Los Angeles Sprawl Bumps Angry Neighbor By TODD S. PURDUM

SANTA CLARITA, California This is the last frontier, the place where the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles meets a peaceful patch of live oaks, rolling hills and quiet back roads along the Santa Clara River, one of a tiny handful of wild waterways left in Southern California. It is also a battle zone, the future home of Newhall Ranch, the largest housing development ever approved by Los Angeles County, with 21,600 units for 70,000 people to be built over the next 20 years. But big and controversial as it may be, Newhall Ranch is nothing compared with the projected need for new housing in Los Angeles County: about 25,000 units a year, according to the Southern California Association of Governments. By 2025, the state's population of 34 million is projected to grow by 18 million more (a whole New York State) and that of the Los Angeles region by 6 million (or two Chicagos).(...) New Californians are being born or moving into the state at the rate of 1,700 a day, or roughly 1 every 50 seconds. (...) "What are you going to do?" asked Mr. Fulton "Build 200 Newhall Ranches? The truth is, with six million people, growth has got to be both up and out." (...) Since at least the mid-70's, residents of established neighborhoods have consistently opposed construction of higher-density apartment complexes, leaving developers little choice but to build in fringe areas like those near Santa Clarita, a collection of old farming towns northwest of Los Angeles(...) "In Los Angeles, it's part of our culture to aspire to live in open spaces in single-family homes," said Zev Yaroslavksy of Los Angeles County, (...) "People don't want to live in skyscrapers like New York. The population of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, which make up the "Inland Empire" east of Los Angeles, has roughly doubled since 1980, making the area the fastest growing part of the region, and the population there is expect to double again in the next 20 years. (...)

The fight over Newhall Ranch (...) has put the debate over urban sprawl into particularly sharp relief because the project abuts the border of Ventura County, an agricultural enclave that is Southern California's least populated. For years, Ventura has looked askance at growth and recently adopted some of the most stringent anti-growth measures in the nation, (...) "Despite all that you would hear, and the outcries about development," a house "is still the American dream," said Thomas L. Lee, chairman and chief executive of Newhall (...). "We're providing homes to people who just want a piece of the American dream like everybody else. The large majority of people want to live that way." (...) But critics of Newhall's plans point out that much of the demand for housing in the region is among the growing Hispanic and immigrant populations of urban Los Angeles, where families are doubled up in apartments and can not yet afford suburban houses. (...) But the critics (...) contend that Newhall Ranch would damage the delicate ecosystem of the Santa Clara River and threaten birds and other wildlife, as well as the flood plain. (...) The growing population's demands on state roads, schools, bridges and public transportation are already a concern. Newhall itself expects to pay tens of millions of dollars in the coming years for highway improvements. (...) Tim Coyle, the California Building Industry Association's chief lobbyist : "The politics of antigrowth initiatives not only limit housing, but ultimately they're hostile to the economic and social interests of the citizenry." (...) Mr. Angelides said "As long as we remain productive and attractive, we will have that growth demographic. Our challenge is how do we maintain the livability and quality of life that brought residents and economic vitality in the first place." The New York Times, February 13 2000 To abut : buter To look askance : regarder de travers Stringent : strict To contend : prétendre

Suburban sprawl : étalement urbain Fringe areas : zone limitrophe

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QUESTIONS ON THE PROBLEMS CAUSED BY THE URBAN GROWTH OF LA 1. Why has Santa Clarita become a "battle zone"? 2. How many housing units are estimated to be needed a year, according to the Southern California Association of Governments, and why is the need so great? 3. Why might "a patch of yard and sky, a lemon tree and maybe even a swimming pool" be seen as a birthright to many Californians? What does this mean in terms of development? 4. Why is Los Angeles sprawling outward instead of upward? 5. Why has the proposed Newhall Ranch controversy been so hard ? 6. How has Ventura County remained sparsely populated? Why? 7. What are some of the criticisms of the plans for Newhall Ranch? 8. Tim Coyle, the California Building Industry Association's chief lobbyist, is quoted saying, "The politics of antigrowth initiatives not only limit housing, but ultimately they're hostile to the economic and social interests of the citizenry." What does he mean? 8. What might be the result of "unplanned growth"?

