California Groundbreakers

An affordable housing project for seniors in San Francisco's Mission District was just taken to court. Affordable housing for low-income residents in Orange County was waylaid for several months. And a homeless shelter for teenagers originally planned for San Francisco's Marina District had to move elsewhere. They're just a few examples of how the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, is used as a way to block housing and other types of development. But CEQA’s defenders say the landmark law, passed in 1970, has given California cleaner air, less congestion and sewage, and made it a more desirable place to live. Home developers say that, depending where you are in the California, the onorous fees, codes and CEQA-specific reviews mean they pay at least $50,000 before even putting a shovel in the ground. So do we love CEQA for keeping California from being congested and over-built? Do we champion it as it is because it gives people the power to block development they want? Or should we tell state