Oppose SB 902 7/22/20Read or Edit the Petition Dear Senator, I ask that you vote against SB 902 by Scott Wiener, an unusual bill that takes away voter ballot rights in order to open up protected land, shorelines, sensitive and incompatible lands, to the senator’s longtime dream of 10-unit luxury apartments almost everywhere. It sounds far-fetched but isn’t. Under SB 902: - Municipalities would be empowered to undo voter-enacted citizen initiatives that restrict land use. This anti-democracy clause went unnoticed for months, due to the complex wording. - SB 902 allows municipalities to override voters for the sole purpose of approving 10-unit luxury apartments of any height, on any type of parcel, on streets statewide. - An online search of protected open space, shorelines and sensitive areas finds that SB 902 would allow the nullification, by municipalities, of more than 20 major citizen initiatives approved in the past decade, and far more in previous decades. Are you willing to go this direction, for a Bay Area senator’s push for 10-unit luxury housing complexes — the core aim of Sen. Wiener’s recently failed SB 50 as well? Imagine the setback to basic democracy if developers had real hope of overturning voter decisions — by undoing laws approved by voters 5 or 25 years ago. Imagine the lawsuits, as attorneys defend voters in Albany, Berkeley, Fremont, Martinez, Emeryville, Alameda, Merced, Gilroy, Dana Point, Los Angeles, Moorpark, Napa, Pacific Grove, Redondo Beach, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and other municipalities. The rest of this bill enacts yet-to-be-determined new definitions that would target most communities in California with 10-unit luxury housing. A new definition of “jobs rich” becomes any place where a 10-unit building would theoretically enable “shorter commute times.” Commutes to where? Nearer to “jobs than is typical in the region.” And that means? Nobody at HCD knows. The definition, unacceptably, is TBD. Let’s do a reality check on SB 902. Many luxury housing bills wrong for California arise from Bay Area legislators facing unique challenges. Exporting an offensive idea statewide goes too far. Please oppose SB 902. %your signature%You can add formatting using markdown syntax - read more BCC yourself Sign Now Share this with your friends:
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