October 4, 2016   TRANSPORTATION / INFRASTRUCTURE Safety plan could improve transportation on the Palos Verdes Peninsula (Daily Breeze) A plan brewing among three cities could address traffic and safety issues on nearly every public road on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Efforts to create a three-city Roadway Safety Master Plan have taken off in recent weeks in Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills Estates. If all three cities participate, the plan would cover the streets in every city except Rolling Hills, with individual components to address city-specific problems as well as Peninsula-wide issues, said Palos Verdes Estates staff at a recent meeting.   WATER / DROUGHT Another dry year on California’s books as ‘drought continues’ (SF Gate) The forecasts start calling for rain as the coming winter offers hope of relief for the state’s thirsty rivers and reservoirs. Just this weekend, parts of Northern California saw up to three quarters of an inch of rain, while the first big snow shut down Highway 120 in Yosemite. Hydrologically speaking, Oct. 1 also marked the official start of the state water year. But as much as the milestone brought the prospect of drought-busting storms ahead, it highlighted the grim reality of the past 12 months. State water officials last week described the 2016 water year, running from Oct. 1, 2015 to Sept. 30, as disappointingly “dry” — the fifth year of “meager precipitation” helping fuel the historic drought.   HOUSING It will soon be easier to add granny flats in San Diego (San Diego Tribune) Miles Slattery- the Director of Eureka’s Parks and Recreation Department said they started the Community Access Project for Eureka (C.A.P.E) without clear direction. But he said the tentative goal was to help connect people who need assistance, to assistance programs. Slattery said now after seeing improvements in homelessness, unemployment, and financial education, as well as in child services. He said they are now heading to the League of Cities Conference to share what has worked and what hasn't in Eureka, with other cities across California.   California housing forum participants agree: it's time for real solutions (PR Newswire) When talking about housing in California, compromise is sometimes the last word that comes to mind. A forum held last Thursday in Sacramento was designed to start moving toward that goal. The California Apartment Association (CAA) brought together members from all sides of the housing debate, including representatives from the State, affordable housing advocates, labor, builders, property owners and residents with an objective to find ways to start working toward consensus on how to resolve California's worsening housing situation.   HOMELESSNESS / POVERTY Close to Home: Three steps to address our housing crisis (Press Democrat) Our need for housing in Sonoma County has reached crisis proportions. Our vacancy rate for rental housing is under 1 percent. The median house price is unaffordable for most working families. Our homeless population is impacting residents and local businesses. We need housing for everyone — from emergency homeless shelters to housing for our local workforce, including teachers, nurses and safety personnel.   ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY SF could resume care of street trees (San Francisco Examiner) San Francisco voters will be asked this November whether to transfer the responsibility of all street trees back to The City. Proposition E, authored by Supervisor Scott Wiener, would reverse an unpopular move made in 2012 that put the responsibility of The City’s 105,000 street trees into the hands of property owners. The system as it stands has meant neglect and death for many of The City’s street trees. Prop. E would amend the charter and require San Francisco to properly care for its urban forest. The City’s Department of Public Works will be responsible for the upkeep and care of the more than 100,000 street streets.   San Jose Oil Company hit with $75,000 penalty for environmental violations (The Mercury News) Worried about the risk of an oil spill fouling San Francisco Bay, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday announced $75,000 in penalties against a San Jose oil distribution company for failing to safely manage dozens of large tanks of diesel fuel and other oil products. The company, SC Fuels, based in Orange County, operates a facility three miles from downtown San Jose, at 2075 Alum Rock Ave., which its trucks have used to deliver petroleum products to gas stations, oil change shops and other businesses. In a settlement agreement released Monday, the EPA said its inspectors found during a site visit in March 2015 that the plant’s operators failed to construct adequate dikes and berms around the facility’s above-ground oil tanks to prevent oil from pouring into the creek in the event of a spill.   MARIJUANA The push to legalize pot for all has deeply divided the medical marijuana community (Los Angeles Times) me November, medical pot dispensary operator Lanette Davies won’t be joining others in her industry in voting for Proposition 64, a measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The initiative could create a flood of new customers for Davies’ nonprofit Canna Care pot shop, which is located in the back of an industrial park on the outskirts of Sacramento. But Davies fears the Nov. 8 ballot measure will result in big corporations driving out small operators, and the government setting steep taxes and fees on cannabis that will put it out of reach for many of her mostly low-income customers   CITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT Murrieta is new home of Avocado Half Marathon (Village News) The Avocado Half Marathon and 5K, held in Fallbrook in 2014 and 2015, will have its third running in Murrieta on Feb. 25, 2017. Andrew Pettersen, CEO of race organizer GMP Marketing, announced the city of Murrieta as the new host of the event in an email to runners on Sept. 23.   San Miguel will celebrate new signs, sidewalks (The Tribune) A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at noon Thursday to celebrate completion of the San Miguel Gateway Monuments project. The project includes gateway monuments along Highway 101 at both ends of San Miguel and sidewalks on the west side of Mission Street from Ninth to 11th streets. The $858,465 project was funded by a federal grant. Souza Construction Inc. of San Luis Obispo completed the construction contract for $411,283, according to the San Luis Obispo County public works department.   Santa Cruz looks to host new bike ‘share’ rental program (Santa Cruz Sentinel) A partnership between Santa Cruz’s city Economic Development and Public Works departments is shopping around its proposed “bike sharing 2.0” program, earning unanimous endorsements in recent weeks from both the city Transportation and Public Works Commissions and Downtown Commission. A contract bid will go before the Santa Cruz City Council for final approval before the effort moves forward. The new program’s concept veers from its “sharing” roots and would charge users a rental fee. It would involve bringing in an outside company to operate, using bicycles with onboard “smart” equipment, rather than traditional and high-cost bike rental stations often seen in large urban areas, city transportation planner Claire Fliesler said.

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