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The Almost Daily Briefing, December 17, 2025
The Almost Daily Briefing
Published news articles from local, regional, and national media on topics of interest to the #LoveLafayette Community
LOCAL NEWS
Carl Anduri Selected to Serve as Lafayette's Next Mayor - The Lafayette City Council has unanimously selected Carl Anduri to serve as Mayor, and John McCormick to serve as Vice Mayor, for the next 12 months. (Contra Costa News)
AI-powered surveillance company will continue to monitor Oakland’s streets - Flock representatives have fended off criticisms — and a lawsuit by a local privacy advocate — that its vast trove of license plate information is accessed by federal immigration authorities. (East Bay Times)
Gas Main That Caused Hayward Explosion Dated To 1940s, NTSB Investigation Shows - The six people who were injured were taken to a hospital and were in stable condition as of Friday evening, according to the Alameda County Fire Department. The gas main was damaged by a work crew… (Patch)
Milestone reached in Palo Alto’s levee project to filter wastewater before it reaches the Bay - Construction is complete on the first experimental levee in Palo Alto that will clean treated wastewater before it goes into the Bay. (Local News Matters)
BART fares to rise 6.2% in 2026 as ridership continues to rebound, budget gap persists (Local News Matters)
California delays adoption of fire-resistant landscaping rules - California forestry officials are further delaying new fire-resistant landscaping rules despite an end-of-year deadline that Gov. Gavin Newsom set after January's Los Angeles fires. (Politico)
As California delays ‘zone zero’ wildfire protection rules, study finds clearing vegetation prevented home damage in LA fires - As California again delays controversial rules requiring homeowners in fire-prone areas to maintain a 5-foot “ember-resistant” zone around their houses, a new report finds that properties that were already close to that standard were much less likely to be destroyed in the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January. With ashes still smoldering, researchers with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, an industry-backed group, surveyed 252 homes that had been in the path of the blazes in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. The group determined that of homes with more than half of their 5-foot zone covered in vegetation or other combustible material, 27% were completely destroyed. That share fell to 9% for homes with flammable material covering less than a quarter of the zone. (East Bay Times) Related: Homes Adopting ‘Zone Zero’ Policy Fared Better in L.A. Fires (GovTech)
As Deadlines Loom, Fire Survivors Call for More Mortgage Help (Laist)
Home insurance costs are up 150% in one part of California. This map shows premiums by county - A $1 increase in premiums is associated with a roughly $100 reduction in property value growth in the riskiest ZIP codes in the U.S. (San Francisco Chronicle)
The hydrants will run dry: Trump’s LA fire claims missed the mark, study shows - Echoing state and local officials, a new analysis agrees: hydrant failures in the Palisades fire were ‘the rule rather than the exception.’ (CalMatters)
40,000 people died on California roads. State leaders looked away - Over the past decade, nearly 40,000 people have died and more than 2 million have been injured on California roads. As an ongoing CalMatters investigation has shown this year, time and again those crashes were caused by repeat drunk drivers, chronic speeders and motorists with well-documented histories of recklessness behind the wheel. (CalMatters)
LOCAL HAPPENINGS
Year End Admin Offices Closure
Lafayette Planning Applications Received
Major Development Projects Map
Lafayette Community Information & Emergency Radio AM 1670
Shop, Dine & Gather in Lafayette
HOUSING, TRANSPORTATION AND CITY PLANNING
This Bay Area county is experimenting with a first-in-the-state pilot program for faster housing construction. Can it help solve the affordability crisis? - Alameda County’s pilot program, Scalable Housing Investment Funding Toolkit (SHIFT), utilizes pre-approved, generic designs targeted at in-fill lots to create affordable housing units for residents earning between 60-80% of area median income. (Mercury News)
Getting a permit to build in Oakland has been hellish. Will sweeping new reforms work? - Virtually anything built or altered in Oakland first needs permission from the city. A series of planning approvals, building permits, and inspections ensure that a project’s materials are fire-safe, the structure is sound, the height doesn’t surpass zoning limits, the contractors are licensed, and the design isn’t out of keeping with city standards. But the process of getting these permits is rarely easy. (The Oaklandside)
