Sane Housing

We can create more affordable housing in California without destroying single-family neighborhoods. Don't let the developers/YIMBYs fool you.

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

This is California's official vision of the future of housing in 2040. Looks very pleasant, doesn't it?

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

As usual, you omit the reason why

“The city’s study found that residents in high-density housing use more water than previously estimated, prompting consultants to recommend increasing the fee for those developments while lowering fees for some lower-density housing.“

[California YIMBY @cayimby]

Roseville, a suburb of Sacramento, plans to raise development fees.

But the changes cut fees for single-family homes while raising apartment housing fees by 34%.

https://t.co/3Xj7dz5mJO

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

“Yes in my backyard that is nearly 400 miles away”

[Liam Dillon @dillonliam]

NEW: Asm. @BuffyWicks is jumping into an affordable housing fight in Los Angeles using last-minute legislation to boost a controversial development a block from the beach in Venice that's opposed by @MayorOfLA https://t.co/a1IEtks7hI

[Ashley Zavala @ZavalaA]

This week has been a prime example of why this is necessary.

The tire efficiency vote happened as political/policy journalists are trying to track so much action at the state capitol in the final days of the legislative session, moves by the governor, attorney general, and the state's continued clashes with the Trump administration.

My photographer and I were the only journalists in the hearing room when the California Energy Commission voted on the new tire standards.

As the VP of the Capitol Correspondents Association of California and President of the Sacramento Press Club, I (personally) don't feel good about that.

I've shared these thoughts with the state agency that oversees the CEC. According to my inbox, the commission did not advise reporters when public comment began on tire regulations and did not advise them when the vote was happening. There's nothing on the CEC's social media accounts to give anyone a heads up.

I only found out because legislators and someone in the tire industry tipped me off about the vote.

I want to be clear: I'm not saying the CEC did this intentionally, but the commission could have done more. If reporters didn't know about it, how could taxpayers in general?

Had more journalists been there, the news perhaps would have had different perspectives, different interpretations, different ways of presenting the information. This state is filled with so many intelligent, bright journalists who have unique ways of presenting key information to the taxpayer.

This issue is not unique to the California Energy Commission. There are several other state agencies and boards who could do way more to advise about upcoming votes. The High-Speed Rail Authority Board is one of them.

There are agencies in California who have been doing a good job. The @AirResources board, for example. Most recently, their PR department gave journalists a heads up on the vote on Low Carbon Fuel Standards, and Cap and Invest votes.

Several state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also do a great job of letting reporters know when their legislation is up for a vote, or when their committee is holding an oversight hearing.

Journalism and the ability to cover public votes is a key function of democracy- but you can't cover what you're not told is happening.

Real transparency means reporters know what's coming and can report on it. That's a low bar, and a state like California in the 4th largest economy, should be able to clear it.

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

Despite a rise in deadly crashes, a spokesperson for Long Beach’s Public Works Department, which manages streets, said the city is still confident in its strategy.

Its “core principles” include protecting pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists by slowing down drivers

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

So, how is it going in “Vibe City”?

“Last year, 32 people were killed while walking, biking or riding an e-scooter. That eclipses the number of people murdered here last year: 29.”

https://t.co/ZfPjBreHwt

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

The amendment process is opaque even to Sacramento insiders. 
“Honestly it’s sometimes a bit of a black box even for us as legislators,” said the bill’s author, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, an Orange County Democrat. “I am still trying myself to get to the bottom of it.”

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

Seriously, what is going on in Sacramento?

“A California Senate committee just gutted one of the state’s most substantial DUI reform bills in years, despite widespread support from other lawmakers and families of drunk driving victims.”

https://t.co/mGqEv1g8uZ

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

@BetterDrivingUS @infopobn @NY1 “Advocates” alert!
The squishiest word in modern journalism.

[MyBackyardParadise @MyBackyardPara1]

What could be cooler than having a restaurant in walking distance? A YIMBY wet dream.

Neighbors say celebrity burger joint is stinking up their D.C. pricey condos https://t.co/NUeP2tvpb0

[Our Neighborhood Voices @OurVoicesCA]

Great, now every person's dream of a rock crushing facility and power plant can be in the middle of every neighborhood.
Throw in a trash dump, keep everything local.

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

The mayor of Como has banned riding bicycles in certain areas of the historic Italian city after he was hit by an electric one.

“I know what it's like to be hit by one of these beasts."

https://t.co/oKtD710LUO

[Eric Law @EricLawCapt]

@DanAlban @Democracymaxed YIMBY developers are dependent on state subsidies and intervention in executing a centrally planned state building program. Without the incentives their projects don’t pencil. Infill is expensive as is any housing produced.

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

Robots can indeed get you going someplace very quickly … and then

[Breaking911 @Breaking911]

WATCH: A humanoid robot training for the “Robot Olympics” in Beijing runs too fast, fails to stop, slams into a safety cushion, and breaks at the waist

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

I won't get into the many other issues where I disagree with Hilton, but he is the only way to stop or slow down the current madness that has overtaken the lawmaking process in Sacramento. Frankly, gridlock would be preferable to what we have now. I wish it weren't so, but ...

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

As a "no party preference" voter, I will be voting for @SteveHiltonx for CA governor, because we need a counterbalance to the state Legislature. I do not agree with Hilton on many things, but the only other option, Becerra, is primed to continue the attack on local control

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

Hilton correctly frames the hundreds of laws passed by the Legislature and the government's enforcement of those laws as a "war on single-family homes." However, I do not agree with him on CEQA, which I think should be preserved.

[Maureen Jones @Tiquetonne]

@NFBUK @cityoflondon We had a court case about these silly things in Victoria, B.C. Canada. The blind people won and changes had to be made.

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

How very “progressive”

[YIMBY Law @Yimby_Law]

Soft launch of a new strategy today at YIMBY Law:
we're going after the constitutionality of zoning directly.

Today San Jose is considering a significant upzoning of some of their low density single family areas. Local YIMBYs organized to support it, we look forward it passing

[Sane Housing @SaneHousing]

@ZavalaA Your “tone” was factual. Nothing to consider differently.