California Tomorrow (Organization)

California Tomorrow, a nonprofit educational organization, was founded by Alfred E. Heller and Samuel E. Wood. The first meeting was held on June 24, 1961, with Alfred E. Heller named president, William M. Roth, vice-president, and Harold Berliner secretary; Samuel E. Wood became executive director. The founding members' intent was to link the objectives of conservationists, planners, and regulators and to urge the adoption of a widely integrated planning process to meet the needs of both conservation and growth. In their public debut, with a 63-page booklet entitled California Going, Going ..., Heller and Wood sounded an alarm about the dangerous consequences of unplanned growth on the environment and future quality of life in the Golden State. At a time when California was attracting 1,500 new residents each day, they called for coordinated and comprehensive planning efforts between the public and private spheres to "keep California beautiful and productive." A quarterly journal, Cry California, was launched in late 1965, initially edited by William Bronson. However, the organization is perhaps best known for The California Tomorrow Plan of 1972, which offered an alternative model for dealing with the challenges facing the state in a systematic way. A series of statewide seminars brought together members of the public and experts in the fields of planning, conservation and government to identify specific regional concerns and exchange ideas to address them, which were incorporated into The California Tomorrow Plan. This format proved so successful that it was also employed in preparing the 1982 publication, California 2000: The Next Frontier. Faced with declining membership and financial problems along with a marked change in political climate that affected grant funding, by the end of 1982 California Tomorrow was in a precarious situation. In April and May of 1983, members of the Advisory Board and Board of Directors were requested to submit their resignations and California Tomorrow's activities were suspended. A restructured organization with a different focus was established in 1984.

Organizational History

California Tomorrow, a nonprofit educational organization, was founded by Alfred E. Heller and Samuel E. Wood. The first meeting was held on June 24, 1961, with Alfred E. Heller named president, William M. Roth, vice-president, and Harold Berliner secretary; Samuel E. Wood became executive director. The founding members' intent was to link the objectives of conservationists, planners, and regulators and to urge the adoption of a widely integrated planning process to meet the needs of both conservation and growth.

On Sept 16, 1961, the following Statement of Principles was adopted by the Advisory Board:

That our use of these resources should derive not from whim, but from careful determination of how we believe we should live our lives, now and in the future, and how we believe a healthy economy can be maintained;

That individual gain is not alone sufficient reason for committing natural resources to use, but that the greatest good to be gained by the greatest number in the long run should be the controlling consideration in resources policy-making, both private and public;

That the work and activities of man should and can be so ordered that all citizens of the state may continually enjoy the widest variety of choice of environment, including quiet and light, pure air and water, and a fair share of untrammeled green earth;

The group recruited many well-known members for its Advisory Board, including Wallace Stegner, architect Nathaniel Owings, San Diego writer Neil Morgan, Caspar Weinberger, Standish Backus, Jr., Victor H. Palmieri, and Simon Eisner, Pasadena city planner. Assemblyman Willie Brown, Jr., and Harvey S. Perloff, Dean of the UCLA School of Architecture, joined the Advisory Board in later years. In their public debut, with a 63-page booklet entitled California Going, Going..., Heller and Wood sounded an alarm about the dangerous consequences of unplanned growth on the environment and future quality of life in the Golden State. At a time when California was attracting 1,500 new residents each day, they called for coordinated and comprehensive planning efforts between the public and private spheres to "keep California beautiful and productive." A quarterly journal, Cry California, was launched in late 1965, initially edited by William Bronson. It earned a solid reputation amongst the environmental press for introducing new topics and exploring complicated issues.

However, the organization is perhaps best known for The California Tomorrow Plan of 1972, which offered an alternative model for dealing with the challenges facing the state in a systematic way. A series of statewide seminars brought together members of the public and experts in the fields of planning, conservation and government to identify specific regional concerns and exchange ideas to address them, which were incorporated into The California Tomorrow Plan . This format proved so successful that it was also employed in preparing the 1982 publication, California 2000: The Next Frontier .

Faced with declining membership and financial problems along with a marked change in political climate that affected grant funding, by the end of 1982 California Tomorrow was in a precarious situation. In April and May of 1983, members of the Advisory Board and Board of Directors were requested to submit their resignations and California Tomorrow's activities were suspended. A restructured organization with a different focus was established in 1984.

Biographies of Co-Founders

Alfred E. Heller, founder and president of California Tomorrow from 1961-1974, is a California native and graduate of Stanford University. He was living in Nevada City and publishing the weekly Nevada County Nugget when he became involved in a grassroots attempt to reroute new freeway construction slated to go through the middle of town. Subsequently he became a member of the California State Highway Commission. His experience with various state agencies during the freeway campaign convinced him that the lack of integrated planning in California posed a serious threat to the state's future. In addition to numerous articles on environmental problems, Heller co-authored California Going, Going... and Phantom Cities of California as well as editing The California Tomorrow Plan .

Samuel E. Wood, co-founder and executive director of California Tomorrow from 1961-1968, was a former official of the United States Agriculture and Interior departments and staff director of California legislative committees in conservation fields. He was instrumental in drawing up the 1959 bill that established the State Office of Planning and required the preparation of a state development plan. After leaving the state government service, Wood worked as a planning consultant and political science professor in Sacramento. He was introduced to Alfred Heller through a mutual friend, Catherine Bauer Wurster, professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of City and Regional Planning. She recognized their shared commitment to arousing awareness regarding the need for comprehensive planning and also appreciated their complementary talents. Dr. Wood provided the research for the publications California Going, Going... and Phantom Cities of California . He continued as a consultant with California Tomorrow following his retirement as executive director in 1968.

Sources

Hart, John. The New Book of California Tomorrow: Reflections and Projections from the Golden State . Los Altos: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1984.

Heller, Alfred E., "California Tomorrow: A Voice for State and Regional Planning," an oral history, conducted by Malca Chall in Statewide and Regional Land-Use Planning in California, 1950-1980 Project, Volume I. Berkeley: Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.

Wood, Samuel E., "Administration, Research, and Analysis in Behalf of Environmental Quality," an oral history, conducted by Malca Chall in Statewide and Regional Land-Use Planning in California, 1950-1980 Project, Volume I. Berkeley: Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1983.