By Christian Leonard : sfchronicle – excerpt

The community is already highly vulnerable to storm-related flooding, and rising sea levels caused by climate change could destroy or damage hundreds of homes.

Since the start of the millennium, home values in one small, coastal Marin County community have surged at the fastest rate in the Bay Area, all while local officials are trying to figure out how to avoid losing parts of it to the sea.

The typical home in Stinson Beach, a tiny enclave of about 500 people along Bolinas Bay, was valued at an estimated $3.7 million in May 2024, according to data from real estate company Zillow. That’s more than five times the typical value in May 2000, about $688,000…(more)

By Kevin V. Nguyen : sfstandard – excerpt

California’s housing laws aren’t enforced unless someone forces the issue in the courts

With its proximity to major freeways and an expanding roster of restaurants and brand-name stores, San Mateo’s Bridgepointe Shopping Center isn’t likely to go anywhere anytime soon.

Yet, the city claims that most of the outdoor mall’s 12-acre parking lot could be redeveloped into hundreds of apartments over the next seven years.

San Mateo lists several sites like Bridgepointe that are still actively utilized by commercial tenants as critical parts of its latest housing element—a blueprint detailing how it will achieve its state-mandated housing goals. But despite skepticism from critics that those sites will transform into housing, elected officials voted last week to adopt the plan anyway…

Their celebration was short-lived. Less than 24 hours later, the city was sued in the San Mateo County Superior Court by a pro-housing activist group that accused San Mateo of skirting its duty to produce housing by forecasting construction in places that are not viable…

This lawsuit—and similar actions taken across California—have opened a new legal front in the state’s increasingly contentious housing war.

Previously, state officials have used the threat of yanking local control of development to force cities to submit their housing plans on time. Now, YIMBYs are arguing that it’s time to take accountability one step further and ensure the devised plans can feasibly lead to new homes. If the state can’t enforce follow-through—the thinking goes—then maybe the courts can…(more)

YIMBY laws and lawsuits are tearing the state apart and are forcing more communities to take drastic measures of their own. Cities are firing back with their own lawsuits and work on a citizens ballot initiative to override the state’e attack on CEQA and local jurisdiction over development decisions is under way.

Something has to change, if the Democrats continue on the path the are on, they could lose some seats in Sacramento where politicians have driven the cost of living into the stratosphere through inflationary taxes and over-spending. Newsom’s appointees at the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) killed the solar industry. Legislators trying not revive it have so far been stymied and CPUC is forcing ratepayers to pay to revive the nuclear reactor that was being phased out, while the governor brags about his green credentials.

By Eliyahu Kamisher, Josh Eidelson and Andrew Oxford : yahoo – excerpt

(Bloomberg) — For two decades, a California law has helped workers sue the world’s biggest companies. Drivers for Uber Technologies Inc. won a $20 million settlement, Google employees secured $27 million over complaints of free-speech violations, and Walmart Inc. agreed to pay $65 million for allegedly not providing seating to their cashiers…

Now, Governor Gavin Newsom is quietly overseeing talks about changing that law after prodding from some of California’s largest business interests, who say a cascade of progressive policy wins in the state – like raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour and increasing paid sick days — are eating away at their bottom lines.

Newsom’s office has brought together the state’s powerful California Chamber of Commerce with the California Labor Federation to hash out a compromise over the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, people familiar with the negotiations said. The law has cost big and small businesses $10 billion over the past ten years, according to one study, and is viewed by labor advocates as a model of worker protection.

The negotiators are in a race against time: June 27 is the deadline to strike a measure from Californians’ November ballot that would give voters the opportunity to repeal the law. The Chamber of Commerce is negotiating on behalf of a broad alliance, which includes the billionaire owner of the Wonderful Company, Stewart Resnick, car dealership owners, Walmart and McDonald’s Corp., along with small businesses across the state. The business coalition committed more than $31 million to entities backing the ballot measure, including the signature-gathering effort and an advertising blitz…(more)

By Chris Legras, Jaime Page : westsidecurrent – excerpt (include audio track)

In the latest installment of the Current’s investigation into failures in our city and state’s approach to the homelessness crisis, we explore Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Largest Mobilization of Small Homes”

LOS ANGELES – One of the great challenges in understanding the failures of the City and County of Los Angeles and the State of California to effectively address the homelessness crisis is identifying the full panoply of funding state, county and city agencies have brought to bear, and the myriad public agencies involved.

