Land Use and Housing
THE NEW METROPOLIS: Building a Sustainable and Healthy Bay Area in the Age of Global Warming
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The City of El Cerrito Environmental Quality Committee Presents: The New Metropolis, Building a Sustainable and Healthy Bay Area in the Age of Global Warming
Saturday, February 4, 2012,10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Program starts at Rialto Cinemas Cerrito
10070 San Pablo Avenue. Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
Come to a FREE SHOWING of this documentary about America’s "first suburbs and join in the community dialog. It will bring together policy makers and community members to discuss strategies for urban and suburban revitalization and environmental sustainability in the Bay Area.
The New Metropolis illustrates how many of America’s original suburbs are now facing crisis: a dwindling tax base, population and business loss, decaying infrastructure, increased demographic tensions and middle class !ight. Hear from award-winning filmmaker Andrea Torrice, local political leaders and other guest speakers in a discussion about local responses to the topics raised in the film.
Torrice will show segments from her recent PBS series, The New Metropolis, as well as premiere a new segment about the Bay Area, including a clip on Urban Habitat and Pleasanton.
Following the screening join the community discussion at Nong Thon restaurant at 10086 San Pablo Avenue.
Please RSVP to 510-215-4350 or green@ci.el-cerrito.ca.us
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Pleasanton's rezoning for affordable housing enters final stage
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12/07/2011Source:
Contra Costa Times PLEASANTON -- The debate over where to rezone land to accommodate nearly 2,300 affordable housing units focused Tuesday more on sites left off the city's list than those included.
The city's planning commission and City Council met Tuesday to provide input on nine of 17 sites Pleasanton submitted to the state in July as part of its housing element and to comply with a legal settlement.
City Finally Approves Affordable Housing Blueprint
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07/20/2011Source:
Pleasanton Patch After a year of meetings, meetings and more meetings, city officials have finally come up with an affordable housing blueprint that, fingers crossed, will satisfy state rules about providing homes for low-income families.
The City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday night that will yield 2,000 affordable units throughout Pleasanton, hopefully putting an end to a legal battle and scoldings from the state.
Santa Clara County Community Leaders' Roundtable: Engage your Community in Our Region's Future
A significant amount of housing and job growth and transportation investments are expected for Santa Clara County and the rest of the Bay Area. How and where we grow and invest will have major implications for community health, environmental sustainability, economic vibrancy, and social equity. Make sure the constituencies you represent and work with have a voice. Attend the following meeting to:* Learn more about the Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS)/Plan Bay Area
* Take part in a conversation about what it means for your community
* Brainstorm ideas about how you and your networks can get involved
When: Wednesday, June 1, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Portable classroom, Peter Pan Avenue, Capitol Park, San Jose
RSVP: http://act.greenbelt.org/site/Calendar?id=100641&view=Detail
For more information: Email or call, Vu-Bang Nguyen at vubang@urbanhabitat.org or 510-839-9510 x318
Hosted by: Greenbelt Alliance, Public Advocates, Sierra Club, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, TransForm, Urban Habitat, Working Partnerships
Food and refreshments provided.
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Urban Habitat is teaming up with Vietnamese Voluntary Foundation (VIVO)
Urban Habitat is teaming up with Vietnamese Voluntary Foundation (VIVO) to effectively advocate for affordable housing and transportation equity for low-income communities and communities of color in Eastside San Jose.
Please attend the first meeting of a Sustainable Communities Strategy presentation by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission at VIVO on Tuesday May 10, 2010: 2260 Quimby Road, San Jose, CA 95122.
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May 6: Save Our Land, Save Our Towns (1 hr)
Small town newsman Tom Hylton explores why America's towns have declined and what we can do to revive them. Philadelphia Daily News praises, “Development and zoning issues normally make the eyes glaze...Tom Hylton makes them downright fascinating."
www.saveourlandsaveourtowns.org/video.html
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May 13: Creating Places We Want to Live
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www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/wwl3.html
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Transit-Oriented Development and Communities of Color: A Field Report
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The Planners Network By Gen Fujioka
The following article originally appeared in The Planner's Network and is reposted here with permission from the author, Gen Fujioka (Senior Policy Advocate at the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development).
Transit-oriented development (TOD) has become a leading policy prescription for reversing America’s sprawling path of growth. The Obama administration, through its Sustainable Communities Initiative, state and local agencies and progressive think-tanks all emphasize TOD as a means to achieve housing, transportation and environmental goals, often through public-private partnerships. But as TOD has been justifiably promoted as the cleaner alternative to auto-dependent development, gaps have appeared in the discourse that understate its costs. This report seeks to fill in some of those gaps with snapshots from four communities of color that have been impacted by various stages of TOD in the cities of Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Minneapolis–Saint Paul.
Envision Bay Area Launches Interactive Online Planning Tool
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La Pulga, a short-film: BART Threatens the San Jose Flea Market
The San Jose Flea Market has been a historic site filled with culture and economic opportunity for low-income residents and new immigrants. Since its initial establishment almost 50 years ago, the market has been a place where vendors can sell a variety of goods at low rent costs in areas with high foot traffic. The market serves as an entrepreneurial incubator. It fosters socioeconomic mobility for predominantly low-income, minority vendors. For low-income shoppers, it provides critical access to cheap, healthy produce and affordable household items. Additionally, it is a vibrant social space that houses community-building cultural festivals and events.
The city plans to build BART on this track of land, which can potentially displace the South Bay flea market community and its vendors. La Pulga (a two-part short film) explores the conflicts between an existing community's economic livelihood and an environmentally responsible land use plan and reveals the complexity of urban issues and social justice in a changing city. It demonstrates the need for a strong community voice in the city’s decision-making process. Urban Habitat is currently following the gentrification/displacement implications related to the San Jose BART extension and the policies necessary to combat the displacement of existing communities.
Generous funding provided by the Castellano Family Foundation
Produced by Henry Servin andAlina Kwak
Directed by Rene Picazo
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