Marin officials question projections in regional growth plan - Marin County leaders are challenging the assumptions used to shape a regional plan that aims toguide housing affordability, transportation and climate resilience over the next 25 years.Specifically, Marin officials said population and job growth projections in the draft Plan Bay Area2050+ appear to be inflated, skewing proposals in the plan and their outcomes. Additionally, the potential effects identified in the draft environmental impact report are concerning, officials said. (Marin Independent Journal/North Bay Business Journal)
This liberal city sees San Francisco as a role model — for home building failure - Portland…has produced so many two-bedroom homes that some observers say the market is now “oversaturated.” And while the new construction likely hasn’t brought down Portland home prices overall, it has offered a new crop of homes that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars less than the existing stock.” (San Francisco Chronicle)
Too many cooks, not enough cash: Lack of a master plan muddies Los Angeles fire rebuild - With federal dollars stalled and local efforts splintering, wildfire survivors are left wondering who is in charge. (Politico)
Pro-housing group sues Newsom over duplex law suspension in wildfire zones - Proponents of SB 9 say fire victims could use the suspended law to subdivide property and fund rebuilds, while opponents fear that denser development would worsen evacuations and harm neighborhoods. (L.A. Times)
Where do California homeowners stay the longest? - In metros near the coast, the median length of ownership was 11.8 years vs. 10.5 years in inland metros. (Mercury News)
After Vision Zero, San Francisco ‘Overhauls’ Approach to Tackling Traffic Violence - About every 15 hours, someone is rushed to San Francisco General Hospital with severe injuries from a traffic crash — a rate that medical experts describe as a public health crisis. Building on months of efforts by the Board of Supervisors, and following the passage of the Street Safety Act, San Francisco on Friday launched a citywide overhaul of how it handles traffic safety after its Vision Zero policy expired last year. At City Hall, Mayor Daniel Lurie announced an executive directive that formally links police enforcement with public health data and transportation engineering. (KQED)
Why Oakland will soon begin charging for street parking on Sundays - Oakland will join several other Northern California cities that have begun enforcing street parking fees on Sundays, an effort to boost public revenues and commercial activity in the cash-strapped city. (East Bay Times)
MIXTAPE
Here comes the rain: Entire Bay Area expected to see showers before bigger storm hits Sunday
Earthquake Swarm Rattles Bay Area Overnight. USGS Weighs Chances Of Bigger Ones To Come
Express Lanes go live in Fairfield-Vaca corridor
These are the most expensive homes sold in the Bay Area in 2025
California Lowers Climate Pollution by 3%, Report Finds
Californians have 4th-lowest credit card burden in US
Colorado Shutoffs Have Potential to Leave Some in Dark for Days
The jobs market slowdown is here — and it's real
MEANWHILE IN ANOTHER LAFAYETTE
LCG celebrates grand opening of Moore Park Soccer Complex - The complex features nine modern soccer fields and a stadium
AND FINALLY…
S.F.’s famous Bay Bridge lights to return in March, with twice the illumination - This second version takes the same form as the original that debuted in 2013, but went dark 10 years later owing to brutal weather conditions along the water. Artist Leo Villareal conceived both iterations of the project, carrying lessons from the first into the second. Bay Lights 360 will have bespoke engineering to withstand wind, marine air and car exhaust. And this time Villareal has doubled the number of lights.
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The Almost Daily Briefing (ADB) is an aggregation of links to news articles from local and regional newspapers, magazines, websites, and other news sources. Its purpose is to alert readers to current issues and affairs that may impact Lafayette. The ADB does not promote, favor, disfavor, support, reject, or endorse any position, candidate, campaign, or proposition, and nothing about the ADB, including the selection, presentation, arrangement, or content of the links presented should be construed as an advocacy position.
At times, the ADB features articles from sites that limit access for nonsubscribers. The Contra Costa Library offers access to multiple newspapers online for all cardholders, including the Los Angeles Times (via the ProQuest E-Library digital resource) and the New York Times Digital. Visit the library’s website to learn how to get a library card or access digital services.
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