In the Westside Current’s ongoing investigation into these failures, particularly the thousands of unoccupied homeless housing units, we look at a signature program from Governor Gavin Newsom. In two rounds of funding from a state program called the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) initiative, the state allocated two rounds of funding, each amounting to $1 billion. Within these allocations, the City of Los Angeles was granted approximately $144 million to address homelessness.

In March 2023, the governor announced the release of an additional $1 billion through a fourth round of HHAP. The money was intended to help cities rapidly provide transitional housing for thousands, including the deployment of 1,200 units of “tiny homes” statewide. LA received an additional $86.5 million in this round, mostly to purchase and install 500 tiny homes throughout the city.

Under the strategy, the State would purchase the homes and the California National Guard would assist in preparing and delivering them to cities, “free of charge and ready for occupancy.”

Despite the enthusiastic announcement and an emergency order from the Mayor at the time, tangible progress on the tiny home initiative has been elusive. As of the end of May, not a single home has been constructed. The only tangible progress the city has made is submitting a list of potential locations for the housing units to the state.…(more)

By Linda Perez : laprogressive – excerpt

When it comes to housing, healthcare, and workers’ rights, Milei has pushed a radical agenda that goes against communities, endangering the very fabric of democracy in Argentina…

Why is a California organization called the Bay Area Council bringing the far-right president of Argentina to our state? Javier Milei, in just six months in office, has sparked nationwide protests for attacking inclusion policies, removing gun restrictions, and threatening affordable housing, all of which the Council says it supports. Welcoming him to the Pacific Summit 2024 in San Jose this week raises disturbing questions about the Council and its own legislative agenda.

The Bay Area Council promotes itself as a champion for housing, transportation, and public safety. Yet its chosen headliner conflicts with the Council’s purported goals and reveals the increasingly illiberal, pro-corporate, and anti-democratic shift by the Council itself.

In recent months, the Council has sponsored four bills—SB 1092, SB 951, SB 1077, and AB 2560—that masquerade as tools for coastal housing access. In reality, they would extend some perks to developers and neuter the California Coastal Commission’s power…(more)

By Steven Sharp : la.urbanize.city – excerpt

L.A. real estate, architecture, and urban planning news from the past week…

Newsom Promised 1,200 Tiny Homes For Unhoused Californians. A Year Later, None Have Opened…
‘Shocking’: The fall of Third Street Promenade, Calif.’s once-vibrant outdoor mall…
Improving safety on the system: Metro launches TAP to exit pilot at North Hollywood B Line station beginning May 28…
Why Silicon Beach didn’t live up to the hype as an L.A. tech powerhouse…
City Repaved Coronado Street Without Measure HLA-Required Bikeway…
Opinion: California will force Malibu and other towns to add housing. Here’s why that’s not nearly enough…
Eyes on the Street: El Monte’s Merced Ave Linear Park…
Ex-Metro security chief says police patrols were so lax, they didn’t notice a dead man at station…
Consulting Firm Armanino Secures 45K SF of SoCal Office Space With Irvine Company…
Neighbors complain about illegal hostels…(more)

By Steven Sharp : la.urbanize.city – excerpt

L.A. real estate, architecture, and urban planning news from the past week…

Newsom Promised 1,200 Tiny Homes For Unhoused Californians. A Year Later, None Have Opened…
‘Shocking’: The fall of Third Street Promenade, Calif.’s once-vibrant outdoor mall…
Improving safety on the system: Metro launches TAP to exit pilot at North Hollywood B Line station beginning May 28…
Why Silicon Beach didn’t live up to the hype as an L.A. tech powerhouse…
City Repaved Coronado Street Without Measure HLA-Required Bikeway…
Opinion: California will force Malibu and other towns to add housing. Here’s why that’s not nearly enough…
Eyes on the Street: El Monte’s Merced Ave Linear Park…
Ex-Metro security chief says police patrols were so lax, they didn’t notice a dead man at station…
Consulting Firm Armanino Secures 45K SF of SoCal Office Space With Irvine Company…
Neighbors complain about illegal hostels…(more)

By Alan Riquelmy : courthousenews – excerpt

Golden State lawmakers had until Friday to pass bills out of their house of origin.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — After spending the past few days in a rush to meet a crucial end-of-week deadline, California lawmakers eased into the holiday weekend with hundreds of bills advanced.