CI DESSOUS POUR INFO : LA LECON INTEGRALE PROPOSEE PAR LE NY TIMES

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TODAY'S LESSON PLAN: COMMUNITY BUILDING: Examining Suburban Sprawl and Planning Cities OBJECTIVES: 1. Articulate their concepts of the American Dream. 2. Examine the controversies surrounding urban and suburban sprawl by reading and discussing "Los Angeles Tests Its Limits in Quest to Grow." 3. Analyze the elements that a planned community must incorporate. 4. Prioritize and synthesize the issues that must be considered in planning a community; diagram a planned community. 5. Defend whether or not communities should contain their growth and how this might be accomplished. 6. Present their communities to the class; respond to other students' questions and comments. 7. Evaluate their process and their product by writing an essay about their planned communities. ACTIVITIES / PROCEDURES: DAY ONE 1. WARM UP/DO NOW: In their journals, students respond to the following questions (written on the board prior to class): From what you know about American culture, what is the American Dream? What is the American Dream for you? Students then share their answers. 2. As a class, read and discuss "Los Angeles Tests Its Limits in Quest to Grow," focusing on the following questions: 1.. Why has Santa Clarita become a "battle zone"? 2.. How many housing units are estimated to be needed a year, according to the Southern California Association of Governments, and why is the need so great? 3.. .. Why might "a patch of yard and sky, a lemon tree and maybe even a swimming pool" be seen as a birthright to many Californians? What does this mean in terms of development? 4.. Why is Los Angeles sprawling outward instead of upward? 5.. Why has the proposed Newhall Ranch controversy been put in "particularly sharp relief"? 6.. How has Ventura County remained sparsely populated? Why? 7.. What are some of the criticisms of his plans for Newhall Ranch? 8.. Tim Coyle, the California Building Industry Association's chief lobbyist, is quoted saying, "The politics of antigrowth initiatives not only limit housing, but ultimately they're hostile to the economic and social interests of the citizenry." What does he mean? 9.. What might be the result of "unplanned growth"? 3. As a class, brainstorm the elements that might be included in a community. (The article mentions: housing, roads, schools, bridges, public transportation, public space, pedestrian malls, office parks and industrial parks. Other elements might include: swimming pools, hospitals, low-income housing, an arts center, etc.) Decide which elements must be included in a planned community and which elements might be added as space and budget permit. Keep the list posted throughout the class periods. 4. WRAP-UP/HOMEWORK: Divide students into four small groups, explaining that their groups are each committees of city planners with the task of designing their own planned community. Assign each the groups the same task of strategizing and then creating a scale community on graph paper, within the following parameters (written on the board for students to copy prior to leaving class): --You must include those elements that the class deemed absolutely necessary for a planned community. --You must include only your top ten elements. (This number can vary, according to how many ideas the class came up with.) You may have to negotiate in your groups. --Your community is to be bordered on one side by a fragile ecosystem, such as a river or a forest, on one side by large growing city, on one side by a large industrial employer and on one side by farmland. --Using the article as a framework and understanding the need for housing units, you must decide how many people might live in your community and in what kind of homes they might live. --You must fit all of your housing units and other elements into your community. There can be no overlap with surrounding land. --You must create the scale and legend.

