Cathy Baylock | Cathy Baylocks Smart Growth Reading List

Smart Growth is an approach to development that respects the existing built environment as well as the patterns of neighborhoods and commercial districts. Burlingame is faced with many choices as it grows and we, the citizens, must take a proactive stance on the future development of our town. I support adopting a Smart Growth strategy to preserve Burlingame’s rich heritage and unique characteristics for future generations. The following books and reviews are some of my personal recommendations on the growing national movement called Smart Growth.

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Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of Sprawl

By Richard Moe and Carter Wilkie

Henry Holt and Company (1997)

This book co-authored by the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a former White House speechwriter is a nice mixture of case studies, history lessons and ideas on how cities can build a stronger sense of place. It is full of Smart Growth principles. The authors write:

"many development proposals are driven by the same factors: developers who use stealth strategies to buy prime land; the desire of some public officials to add to their tax base at almost any cost; the premise that all new development projects must serve only automobile travel and deny people the choice of walking from one place to another; and, all too frequently, the failure, or absence, of sensible land-use planning. Many of these projects stem from tenets deeply rooted in American culture: a craving for boundless growth, a perception of unlimited land and economic resources, a preference for fresh starts over maintaining what we have, a belief that property owners should be allowed to do whatever they want with their holdings regardless of their neighbors, and an inability to recognize the interdependence of land-use decisions, how such things as zoning laws and transportation plans ultimately shape our surrounding build environment. In most instances, saying no to bad proposals is the only option some Americans have, because state and local officials have yet to create a process that lets them say yes to better alternatives".

Wow! Neither of the authors lives in Burlingame, but it sure sounds like they understand our situation. The emphasis of the book is on suburban sprawl and how New Urbanism can curb the bad effects of sprawl, but there are plenty of ideas and historical references to help with development issues in a long established suburb like Burlingame that is feeling tremendous development pressure. Ideas like adaptive reuse, reuse of city-owned assets, the need for sufficient entertainment attractions, and the benefits of historic preservation on building a sense of place are sprinkled throughout. Highly recommended.

The Not So Big House : A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live

By Sarah Susanka and Kira Obolensky (Contributor)

When describing a favorite room in the house, do you find yourself using terms such as "expansive," "formal," and "spacious"--a marble foyer or a formal dining room perhaps? Or do the words "cozy," "intimate," and "warm" come to mind--a cheery little breakfast nook or a window seat complete with plenty of pillows and a breathtaking view? More than likely, you--like thousands of other homeowners--are drawn to the more personal spaces in your home, where comfort, beauty, and efficiency meet. In The Not So Big House, respected architect Sarah Susanka and coauthor Kira Obolensky address our affinity for the "smaller, more personal spaces" and propose "clear, workable guidelines for creating homes that serve both our spiritual needs and our material requirements." The heart of the not-so-big house--which is not "just a small house ... [but] a smaller house," that uses "less space to give greater quality of life," and is designed to not only "accommodate the lifestyles of its occupants" but also to express "our values and our personalities," is discussed in chapter 1, entitled "Bigger Isn’t Better." Susanka’s urging for homeowners to get creative with their space as well as loads of ideas to encourage that creativity are covered in "Rethinking the House" and "Making Not So Big Work." Discussions of specific needs, such as a home for one and designing for kids, can be found in "Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous," while "Dreams, Details, and Dollars" gets down to the nuts and bolts of the operation, looking at quality versus quantity, budgeting, and what "low end," "middle ground," and "high end" really mean in home design and construction. Lastly, the authors look at the home of the future, which involves simplifying, recycling, reducing waste, and using energy-efficient construction. With more than 200 color photographs, as well as floor plans and Susanka and Obolensky’s intelligent and lively dialogue, The Not So Big House is perfect for homeowners ready to rethink their space. --Stefanie Hargreaves

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

By Jane Jacobs

1961 (Modern Library 1993 reprint)

This book is widely considered to be the original text for Smart Growth ideas, inspiration and principles. Jacobs praised the human scale of successful urban development, the benefits of lively street life throughout the day and evening, and the pedestrian traffic that made for safe, secure-feeling and appealing places. She then warned that all of these great qualities were under attack from modern planning concepts that breakdown the working structure of a city. She writes:

"downtowns and other neighborhoods that are marvels of close-grained intricacy and compact mutual support are casually disemboweled. Landmarks are crumbled or are so sundered from their contexts in city life as to become irrelevant trivialites. City character is blurred until every place becomes more like every other place, all adding up to Noplace."

