As the economy comes back to life and we move towards a (likely) prompt passage of a budget this June, it is heartening to see the Governor and our legislators focus their attention on the effort to build sustainable communities. In the last few days, we’ve seen two exciting events. First, late Thursday night, we learned that Caltrans would endorse the National Association of City Transportation Officials design guidelines, which many complete streets advocates have been waiting for the permission to implement for some time. Caltrans also indicated that it will refer to these guidelines for future updates to its Highway Design Guidelines. This is the first step Caltrans has taken to implement the recommendations from the Smart State Transportation Institute review, released in January. Many active transportation advocates took to twitter and facebook to rejoice the adoption of these guidelines, and we are excited to watch these guidelines play out across California, as cities experiment with new ways of promoting biking and walking.

We last heard from our steering committee member, NRDC’s Amanda Eaken, regarding the Caltrans review commissioned by Jerry Brown – a review that suggested a wholesale overhaul and realignment of Caltrans to better support California’s environmental goals.

Yesterday, the Brown administration released an eagerly anticipated organizational assessment of Caltrans. Major news outlets had a field day with the report; the Sacramento Bee focused on the report’s attention to poor performance management and a culture of fear and risk aversion. Many news outlets noted the report’s omission of the major issue du jour, the ongoing debacle regarding construction delays, cost overruns, and poor quality control associated with the Bay Bridge.

The big news at last week’s ARB meeting on SB 375 wasn’t about cap and trade funding, nor was it about the San Joaquin Valley’s lurching progress toward sustainability.

If you felt like you’d stepped into a scene from a Hollywood movie during last Thursday’s Fresno Council of Governments’ meeting, you could be forgiven. A lot of what transpired was reminiscent of the 1996 blockbuster Jerry Maguire: neogtiation, friendly amendments, debate, real talk about real issues, and pet slogans. During the meeting, at which the Fresno Council of Governments (FCOG) met to select its preferred alternative for its regional growth and housing plan, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin riffed on a quote from Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character, Rod Tidwell, saying, “That’s the difference between you and me. You think we’re fighting and I think we’re finally talking.” Mayor Swearengin went on to note, “At least we’re finally talking about the real issues of growth and transportation,” then offered to make a few recommendations “about how we can take advantage of the momentum we have today,” setting the stage for the discussion to come.