West Briefs

Smart Growth Around America reported that voters in Napa County, California, rejected by a wide margin a measure that would have required governments to pay to enforce planning, zoning and environmental protections, or waive the rules. The measure was a near-carbon copy of Oregon’s Measure 37. However, a similar statewide initiative is being funded by a New York real estate speculator.
 
SustainLane ranked Portland, Oregon the greenest city in the nation in its 2006 ranking of 50 large cities. Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento also made the top 15, according to the report. Elsewhere in the West, Denver came in at number nine. BFN