How many times have you heard a Burlingame resident bemoan the feeling that Burlingame Avenue is becoming an outdoor version of Hillsdale Mall? Did it start with the arrival of the chainstores in the 1990s or with the destruction of the Palace Theatre decades before? Is there a City Council and staff responsibility to ensure some continuity in the feel of Burlingame’s two downtown areas? Why can cities like Los Gatos, Saratoga and Palo Alto accomplish this with reasonable guidelines while Burlingame is handcuffed by inaction?

How California Decides What to Keep Green

A review of A Political History of Land Use and Development By Stephanie S. Pincetl Johns Hopkins University; 359 pages; $45 from the San Francisco Chronicle Book Section Sunday, September 19, 99 Reviewed by Kathryn Phillips

TRANSFORMING CALIFORNIA

A Political History of Land Use and Development By Stephanie S. Pincetl

Johns Hopkins University; 359 pages; $45

There is a spot in the hills above Berkeley from which one can see a textbook example of sprawl in the Bay Area. Over the years, the view has become less a patchwork of distinctive towns and open space and more a seamless blanket of homes and commercial development, broken only by the blessed relief of the bay itself.

There are similar views up and down the California coast, along the interior valleys and even stretching into the inland deserts. For anyone old enough to remember the woodlands and chaparral that have been replaced by urban and suburban jungles -- and in many cases that means anyone over the age of 5 -- the mystery is why so much of California’s open wildlands continue to be transformed so quickly. Why does the transformation seem to speed up even as opinion polls and local ballot measures signal that most people want wildlands and green space preserved?

It is a mystery that Stephanie S. Pincetl helps solve in ``Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development.’’ Pincetl tracks the political development of California, from the Gold Rush through the reign of Gov. Pete Wilson, examining its link to key land use and natural resource decisions that have shaped the physical state of the state.

Those tasks would seem challenging enough for any author. But Pincetl, an urban planning consultant and scholar at the University of Southern California’s Sustainable Cities Program, boldly takes on even more. She aims to ``elucidate how and why contemporary California finds itself polarized along race and class lines, following a path of continued environmental degradation, and gripped by cynicism about government.’’

Pincetl makes a convincing case that the people who first brought California the ballot initiative and other political reforms ultimately created a system that eliminated public involvement in the state’s most important issues. The Progressive-era reformers remade the state’s political system to get rid of political corruption. But in their effort to replace cronyism with expertise-based decision-making, they handed the state’s natural resources over to an interested elite.

Decisions about how to distribute California’s limited water, protect its precious wildlands and make and keep its cities vital have been largely determined by appointed commissions and boards. Those commissions and boards, Pincetl argues, have been dominated by business and agricultural representatives who make decisions based on what best suits their industries, not on what best suits most Californians. No wonder the average citizen feels uninformed and alienated.

The obvious way to correct this situation would be to bring the average citizen back into the process, to return democracy to the decision- making about the state’s resources. But how? Pincetl calls for a new round of fundamental political reform and provides a list of specific suggestions to include in that reform. Several are well founded and worth considering. For instance, Pincetl adds her voice to a legion of respected scholars and environmental advocates when she calls for requiring land-use coordination at the regional level.

Not all the suggestions seem so reasonable, though. Pincetl also advises eliminating nonpartisan local elections and regenerating party politics at the local level. Throughout the book, Pincetl hints that stronger political parties lead to better land-use decisions, but she never provides convincing evidence that this is true. Indeed, a quick look at Midwestern and Eastern states and cities where political parties have greater clout than in most California cities finds lots of sprawl, lousy water, dirty air and vanishing wildlands.

Much of the writing in the book, particularly the chapters covering the early years in the state’s history, is dry and academic. Pincetl often ignores the power of personalities in history. Yet the book comes most alive in later chapters, particularly during Pincetl’s lively and incisive analysis of Jerry Brown’s years as governor.

Her obvious comfort and authoritative voice in the Brown discussion likely come from her deep knowledge of the subject: She did her doctoral dissertation on the environmental policy and politics of Brown’s governorship.

Overall, Pincetl’s book provides a valuable background on 150 years of California’s political and environmental history. It presents primers on a number of the most pressing natural resource issues, including the never-ending water battles. It also offers some practical, challenging and timely ideas about how Californians can do a better job in the future.

Kathryn Phillips is a science and environmental journalist and author of ``Tracking the Vanishing Frogs’’ and ``Paradise by Design.’’

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