Month: May 2011

What Is a “Facial” Takings Claim?

Interesting and frustrating new case out the 10th Circuit, Alto Eldorado Partners v. County of Santa Fe, which doesn’t appear to have gotten coverage from Takings lawyers and scholars and probably should.  The case involved a challenge to Santa Fe County’s inclusionary zoning ordinance, and it carries potential important federalism issues; it also raises — …

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New Legal Planet iPhone/iPad app provides easy mobile access to blog

I know many of you wake up daily wondering whether there might ever be a way to bring Legal Planet directly to your iPhone or iPad, with features such as push notifications, easy scanning and scrolling of recent content, designation of unread and previously-read posts, saving of favorites, and easy emailing of posts to friends …

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The New Public Trust Climate Cases

Per the New York Times this morning, a group of environmental organizations called Our Children’s Trust has filed a lawsuit against the state of California, arguing for protection of the atmosphere under the public trust doctrine (about which I blogged a couple of days ago).  A few preliminary reactions after having read the complaint quickly: …

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Parking, Infill, and Affordable Housing

The Infill Builders’ parking bill that I blogged about this morning just passed unanimously out of the Assembly Local Government committee this afternoon, overcoming perhaps its biggest hurdle to ultimate passage. Although one would expect local governments to oppose a state bill that limits their ability to demand excessive parking for transit-oriented development, opposition to …

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Infill Builders at the State Capitol

Part of my work with UC Berkeley and UCLA involves gathering business leaders to discuss opportunities presented by climate change policies.  In the case of real estate development, the common refrain from sustainable developers seems to be to tell government to get out of their way and let them build more walkable, mixed-use communities around …

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Another victim of the budget deal: key US greenhouse gas data?

It was my wonderful law school professor Gary Blasi who first introduced me to the idea that “what gets measured, gets done.”  I’m thinking of him and reading this news in some mixture of awe (at our seeming collective ability to ignore problems) and anger (at same): The final fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget provides $95.4 …

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Can Six-year-olds Understand the Tragedy of the Commons?

Maybe not.  But perhaps eight-year-olds can. Last Wednesday morning, I showed up for my weekly library volunteering at my daughter’s first grade class.  School cutbacks meant that the librarian wasn’t there, so the teacher, another parent and I had to make do.  The display was about Earth Day, since I had to find a book to read …

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The Public Trust Doctrine: A Prophet Without Honor

  Michael C. Blumm and R.D. Guthrie of Lewis & Clark Law School have an interesting new paper soon to appear in the U.C. Davis Law Review, pointing out that the public trust doctrine has assumed enormous significance in the jurisprudence of several countries around the world, including India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Uganda, Kenya, South …

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