Sen. Anthony Portantino's SB 1299 would help cities create housing by reusing idled big box stores and other stores harmed by e-commerce, and hit a second time by COVID. The bill would reward cities who gave up cherished commercial lands for housing. SB 1299 is rare in Sacramento, where many legislators instead
He's great in court, and great on absurd housing bills that will drive up cost, harm the poor, and destroy thriving communities. Sound like a plan? Robert Silverstein weighs in with vivid criticisms.
Nobody knows why Scott Wiener is obsessed with 10-unit luxury apartment buildings allowed to override zoning and city planning, in virtually any residential area. He plans to reintroduce his "ten-unit luxury apartment buildings almost anywhere," which was at the heart of the hated SB 50 and this year's outrageous SB 902, unnoticed by
Silverstein slams AB 725, a land-use dictate sent by legislators to cities and communities: "You must allow market-rate density and demolition on your residential streets," for an imagined near-future population that is not coming to slow-growth California, according to the US Census. This is a gift to developers, and the worst housing bill
It sounds far-fetched, but SB 902 is "greased" for approval in California state Senate committees. Yet it contains a major anti-democracy clause that went unnoticed due to its original convoluted wording: It empowers cities and counties to UNDO voter-enacted citizen initiatives that restrict land use — to make way for 10-unit luxury apartments. This bill
Bullet Point Analysis — Reasons to Oppose SB 902 (Wiener), the “Attack on Democratic Voting Rights” Bill It sounds far-fetched, but SB 902 is "greased" for approval in California state Senate committees. Yet it contains a major anti-democracy clause that went unnoticed due to its original convoluted wording: It empowers cities and counties to UNDO
State Assemblyman Richard Bloom has morphed into Scott Wiener, even as Wiener loses support among Sacramento legislators due to his slyness and divisive war on homes, yards and neighborhoods. In his AB 1279, Bloom (Santa Monica) would jam ultra-dense housing in newly defined "Opportunity Areas" — thriving middle-class areas that Bloom's bill would seek to
Map: The El Camino strip runs 43 miles through Silicon Valley and could provide 250,000 units of housing without displacing any existing homes or apartments. And there are 543 miles of strip in the inner Bay Area lined with 16,000 acres of underused commercial land with capacity for 1.6M new households. [Editor's Note: In an
If the rumors are true in these last days of February — rumors swirling through Sacramento and among leaders in many cities — that the divisive, accusatory and arrogant state Sen. Scott Wiener has lost his pull with state legislators, we are proud to put forth positive ideas that create a framework for housing bills
A game-changing study has found that California's urban areas are fast-approving too much luxury housing, under rules set by the legislature, and most urban areas will hit or far surpass the state's overall housing targets for 2025. Yet this month, and again this summer, we expect state Sen. Scott Wiener to try to upzone California's