by Gennady Sheyner : PaloAltoOnline – excerpt

Palo Alto mayor has consistently opposed housing laws

Palo Alto Mayor Lydia Kou, a staunch critic of California’s approach to encourage more housing, announced on Monday, May 15, that she plans to run for the state Assembly.

Kou, a Realtor who has been serving on the City Council since 2016 and is now in her second term, hopes to win a seat in a district currently being represented by Assembly member Marc Berman, another former Palo Alto City Council member, in the 2024 election. The 23rd Assembly District includes Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Atherton, Woodside, Pacifica, Ladera, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Portola Valley, Saratoga and Campbell.

Unlike Berman, a reliable vote of support for recent housing bills that have created streamlined and by-right processes for housing developments, Kou has strongly opposed recent laws that aim to encourage more housing by limiting cities’ powers to reject residential developments. In March, she used her “State of the City” speech as a platform to attack recent Sacramento bills such as Senate Bill 9, which allows split lots in single-family zones; SB 10, which creates a process for cities to build at higher densities in transit-rich areas than underlying zoning would normally allow; and SB 35, which created a streamlined approval process for housing projects in jurisdictions that fail to meet their housing quotas…(more)