Court rulings on local efforts to manage growth by initiative and referendum in California
unusually broad and well-entrenched in California. As a result of that right, residents of that state have employed both of these tools of direct democracy to manage local growth. In this article the initiative will be treated as the power of voters to draft and implement growth control measures within local governmental settings. The local growth control referendum will, in turn, represent their power to rescind local governmental actions that fail to promote a desired level of growth control. This article describes how courts in California have developed a body of case law governing such local efforts to control growth by direct legislation.
Growth Management by Local Initiative: “Grass Roots” Planning in California
Abstract If California does not secede from North America with the help of the San Andreas fault, its residents sometimes fear that it will sink into the ocean instead, foundered by the weight of its growing population. In order to accommodate immigrants from other states and counties, hillsides are graded, and neighborhoods tom down and rebuilt, in the blink of an eye. The population already exceeds the wildest imaginings of the original freeway engineers; in southern California, the land of the automobile, commuting speeds are expected to average 10 miles per hour in 1990.
California, its government and politics
Intended for the California government component in introductory American government courses at two- and four-year schools in California. 252-page text that offers a balance of institutions with discussion of political process.