News

August 4, 2026

Two cities burned in LA fires settle YIMBY lawsuit

The Planning Report here shares a CalMatters’ Ben Christopher feature that reports: homeowners in Malibu and Pasadena, who saw their neighborhoods burn in the Eaton and Palisades fires last year, will soon be able to build up to four units on their properties now that the two fire-scarred cities have settled a lawsuit brought by pro-development activists. In the settlement: both Malibu and Altadena agreed to repeal their local anti-duplex ordinances suspending SB 9 in post-fire very high fire hazard severity zones and accept all pending and future applications filed under the law.

August 4, 2026

California Has Reset the Economics of Rooftop Solar: The Math is Less Appealing

In this New York Times feature, TPR excerpts reporting by Francesca Paris on the eroding economics of residential solar, following President Trump's repeal of the federal residential solar tax credit last year and a decade-long, state-by-state rollback of net metering — the rate mechanism, dating to the 1980s, that has underwritten rooftop solar's return on investment. More than a third of U.S. states have restructured their net metering rules over the past ten years, and in some cases the changes have cut homeowner savings by hundreds or thousands of dollars annually.

August 4, 2026

California High-Speed Rail Authority and High Desert Corridor JPA Advance Statewide High-Speed Rail Connectivity

TPR shares the California High-Speed Rail Authority's July 20 announcement of a new Memorandum of Understanding with the High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Agency. The signed MOU, a major step in advancing California’s vision for a fully connected, statewide electrified high-speed rail network, deepens coordination on environmental clearance, station integration, and design at Palmdale Station; and promises to fill a key gap in the statewide highspeed network.

July 23, 2026

Mayor Karen Bass, the New LA Metro Board Chair’s State of the Agency Address: "The Most Consequential Year in a Generation"

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass delivered her State of the Agency Address at Union Station as she takes over as LA Metro Board Chair for the 2026–2027 fiscal year — her second time holding the gavel. Bass laid out four priorities for the coming year: Metro Safe, Metro Affordable, Metro Reliable, and Metro Ready as the agency prepares for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, pointing to the system's second-largest ridership in the country, more than 300 million boardings last year, and the recent World Cup activations as a successful "dress rehearsal" for the Games.

July 23, 2026

Ambassador Eric Garcetti on Rebuilding the Global Order and LA's Olympic Legacy

Ambassador Eric Garcetti, former Mayor of Los Angeles and most recently U.S. Ambassador to India, opened VX2026's second day with an extended metaphor: the postwar international order as a building now beginning to crumble, and the choice facing this generation between remaining tenants and firefighters, or becoming its engineers and architects. In his welcoming remarks, Garcetti makes the case that climate progress in America is happening at the city and state level even as the federal administration asserts otherwise.

July 22, 2026

Pasadena Looks to Invest in Spurring Revenue through Placemaking

Pasadena City Councilmember Rick Cole once was described appropriately by the LA Times as “one of Southern California’s most visionary planning thinkers.” A City Planning Commissioner before successfully returning to the City Council after a 29 year hiatus during which he worked on award-winning General Plans for Azusa and Ventura as City Manager in those cities. He also spearheaded the adoption of the most recent Downtown Plan for Santa Monica in 2017.

May 12, 2026

California’s Energy Future: A Conversation with Chair David Hochschild

As California confronts rising demand, wildfire-driven costs, and federal policy uncertainty, VX News spoke with California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild on the state’s entry into a new phase of energy deployment—defined by speed, scale, and resilience.

May 12, 2026

Not Business as Usual: Esther Kim on Rebuilding Altadena Commercial Corridors

In conversation, Esther Kim, an architectural designer with nearly two decades of experience across residential and commercial projects, shares why she founded Altadena Village Partners, an emerging grassroots effort focused on rebuilding Altadena’s commercial corridors after the fire. She reflects on the group’s origins (mostly architects and planners), their self-funded recovery initiative, and the shift from traditional top-down visioning toward an owner-centered recovery model.

March 16, 2026

Inside ReMo Homes: Founder Vamsi Kumar Kotla’s Supply-Side Housing Play for California

As California confronts overlapping wildfire rebuilding pressures, housing shortages, and climate adaptation challenges, standardized off-site construction is gaining renewed policy and market attention. In conversation, ReMo Homes Founder & CEO Vamsi Kumar Kotla discusses the statewide approval of SupReMo™, a pre-engineered housing model designed to streamline permitting, reduce soft costs, and accelerate scalable housing delivery.

March 16, 2026

Right-Sizing LAUSD: Nick Melvoin on Strategic Planning, Education Code Reform, and Climate Resilience

LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin reflects on the structural challenges shaping the future of the nation’s second-largest school district, discussing the fiscal implications of one-time federal ESSER funding, pressures of labor negotiations in a high-cost region, and the long-term sustainability of a district that now serves roughly 400,000 students—down from nearly 700,000 two decades ago.

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© 2026 The Planning Report | David Abel, Publisher, ABL, Inc.