via email : city-journal (podcast and transcript)
Howard Husock joins Brian Anderson to discuss the problems with urban renewal, exclusionary zoning, and public housing. Husock’s forthcoming book, The Poor Side of Town: And Why We Need It, is a history of housing policy in America…. (more)
By Santiago Mejia : sfchronicle – excerpt
In 2018, San Francisco political campaign manager Jen Snyder was in the early stages of running a ballot measure to provide free legal aid to tenants facing eviction when she got a phone call “out of the blue” from someone she had never met before: veteran South of Market nonprofit housing boss John Elberling.
Elberling, the president of the South of Market low-income housing owner TODCO, said he supported the measure. They discussed strategy, potential direct mail pieces and what it would take to win.
“Afterwards he wrote us a check for $20,000,” she said. “He didn’t want anything in return for it.” .
While the infusion of cash was a boon to a shoe-string campaign going up against a well-funded landlord lobby, it was the sort of spending that has led critics to argue that Elberling continues to play politics — and wield tremendous power — with millions of dollars generated through the refinancing of buildings originally constructed with taxpayer money…(more.)
By Susan Shelley : dailybulletin – excerpt
Single-family zoning has been abolished in the state of California. The moment the recall election was behind him, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bills 9 and 10, and now low-density neighborhoods everywhere in the state could become construction sites as developers turn single-family homes into two homes plus two accessory dwelling units, also known as “granny flats.”
Senate Bill 9 requires city governments to approve these developments in any area that the state law allows them, which is virtually everywhere with a few exceptions, such as wetlands or protected habitat. Local officials can’t hold a public hearing to consider the projects. They can’t require studies of the projects’ impact on the environment or the community. They can’t require new multi-family developments to have off-street parking. They can’t impose fees on developers to help pay for water, sewer or power infrastructure, schools, street repair, sanitation or public safety services..
According to the new state laws, the only thing city officials can do is sign off.
However, according to the state constitution, the people of California have the power to change this with a citizens’ initiative. And a coalition of local officials is currently working on doing exactly that….
Anyone who would like to join the fight to reverse these laws and prevent future one-size-fits-all housing density laws can go online to StopSacramento.org and sign up to volunteer. If proponents can collect roughly 1 million signatures of registered voters to get the measure on the November 2022 ballot, the abolition of single-family zoning in California could be short-lived.
Susan Shelley is an editorial writer and columnist for the Southern California News Group. Susan@SusanShelley.com. Twitter: @Susan_Shelley....(more)
As Americans consider our future it is important to consider what made our country the envy of others, and how we may protect those elements of society that guaranteed our personal freedom. Neither party considers what the citizens want and neither are uniting the country. The name of the game has been divide and conquer. California has reverted to the gold rush mentality, where land is the gold.
The passage of bills like SB9 and SB10 are evidence that the government has no intentions of assuring sufficient resources and environmental protections for the population they intend to grow. This has angered lot of people and they are fighting back with the only tolls left. Lawsuits and State ballot initiatves.
The tools we have left will go a lot further if we support each other. A design for improved livability for the families in the building if the authorities at City Hall agree.
Citizens have some limited options for design improvements and this is one of those cases. In the spirit of unity among neighborhoods, the 2550 Irving Community neighbors request your support. The group desires a compromise. They wold like to work with the developer and architect per Gordon Mar’s Amendment.
Sunset Neighbors ask:
1. Write Supervisor Mar and Aide Daisy Quan in support of the compromise design. Gordon.Mar@sfgov.org, marstaff@sfgov.org
2. Attend the scheduled TNDC presentation, ZOOM invite below: Register here in advance.
How California plays the Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
1. First, there are a lot of things that are just not subject to CEQA.
2. Second, regulation and case law has taken out a lot of things.
3. Third, if no one objects, and takes the dispute to court — which
takes a lot of money — then the moving agency can get away with just about anything.
4. Even if there is a huge negative impact, if the moving agency has
properly described everything in the EIR and checked off all the right boxes, it is OK — all the moving agency has to do is a finding of
overriding considerations (as in, in our opinion, the good will outweigh the unmitigated bad, which is almost impossible to challenge), everything is OK.
5. Then, if the moving agency has enough juice in Sacramento, it can just get the Legislature to allow the project to proceed without any CEQA review – for example, the Sacramento basketball area for the Kings, which has become pretty common and keeps being expanded.
Remember, it is almost impossible to stop a project using CEQA. Generally, the worst that can happen is that the project gets delayed while the EIR is revised — so, a very common situation is that someone who wants something files a claim in order to get some kind of settlement or agreement. When there is a “victory” for the opponents, it is most commonly because the proponents were embarrassed to admit how bad the project was, so they made
the EIR look too much like a promotional brochure. Bad mistake — if you actually say what will go on, then the opponents don’t have any legal leverage at all.
Tom Rubin
Quite a few cases are lost by marketing campaigns, some true and some false. Messages to investors are not for public consumption.
Actively looking for donors, supporters and volunteers.
Read all about it. https://www.communitiesforchoice.org/
The Community Choice Initiative will amend the State Constitution to make zoning and land-use municipal affairs, and bring a halt to the centralized land-use and zoning coming out of Sacramento. One size does not fit all.
We are working hard to appear on the Nov. 7th, 2022 ballot by submitting the initiative to the State Attorney General for title and summary, and gathering the required signatures from registered voters to appear on the ballot. This is a grassroots effort by regular residents like yourself to make this happen and we need your help…(more)
By Ben Winck : insider – excerpt
After years of being overshadowed by city centers and chic suburbs, “exurbs” are winning over Americans. Think, less suburb, more rural; fewer sidewalks, more country roads; fewer mega malls, more strip malls.
These areas — characterized by more affordable housing and greater distance from cities — emerged as the districts du jour for well-to-do Americans during the Great Migration of the pandemic. The biggest population shift was from urban areas to rural neighborhoods and exurbs, Jefferies analysts said in a note citing USPS mail-forwarding data. Areas like Kenosha County, Wisconsin, likely benefited from people leaving Milwaukee and Chicago, which sit 40 and 66 miles away, respectively. Similarly, Sussex County, New Jersey, is an exurb 55 miles from New York City…
The jump in exurb occupancy likely boosted wealth in these once-ignored areas. Median household income in exurbs stood at $74,573 in 2019, according to data from The American Communities Project cited by The Wall Street Journal. By comparison, the median income in the New York metro area was more than $83,000 and the measure neared $115,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The last year’s moves by city-dwelling Americans likely helped close that gap…(more)
By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt
I went to State Sen. Scott Wiener’s virtual town hall tonight, and nothing he said should have surprised me. But for the record, he said that the “best thing that’s happened” in San Francisco and California politics is the rise of the Yimbys.
He also expressed strong support for a giant project in Potrero Hill that is a case study in what can happen under state legislation he sponsored.
Wiener encouraged everyone attending (and because of the way his office controlled the Zoom room, I was unable to count the people online) to join a state or local Yimby group.
“I encourage you to get involved in the Yimby movement,” he said.
And he kept saying that cities like San Francisco and areas like West Los Angeles “haven’t built enough housing.”
For the record: Cities right now don’t build housing. Developers do… (more)
Not surprising that people want to recall Wiener.
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