Growth Management

State officials have released 10 proposals that could prevent the polluted Salton Sea, an internationally recognized stopping point for migratory birds, from turning into a brackish expanse of mud ringed by a choking dust bowl. The lake, California's largest at 360 square miles, will lose nearly half of its imported water flows beginning in 2017 because of a state and federal agreement to transfer the water to fast-growing urban areas.

At first glance, this eccentric beach town and the UC campus up the hill in the redwoods would seem made for each other. On campus, students are proud to claim the banana slug as their mascot. Deer wander freely around the grounds. In town, prominent Santa Cruzans push a low-key campaign to "Keep Santa Cruz Weird."

Time after time, a development company saw its plans to build homes in the foothills above Glendora rejected by city officials. But that company has come up with a new strategy that critics consider both ingenious and disturbing. The developer is asking voters today to approve a land swap that would allow it to tear down the Glendora Country Club, which the company would then relocate -- at its cost -- on the hillside land.

Monty Hempel always knew when he had reached Redlands: The rail yards, slag heaps and industrial blight along Interstate 10 through the San Bernardino Valley yielded to palm trees, citrus groves and mountain views. "I knew I was in Redlands," Hempel said, "because it became surrounded by trees, and that was especially noticeable after coming through Ontario and Fontana, where it's gritty."

From his perch atop one of India's most successful software companies, Lakshmi Narayanan sees a potential storm brewing. His firm and others like it have had little trouble finding first-rate engineering graduates for entry-level jobs, capable young men and women lured by the glamour of cutting-edge work and generous salaries. But a shortage of talent is looming that could put a dent in India's reputation as the world's information-technology outsourcing champion.

The glass artwork at the Cerritos Library is top-drawer, of course. How could it be any other way? The four stunning glass creations are the work of the internationally acclaimed Dale Chihuly, commissioned to do the pieces to the tune of $340,000. And on the second floor is an acrylic abstract by famed artist Al Held, who is $166,760 richer for it. Still, these are drops in the bucket compared with the titanium skin that covers the $40-million library.

When planners designed Southern California's freeway system, one goal was to get commuters from their homes in suburban Orange County to their jobs in Los Angeles County. But Orange County's days as primarily a bedroom community have been over for a long time, and transportation officials say it's beginning to show in a shift in commuting patterns.

Agoura Hills. Thousand Oaks. Westlake Village. Their names are a tribute to the rolling hills, trees and lakes that dot the landscape. So proud were they of their surroundings, the three Conejo Valley cities lobbied for several years to have a 16-mile stretch of the Ventura Freeway designated a scenic highway. The state turned down the request because there were too many billboards, industrial parks and gas station signs lining the road. That was more than a decade ago.

Did residents of this idyllic, wine country town illegally plant an endangered flower to sabotage a proposed housing development? That's the question at the heart of a quarrel that people here have called "Foamgate." Bob Evans, a 72-year-old retired elementary school principal, says he was walking last year when he came upon the tiny white flowers of Sebastopol meadowfoam poking from shallow pools of water in a field.

When Carlos de la Rosa opened a convenience store on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles last year, he was hoping to get in on the ground floor of the residential development boom. His dream was to someday sell organic vegetables and fresh-cut flowers to urban loft dwellers. But in his first year, he made ends meet selling cold drinks and cigarettes, mostly to people getting on and off the dozens of buses that stopped outside his door.