LC Special Supplement 05 2019

Page 1

Larchmont Chronicle VOL. 57, NO. 5 • DELIVERED TO 76,439 READERS IN HANCOCK PARK • WINDSOR SQUARE • FREMONT PLACE • MIRACLE MILE • PARK LA BREA • LARCHMONT •

Senator Wiener’s Q&A when his original bill was introduced last year. n Text and illustrations on pages 1-2 are from Sen. Wiener’s blog post at extranewsfeed.com/@Scott_Wiener. Red highlighting has been added by Larchmont Chronicle editors.

My Transit Density Bill (SB 827): Answering Common Questions and Debunking Misinformation by Scott Wiener Jan 16, 2018 — Our recent announcement of my bill (Senate Bill 827) allowing for more housing near public transportation has drawn a lot of attention, questions, and feedback. Sadly, some have also spread misinformation about the bill. This piece attempts to answer common questions and debunk misinformation. California is in a deep housing crisis — threatening our state’s environment, economy, diversity, and quality of life — and needs an enormous amount of additional housing at all income levels. Mid-rise housing (i.e., not single-family homes and not high rises) near public transportation is an equitable, sustainable, and promising source for new housing. SB 827 promotes this kind of housing by prohibiting density restrictions (for example, local ordinances mandating only single-family homes) within a half mile of a major transit station or a quarter mile of a bus stop on a frequent bus line. The bill also sets the maximum zoned height in these areas at 45, 55, or 85 feet — that is, between 4 and 8 stories— depending on the nature of the street. (Those heights are maximums. Developers can choose to build shorter, but cities can’t force them to build shorter through restrictive zoning. Cities can allow taller 65-foot tall apartment building heights, howev- at 9th and Judah in San Francisco’s Inner Sunset district er.) To be clear, in terms of the big picture: • The only way we will make housing more affordable and significantly reduce displace-

TO OUR READERS: By John H. Welborne Publisher and Editor As a public service to our readers in the Greater Wilshire, Mid-City and other neighborhoods we serve, the Larchmont Chronicle is publishing this Special Supplement. The timing relates to the May 2019 consideration — by the California State Senate — of widereaching legislation proposed by State Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco. The impacts of Sen. Wiener’s proposals on California’s residential neighborhoods will be significant. The Chronicle believes that the substance of Sen. Wiener’s wishes for Californians should be scrutinized and understood. We feel it is very important for Californians in general, and Angelenos in particular, to understand the thinking and

motivation behind Sen. Wiener’s proposed new statewide zoning laws. The best way to understand what is behind this proposed state takeover of local zoning is to read its chief proponent’s own words. Much of the thinking behind Sen. Wiener’s new approach to state government overreach comes from academia, as you will see within Sen. Wiener’s explanatory 2018 blog posting that we republish here, almost in its entirety. (Web links to omitted sections are provided.) Sen. Wiener and his pedagogical and real estate developer allies believe that a radical change in Californians’ property rights is appropriate and necessary to correct wrongs emanating from the past. That is clear from reading Sen. Wiener’s own words.

ment is to build a lot more housing and to do so in urbanized areas accessible to public transportation (along with investments in affordable housing and strong anti-displacement protections). • The only way we will meet our climate and air quality goals is to build a lot more housing and to do so in urbanized areas accessible to public transportation. • The only way we will continue to grow California’s economy is to build a lot more housing and to do so in urbanized areas accessible to public transportation. Despite the critical importance of housing accessible to public transportation, many transit hubs and transit-rich areas are surrounded by mandated low-density housing, even strictly limited to single-family homes. Restricting transit-rich areas to low-density housing has several negative impacts. First, it significantly limits how many people can easily use transit and thus drive less. By severely limiting who can live near transit, we push people farther away, force them to drive, create crushing commutes, and reduce transit ridership, all of which undermine our transit investments. Second, severely limiting density around transit perpetuates an ugly American reality: that restrictive low-density zoning has historically been a tool to exclude

MAY 2019

Therefore, the Larchmont Chronicle offers these “Words from Wiener” so our readers may learn for themselves the background of what the Chronicle has concluded is dictatorial and confiscatory. Pro and con Sen. Wiener gets the first word — two pages of this Special Supplement. His portion is taken from his writings on the Internet. The reproduced posting relates to his motivations in pushing for last year’s failed SB 827, but his arguments still apply to his current SB 50. Then, on the other two pages of the Special Supplement is information that the Chronicle believes represents what will be the impacts in our Los Angeles neighborhoods (as well as throughout the State of California) of what Sen. Wiener (Please turn to page 3)

people of color, especially African-Americans, and poor people from neighborhoods. Indeed, low-density zoning—banning apartment buildings—was invented shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racially restrictive zoning laws were unenforceable. By removing density limits near public transportation, increasing the allowable height to create a path for mid-rise, multi-family housing, and exempting these transit-oriented projects from parking restrictions, we can encourage equitable, transit-oriented, sustainable, less expensive housing exactly where it makes the most sense.

Marea Alta, a mid-rise affordable housing development built on an old parking lot across the street from the San Leandro BART Station (Bridge Housing)

[For the remainder of this introductory section, see Sen. Wiener’s full posting at extranewsfeed.com/@Scott_Wiener] As we continue to engage with communi-


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