and how that money is spent.
California and Beyond
‘Too damn hard to build’: An East Bay Democrat’s push for speedier construction (Mercury News): Although “excruciatingly non-sexy,” more California officials want to re-examine how buildings get permitted.
This wealthy California city just flirted with bankruptcy to avoid new housing (SF Chronicle): Will cities and counties be willing to go bankrupt to fight housing?
Rebuilding Los Angeles Is California’s Economic Moment of Truth (Wall Street Journal): Wildfires that destroyed two neighborhoods made the state’s housing shortage even worse. Now, opposition is growing to creating more.
Los Angeles could be the next city to take up single-stair reform (Urbanize Los Angeles): Advocates for increasing the supply of market-generated housing have recently set their sights on reforming building code regulations.
California Assembly Select Committee on Permitting Reform, Final Report – March 2025 (California State Assembly): This white paper aims to help accelerate efforts at permitting reform across a range of areas, including housing, electricity, water, and transportation.
How Progressives Froze the American Dream (The Atlantic): The U.S. was once the world’s most geographically mobile society. Now we’re stuck in place.
Success on the Street Policy Brief (SPUR): California’s CEQA exemption has helped cities build modern mobility faster — and has become a foundation for future streamlining.
