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.