Over 100 San Diego residents from all over the city rallied in Clairemont on Saturday, August 23, against Senate Bill 79 – a bill sponsored by State Senator Scott Wiener that targets the state’s neighborhoods. Opponents claim that the bill is worse than SB 9 and SB 10.
Its sponsors claim the bill is aimed at increasing housing density near train and rapid bus lines across California by mandating up-zoning within a quarter to half-mile of transit hubs, and allow developers to build large-scale apartment complexes near these transit stops.
Yet opponents like Neighbors for a Better California, the prime sponsor of Saturday’s protest, argue that SB 79’s language is vague around bus stops, and that the lack of precision could allow developers to exploit ambiguities, undermining the bill’s intent.
Marcella Bothwell, the chair of the sponsoring group, clarified to the demonstrators, many of whom lined Genessee Boulevard with signs for passing motorists:
“And that bus stop can be anything from just 15-minute frequency in the height of morning and evening. That will qualify as a bus stop. That 500 homes or a half a mile around that area, the height now can go up to six, to eight, even nine stories. These homes, there’s no affordability requirement. They’re not concerned about fire safety.”
There were also other anti-SB79 rallies up and down the state.
Another speaker Charlie Nieto, part of the leadership of the PB Town Council stated:
“All of it is basically catered to luxury housing, luxury apartments, specifically rental apartments. I understand there’s an argument that you gotta create more supply to lower prices, except you’re just not really seeing that housing trickle down.”
Other groups had their members at the protest, including the San Diego Community Coalition, Neighbors for a Better San Diego, and UC Peeps (University City). There were residents from Encanto, Point Loma, University City, Linda Vista – and many from Clairemont. Most of these residents have organized their own groups and most of them are part of the Community Coalition.
These opponents are adverse to SB 79 as it would give developers more access to single-family neighborhoods while doing little to address affordability. The measure, which narrowly passed the Senate earlier this year, is scheduled for a vote in the Assembly next month.
Nieto also stated:
“No longer should we just ‘build, baby, build’ exclusively in the form of luxury skyscrapers that drive prices even higher. That creates plenty of units, to be sure, but not the kind that San Diegans like myself can actually ever call home.”
Geoff Heuter, chair of Neighbors for a Better San Diego, also spoke about the bill’s flawed approach.
“Transit-oriented is you put something 500 feet away, 800 feet away. You don’t put it a half-mile as the crow flies over a canyon or a freeway and say that’s transit-oriented development.”
Fox5 interviewed Linda Vista neighborhood, homeowner Lorri Freitas, who is a member of her neighborhood group and also of the SD Community Coalition. She fears the bill will change the character of her community.
“It’s a really lovely single-family neighborhood, very walkable, everybody walks their dogs. People know each other. But there are more and more of these [units] popping up and there is no parking. These are congested streets.”
Freitas said new housing projects are being built right above her home, which she believes will take away privacy while offering little benefit to longtime residents.
“People are outraged. They are very upset about this. They get no say — it’s like density bombs are being dropped in their backyard.”
Freitas remains skeptical.
“I think it’s all about greed. They are in it to make a profit. They say they’re making housing more affordable, but it’s not really affordable,” she said.
Meanwhile, after SB 79 passed the Senate floor, it then passed out of the Assembly Housing and Local Government committees. The bill now awaits further action in the Assembly.
News sources:
So, the good lady says SB 79 is a crime against citizens. Well, how now brown cow? Citizens elected citizens to create this mess. Now the citizens cry foul. I will bet my last dime that the citizens will again elect the same citizens to impose the very laws that these citizens abhor. The idiocy is mind boggling.