Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetsblog

Will Cities Like Stockton Fall Back Into Boom and Bust Growth?

11:00 AM EST on March 6, 2015

Stockton, California, was one of the bigger cities in a wave of recent municipal bankruptcies brought on, in part, when the cycle of never-ending, sprawling growth went bust.

Will Stockton fall into bad, old habits? Photo: Stockton City Limits
Will Stockton fall back into old habits? Photo: Stockton City Limits

But now that the bankruptcy has run its course and the economy is on the mend, Jon Mendelson at Stockton City Limits wonders whether the same old mentality will reassert itself in Stockton. Right now, developers are expressing a revived interest in the area's undeveloped farmland, Mendelson reports:

Though the City Council and city planners embraced the imperative for a more sustainable, less sprawl-filled future during the city’s time in bankruptcy, there seems to be little urgency now that we’re on the other side.

A revision of the 2007 general plan mandated by a 2009 legal settlement with the state attorney general’s office and Sierra Club remains unfinished. Stockton’s to-be-updated blueprint for growth is languishing somewhere in City Hall’s bureaucracy.

In 2004, Stocktonians passed two different measures purporting to protect agricultural land from residential development. But one of the two was actually a Trojan horse put forward by development interests. While both initiatives were approved, the one drafted on behalf of developers won significantly more votes, and a clause in pro-developer law’s language torpedoed the more meaningful measure backed by local smart growth activists.

Despite that, the sentiment of the voters was clear: There should be limits on the city’s growth, and residents should direct what type of growth occurs and where. That was forgotten by the city leaders who engineered the 2007 general plan, in part because those with skin in the game had the most input regarding the rules, and most residents sat on the sidelines. It led to a document that would have continued a valley-wide plague of paving over productive agricultural land in favor of single-family houses — the same single-minded growth strategy that fostered the housing boom and bust that devastated Stockton.

Thanks to the Sierra Club and then-Attorney General Jerry Brown, Stockton was forced to take another look at its growth priorities. With bankruptcy in the rearview mirror, now is the perfect chance for city leadership, including members of the City Council, to take up the mantle and champion smarter growth. The alternative is a return to business as usual, and letting those with the loudest voices set policy for the rest of the city’s residents.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Second Avenue Sagas says a coming fare hike for New Jersey Transit speaks to the agency's long-term financial problems. ATL Urbanist compares fare hikes at Atlanta's MARTA to increases in Georgia gas tax rates over the last few decades. And Better Cities & Towns! gives a snapshot of the development scene in Norman, Oklahoma.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Why Sustainable Transportation Advocates Need to Talk About Long COVID

Covid-19 transformed many U.S. cities' approach to sustainable transportation forever. But how did it transform the lives of sustainable transportation advocates who developed lasting symptoms from the disease?

September 24, 2023

Analysis: ‘Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program’ is a Failure By All Measures

The Department of Transportation wants the Dangerous Vehicle Abatement Program to simply expire in part because it did not dramatically improve safety among these worst-of-the-worst drivers and led to a tiny number of vehicle seizures.

September 22, 2023

School Bus Driver Kills Cyclist in Boro Park, 24th Bike Death of 2023

Luis Perez-Ramirez, 44, was biking south on Fort Hamilton Parkway just before 3:15 p.m. when he was struck a by school bus driver making a right turn.

September 22, 2023

‘Betrayal’: Adams Caves to Opposition, Abandons Bus Improvement Plan on Fordham Road

The capitulation on Fordham Road is the latest episode in which the mayor has delayed or watered down a transportation project in deference to powerful interests.

September 22, 2023

Friday’s Headlines: Yes He Said Yes He Will Yes Edition

That headline above is a reference to the last line of James Joyce's Ulysses, which we won't pretend to have read. But we have that ... and other news.

September 22, 2023
See all posts