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Livable California
Sacramento Lobby Day
1315 10th Street
Sacramento, California 95814
9:30 AM PT - 3:00 PM PT
Livable California and the Coalition to Preserve LA are bringing citizens from northern and southern California together to give members of the Senate Housing Committee, the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, and our own representatives a unified message: STOP THIS LEGISLATIVE ATTACK ON COMMUNITIES.
This year legislators are considering 200 housing bills. The CASA (Committee to House the Bay Area) spawned over a dozen bills. One getting the bulk of the attention is Senator Scott Weiner's SB50. Worse than SB 827, which died in committee last year, Wiener is back with measures that wipe out single-family zoning, allows construction of 75-85 foot tall luxury towers in single-family neighborhoods, prevents cities from fighting demolition, and forces "sensitive communities" (meaning low-income and ethnically diverse) to upzone themselves by 2025. In a nutshell, SB50 takes away decision-making from democratically-elected City Councils, who seek long-term, sustainable growth, and gives authority to decide to developers.
A common theme in our meetings with legislators or their staff will be Do not pass
any bill that seizes local zoning.
Research from Michael Storper, UCLA and London School of Economics Professor, was published in The Planning Report (3/15/19) with the headline, "Blanket Upzoning--A Blunt Instrument--Won't Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis."
He writes, "That's the problem with blanket upzoning: It doesn't actually require housing to be created for these groups (middle-class and lower-income people most in need). It just allows upzoning itself to be created wherever you want, and for market speculation to dominate."
If you'd like to meet with Senators or their staff in 3-4 person teams and get together with like-minded citizens from the Bay Area and Los Angeles, call or send me an email.
Professor Storper concludes that upzoned housing policy "is just a lot to promise--and it's based on a narrative of housing as opportunity that is deeply flawed."
Marin is not immune. You'e invited to join us on Lobby Day.
Organization: Livable California
Contact: Susan Kirsch
Contact Phone: 415-686-4375
Contact Email:
Website: http://www.LivableCalifornia.org