Bills had to pass out of their house of origin by Friday to stay alive. Both the Assembly and Senate held marathon sessions each day starting Monday, voting on hundreds of bills before the gavel fell Friday.

Assembly leadership, anxious to keep on schedule, expressed frustration at times when a quorum failed to appear each morning.

“Thank you to the 18 members today of the on-time caucus,” quipped Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Jim Wood, a Healdsburg Democrat, on Wednesday. Forty-one members are needed for a quorum.

The Senate and Assembly had packed schedules throughout the week — passing legislation on campus protests, book bans and voter ID — in anticipation of holding quick Friday sessions, which both achieved…(more)

Follow the actions going forward here: https://www.livablecalifornia.org/

By Ezra David Romero : kqed – excerpt

A feud over balancing housing needs and preserving the California coast as seas rise is brewing along the western shores of San Francisco.

State Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill — Senate Bill 951 — in mid-January that aims to remove urban San Francisco from the protections of the California Coastal Commission. He said his bill would “aid cities’ efforts to meet state housing goals by refining the commission’s role in housing approvals and permitting. Removing San Francisco from the commission’s tight regulations is about making it easier to build affordable housing in the city when dealing with a housing crisis.”

The agency regulates land and water use in the coastal zone — the boundary varies, but in San Francisco, it rides the coast and extends a few blocks into the city — including developing and preparing this area for rising sea levels…

The Precedent is dangerous and scary : Members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, on the other hand, have ridiculed the plan, saying the bill is shortsighted, favors developers and would limit the commission’s power to prepare the city for future sea-level rise. The Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee approved a resolution opposing Wieners’ bill, and the Board of Supervisors voted by a veto-proof majority to support it.

Board President Aaron Peskin said Wiener overstepped and didn’t have “any idea that there would be this kind of a backlash.”

“The danger here goes far beyond a boundary adjustment in San Francisco County,” he said. “It just signals to developers that they can go to their state senator and start chopping apart one of California’s most cherished pieces of law. The precedent is dangerous and scary, and it’s got to be stopped now.”…(more)

The selling of the state lands is out of control. What will they sell off after the coast? Offshore oil? When do the Democrats stop feeding the gold rush frenzy and get back to governing by the people for the people? See more information on state bills in the works and information on how to fight them: https://discoveryink.wordpress.com/ca-legislative-process/

Sign the petition to stop the non-sense like SB 951 and write the senator to tell him to back off our Pacific coast: https://www.discoveryink.net/?page_id=144

Let Senator Wiener know who you feel about his bills: senator.wiener and consider voting him out of office by supporting his opponent.

By Dan Brekke : kqed – excerpt

The South Bay’s main transit agency has come out against a state Senate bill that would pave the way for a 2026 regional tax measure to raise money for the Bay Area’s bus, train and ferry operators and other transportation needs.

In voting last week to oppose SB 1031, known as the Connect Bay Area Act, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority board cited the possibility that putting the measure on the ballot in 2026, which other transit agencies and legislators are pushing for to plug expected budget gaps, could undercut the county’s efforts to get voters to reauthorize existing transportation sales taxes, among other concerns.

Jim Lawson, the VTA’s chief of external affairs, said Santa Clara County sales taxes raise about $900 million a year for transit and transportation in the Bay Area’s most populous county.

“If we do not have the ability to say whether or not this is the right time to put something (new) on the ballot, we have a serious existential problem,” Lawson told the board.

Lawson did not clarify the district’s concerns about the potential election date, and a VTA representative said Monday that the agency “is not prepared to address an election date at this time.”… (more)