San Francisco Chronicle

Like binge drinkers or fast-food fanatics, American urban leaders have had a tendency to run wild when things appear to be going well. But soon they will find that the good times are coming to end.

The prime culprit this time will be deflation of the residential real estate bubble, which has brought about a surge of tax collections and development.

Soaring prices for condos and a spike in upscale development have become the primary evidence for enthusiastic talk about… more

Predictions of the demise of suburbia, choked to death by high gasoline prices, may be greatly exaggerated.

Conventional wisdom suggests that high prices at the pump mean less driving and, hence, the withering of far-flung suburbs, whose residents must drive to jobs, shopping and recreation.

For today's warriors in the fight against sprawl, there's a silver lining in this: The soaring price of gas evokes images of a nation retreating back to its urban past, with chastened suburbanites abandoning their… more

When President Bush announced his support for an American Competitiveness Initiative in his State of the Union address in January -- including $136 billion over 10 years to boost research funding in the physical sciences and train 70,000 math and science teachers to improve the skills of American students -- many of California's scientists and teachers were stunned. Bush hasn't exactly shown much respect for science during his two terms as president.

Many Americans still deeply resent the… more

As California's first large urbanized region, the Bay Area has a long and compelling history as a center of city life. When Fresno was little more than a couple of shacks and Los Angeles a gunslinger's cow town, San Francisco already saw itself as a sophisticated, cosmopolitan city.

Yet today, this cherished ideal of the Bay Area as a neatly organized, dense urban center is increasingly archaic. The suburbs are starting to take over. Long anxious to see itself as… more

In each era of modern American history, California has been at the forefront. It emerged from the Depression and World War II as the nation's archetype of the suburban middle class. It marked the end of government expansion with Ronald Reagan and Proposition 13. And it ushered in the age of technology, as the birthplace of Apple, Intel and Hewlett-Packard.

Californians are still willing to push the envelope, as they demonstrated with the unprecedented recall of a governor in 2003… more

Now what? The special election was a referendum on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and all eyes are focused on how he responds to a complete rejection by voters. But an even more important question is, what will voters do next?

They started this venture into uncharted territory with the unprecedented recall of an incumbent governor and the election of a political neophyte who promised to sweep out the status quo. Now, the rejection of the special election suggests the recall… more

Congress and the president have made responding to Hurricane Katrina the highest priority of the federal government. The tremendous costs involved call for a grand rethinking of the nation's priorities. Given that we are only in the fourth week of the new fiscal year, and the current budget is already basically dead, the first step should be to pass a brand new budget.

The budget that the Congress passed this past spring, which covers the five years beginning in fiscal… more

I recently moved to Los Angeles. Along with the fun of exploring its interconnected cities, I experienced a string of racial incidents. Some were faintly ridiculous, like a spat with the owners of a spa who'd canceled my reservation. Others were all too familiar, like meeting a landlord who clearly didn't want to rent to me. It was as if the universe was saying, "Hold on, black woman, don't get too big for your britches."

Humility is a virtue… more

On the surface, San Francisco and New Orleans seem almost polar opposites.

The California city--where nearly half of its residents over 25 have college degrees and median household income soars above the national average--stands as a beacon for the highly educated, affluent and privileged. That's in searing contrast to New Orleans, where only about a quarter of its residents hold college degrees and median household income is a mere half that of San Francisco.

Yet these two cities--gems of American urbanism--actually… more

If we really want to do something about our electile dysfunction, we're going to have to do a lot more than pop a redistricting pill.

Thanks in large part to Dr. Schwarzenegger, Californians will be voting on a prescription for redistricting reform this November. But while a more neutral drawing of legislative district boundaries may lessen the symptoms of California's political disorder, it won't cure the disease. The real problem in California politics is the size of legislative districts… more