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DAY TWO 1. WARM UP/DO NOW: Students answer the following questions in their journals (written on the board prior to class): Do you believe that communities should contain their growth? If yes, how might this be accomplished? If not, why? Students then share their answers. 2. Groups reconvene to discuss the presentation of their communities to the class, which must include the following: what they put in it, why they put it where they did and how they might expand, given more money and more space. 3. Each group presents their community plan to the class.. Allow students to question the ideas of the other planners. What problems might arise from the design of the different plans, and how could these problems be ameliorated? 4. WRAP UP/HOMEWORK: Each student writes a brief (one to two page) reflective essay that evaluates the city planning experience. Students should address the following questions, as well as any other thoughts that they have (written on the board to be copied prior to leaving class): What elements do you think are most important in planning a community, and why? What difficulties did you have in attempting to draw up the plans for a city? What considerations did you have to make, given what types of communities and special situations bordered your community? DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: --Does the "American Dream" mean the same thing to all Americans? Are there regional differences? --What is a "birth rite"? What might people see, if anything, as a "birth rite" in your community? --The Hispanics and recent immigrants mentioned in the article cannot yet afford suburban houses. How does urban sprawl and crowding effect these communities? --Can a solution to California's growth problem be legislated? What are some possible outcomes of anti-growth legislation? What are some possible outcomes of legislation that paves the way for more development? --How can development affect the environment? What should take precedence, environmental concerns or housing concerns? Who should make these decisions? --Why is low-income housing an important element of development plans? Why is it such a hot political issue in many communities? --For what should the state be responsible for paying? What about taxpayers? Developers? --What are some potential problems with unplanned growth? --What is meant by "quality of life"? At what cost should "quality of life" be protected? --What are some quality of life issues in your community? EVALUATION / ASSESSMENT: Students will be evaluated based on written journal entries and final evaluative essay, participation in class discussions and group activities, and thoughtful participation in creating their communities. VOCABULARY: frontier, sprawl, urban, suburban, birthright, paradigm, consistently, constituents, unincorporated, abuts, askance, stringent, assessment, industrial park, pedestrian, vaporizing, watershed, concession, ecosystem, robust, demographic EXTENSION ACTIVITIES: 1. In your groups, using the plans that you have already made for a community, make a new plan that incorporates one or more of the following issues: there is a large population of workers from the nearby industry that need housing; there is an unexpected budgetary surplus; there is a decrease in tax revenue due to legislation; large numbers of young families are moving into the community; the population is aging; an endangered bird makes its habitat in the nearby forest or river. 2. Interpret the graph in the article.. Write a paragraph explaining what the graph says about housing units built and housing units needed. 3. Write an essay about the American Dream. What does the American Dream mean to you? Interview parents or grandparents about what the American Dream meant to them, and incorporate their responses into your essay. 4. Research a planned community such as Celebration, located in Florida. What makes Celebration unique? What

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other planned communities exist across the United States? 6. Chart the pros and cons of increased development in the Santa Clarita Valley.

ADDITIONAL RELATED N.Y.Times ARTICLES: "Ideas & Trends: A Bridge Too Long; The Cost of Urban Sprawl: Unplanned Obsolescence" (1/30/00) "CONCRETE CHOICES: A special report.; Freeways, Their Costs and 2 Cities' Destinies" (7/14/99) "The Big City; Room Aplenty For Sprawl In the Suburbs" (2/22/99) OTHER INFORMATION ON THE WEB: Cost and Consequences of Suburban Sprawl (http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/), a report from the Sierra Club, defines urban sprawl, has a clickable sprawl map, and lists the 30 most sprawl-threatened cities National Sprawl News Index (http://www.interaxs.net/pub/mikemonett/natl.htm) is a monthly directory of articles about suburban sprawl, downtown and city abandonment. Grades 9-12 Geography Standard 3- Understands the characteristics and uses of spatial organization of Earth's surface. Benchmarks: Understands how concepts of spatial interaction account for patterns of movement in space; Understands relationships in and between places; Understands how characteristics such as age, sex, employment, and income level affect the way people perceive and use space; Understands principles of location Geography Standard 4- Understands the physical and human characteristics of place. Benchmarks: Knows how social, cultural, and economic processes shape the features of places; Understands why places have specific physical and human characteristics in different parts of the world; Knows the locational advantages and disadvantages of using places for different activities based on their physical characteristics Geography Standard 9- Understands the nature, distribution and migration of human populations on Earth's surface. Benchmarks: nderstands population issues; Understands the impact of human migration on physical and human systems Geography Standard 12- Understands the patterns of human settlement and their causes. Benchmarks: Knows the shape of cities in the United States and factors that influence urban morphology; Knows the consequences of factors such as population changes or the arrival/departure of a major industry or business on the settlement patterns of an area; Understands the physical and human impact of emerging urban forms in the present-day world Geography Standard 14- Understands how human actions modify the physical environment. Benchmarks: Understands how the concepts of synergy, feedback loops, carrying capacity and thresholds relate to the limitations of the physical environment to absorb the impacts of human activity; Understands the global impacts of human changes in the physical environment; Knows how people's changing attitudes toward the environment have led to landscape changes Language Arts Standard 1- Demonstrates competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Benchmarks: Writes compositions that fulfill different purposes; Writes persuasive compositions that evaluate, interpret, and speculate about problems/solutions and causes and effects; Writes reflective compositions Language Arts Standard 8- Demonstrates competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning. Benchmarks: Asks questions as a way to broaden and enrich classroom discussions; Adjusts message wording and delivery to particular audiences and for particular purposes; Makes formal presentations to the class; Responds to questions and feedback about own presentations

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