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Livable California
What Palo Altans Learn About SB 50, They Don't Like
More than 200 people pulled themselves away from a brilliant spring Sunday afternoon to attend a Palo Alto Town Hall meeting at the Lucie Stern Community Center. The crowd assembled to learn about 2019 housing legislation that strips communities of their authority to plan for growth and land use.
Specifically, the focus was on the
impact of SB 50, Senator Scott Wiener's bill that would take away zoning
authority from City Councils and hand it over to developers.
SB-50 is one of a package of bills introduced as part of the CASA Compact called "A 15-year emergency policy package to confront the housing crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area." CASA is marketed as progressive social values to meet the crisis of "affordable housing." But critics described it as a series of developer give-aways that will fail to meet the housing needs of low-income individuals and families. In addition, it will destroy the livabiity of neighborhoods by demolishing single family homes, allowing out-of-character high rises that block the sun, views and vistas, and fail to require sufficient parking or meet the needs for infrastructure like water, safety, and schools.
Livable California Founder Susan Kirsch urged the audience to "change the narrative," by challenging the "housing crisis" assumptions, numbers, and process that keeps the public in the dark.
"The real
crisis," she said, "is unregulated development where
the authority of democratically-elected officials representing local
constituents is replaced with the profit-driven global businesses
interests of investors and distant shareholders. Livable California
seeks to invigorate voters to boldly stand up for their
cities and for democracy," Kirsch said.
San Francisco Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards described Wiener's bill as a heavy-handed top-down mandate that uses a one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter approach that destroys the unique character of neighborhoods and communities. "Why don't legislators need to do an Environmental Impact Report on such a massive measure?" he asked.
Palo Alto Planning Commissioner Doria Summa showed the impact on Palo Alto neighborhoods using images from the Embarcadero Institute report.
Lydia Kou, MC for the event and a member of the Palo Alto City
Council, introduced current and former mayors, city council members, and
planning commissioners from surrounding cities, including Cupertino,
Los Altos, San Carlos, Belmont, and from as far
away as Redondo Beach.
The Sunday, March 17 event was sponsored by Palo Altans for Sensible
Zoning and PAN. A videotape will be posted in a few days. Other cities
are planning similar events. Orinda Watch will be sponsoring a SB 50
Town Hall on Thursday, March 28. If you have an
event to post, send it to Rick@LivableCA.org. Watch the calendar at www.LivableCalifornia.org for upcoming events.