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Uplift the Arts: Get Your Tickets to the 9th Annual Art of Eating!
San Benito Agricultural Land Trust
Listed under: Land Use & Development Agriculture, Food & Gardening Sustainability
The California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, is the state’s signature environmental legislation, and is also often named as the villain in the state’s housing shortage. But the story may not be that simple.
How the California mental health crisis emerged out of the state’s history of deinstitutionalization and laws designed to protect the mentally ill, as well as the communities around them.
Heat pumps, an energy-efficient way to both heat and cool homes, are a necessary element of California's climate goal of net zero carbon emissions. Here's what they are, how they work, and how to get one.
The Williamson Act, passed in 1965, now keeps more than 16 million acres of farmland out of the hands of developers. Here's how the law puts the brakes on the development of California agricultural properties.
How California’s 10 state conservancies buy up open land and shield it from developers to preserve the natural environment for public use.
Long-duration energy storage is essential if renewables are to become the basis for a future, carbon-neutral power grid. Here's how California is leading the race to store energy from solar, wind, and other clean sources for use whenever it's needed.
Democracy is a 2,500-year-old system of government still looked on today as the best system, because under a democratic system, the people govern themselves. But is that all there is to it? What is democracy? And how does it work …
What is the California Coastal Commission? How one of the state’s most powerful agency protects public access to the state’s scenic coast from Mexico to Oregon.
This year, a series of extreme events in California and around the country have wreaked havoc, driven by climate change. How prepared are we for things to get worse?
Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation projects have helped to build California, but they are also damaging the state’s environment for people, plants and animals by eliminating essential wetlands.
California has used reclamation districts to turn millions of acres of unusable swamps into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush. Here’s how it happened.
Zoning laws determine what can be built and where. These laws have shaped California, but are they really just tools for social engineering? The history of zoning is closely tied to racial segregation, as well as the state's shortage of …
The California Supreme Court has kept the state at the forefront of legal issues surrounding abortion, the death penalty and same-sex marriage, starting in its earliest days in the Gold Rush era.
California has some of the worst economic inequality in the United States. Is the housing crisis a cause?
Solar power, and a network of giant battery storage facilities, are playing an essential role in moving California toward its goal of exclusive reliance on renewable energy sources.
The history of transportation in California has shaped the state, from the railroads to today’s highways, making the need for planning increasingly urgent. Here’s how it all happened, and where we stand today.
Thousands of miles of railroad track, including some in Santa Cruz County, now sit idle. The fate of those largely abandoned tracks has become a burning controversy.
California keeps on taking legislative steps that will keep it ranked in the top 10 of voter-friendly states.
Community service districts can do most anything a city government can do. Here’s how they work and how to start one.
The pesky mosquito can be deadly as well as annoying. Here’s how local governments in California have been waging war on mosquitoes for more than a century.
What do resource conservation districts protect? Pretty much everything that’s worth saving.
Residential wells are drying up in the state’s main agricultural region at the same time that agricultural businesses consume almost 90 percent of the water there.
Since long before the COVID-19 pandemic, states have possessed broad authority to protect public health, even to suspend laws and commandeer private property. Here’s why, and how it works.
How California's extensive public school system is organized and managed, explained.
From CalMatters...
From Benito Link...
A gas station planned for the corner of The Alameda and eastbound Hwy 156, which has been in the works for more than a decade, is moving closer to the start of construction with approval of plans to create a 450-foot right turn lane with a 120-foot taper.
From SanBenitocom...
Local authorities this week began cleaning up homeless encampments in the San Benito River bed in an ongoing effort to remove hazardous materials and direct unhoused people to services and more stable shelter.
From Gilroy Dispatch...
City of Gilroy officials are in the thick of the process to find and hire a new police chief, with Pedro Espinoza set to retire as of May 22.
Before San Benito County began clearing homeless encampments along the San Benito River on May 5, the only homeless shelter in town was already nearly full. The shelter is almost always at or near capacity.
Negotiations for countywide fire protection services appear to have gone up in smoke. At its May 6 meeting, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved job specifications for a fire chief as part of its efforts to create its own fire department.
Three measures passed unanimously at a special May 5 meeting of the San Juan Bautista City Council could bring additional funding for the town’s most significant expense: the ongoing projects that will bring water from the West Hills Treatment Plant and send sewage to the Hollister Wastewater Treatment Plant.
San Benito County is one step closer to meeting one of California’s most important housing requirements: adopting a state-approved Housing Element as part of its General Plan.
On May 5, a man who identified himself as Steve was instructed by county officials to leave his encampment along the San Benito River in Hollister. He stuffed what he could carry of his belongings into a black plastic trash bag, a carry-on suitcase, a backpack and a gym bag and walked away from the space he had called home under the Fourth Street Bridge.
Three community members joined the San Benito Leadership Institute’s nine-month program to enhance their professional skills, but say they gained much more, including new relationships, more self confidence and a sense of being part of a larger community.
For nearly a year, Hollister has sought to increase the rate it charges San Juan Bautista and San Benito County for fire protection services. City officials claim that Hollister has been subsidizing the firefighting services it provides the county and San Juan for many years. With the contract set to expire in December, the City Council began renegotiating in 2024.Since then, there have been back-and-forth discussions about each jurisdiction's fair share of costs and budget capabilities. The three municipalities also partnered to conduct a countywide fire district feasibility study.
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