Mark Oberholzer News Today

As cities confront the housing crisis, they face intersecting challenges: opposition not only to affordable-housing development but often to any development; spiraling financing and construction costs; outdated zoning that stifles or misplaces growth; egregious bureaucratic barriers; and issues around displacement and historic preservation. But some cities have an asset that can serve as a testing ground for harmonizing urgent priorities: their downtown districts.

More local architects are working on affordable housing projects.

KTGY Architecture + Planning designed facilities.

It’s well-established that California suffers one of the most pernicious housing crises among the states. Rampant unaffordability, ever-increasing numbers of unhoused, and battles between housing advocates and neighborhood opponents are rampant. But in the last year, the state's government has taken robust legislative steps toward stemming these calamities.

As we continue our Heroes series, we turn this month to our stages. We spoke to 9 representatives from vastly different kinds of venues. Some are solely for music, some for theater and opera, some for comedy, some a mix of it all. While the purposes of these spaces might be quite disparate, each person we spoke with truly believes in the importance of music and performance in their communities.

Pandemic-related travel restrictions are still being observed in many places, but you wouldn’t know it based on the number of hotel rooms that opened in the Golden State last year.

LOUISVILLE — Moxie Bread Co., a Louisville bakery twice nominated for the prestigious James Beard Award, got the go-ahead from city leaders this week to move forward with plans to expand its kitchen and add a rooftop deck. The Louisville City Council unanimously approved the 990-square-foot addition that “allows expansion of the interior kitchen and dining spaces on the first floor and includes a rooftop deck with a trellis for additional exterior dining space,” city planning documents sh...