Category: California

Planner and professor says massive increase in density and new housing didn’t bring costs down; in fact, costs are way up.

By Tim Redmond / 48 Hills / September 15, 2024

Patrick Condon was once what they now call a Yimby. A landscape architect, urban planner, and professor at the University of British Columbia, he worked with hundreds of others to build a sustainable, affordable city in Vancouver, BC. He showed how the Yimby approach didn’t work. It backfired.

San Diego, of course, is not the only California city holding a mayoral race this fall. 500 miles away, San Francisco is also embroiled in its own election for the helm of the city.

Aaron Peskin, the lone progressive, is running against incumbent London Breed along with 3 other Democrats. Here’s today’s LA Times on him:

From California Surf Museum 

This latest announcement means San O is safe, at least for another few decades. “California just signed a new deal with our federal partners to keep San Onofre open as a state park for another 25 years,” wrote California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday night. “San Onofre’s beaches, hiking and biking trails, and campgrounds will continue to welcome visitors for years to come.”

By Eric S. Page and Omari Fleming /7San Diego / August 21, 2024

A city in North County adopted new restrictions on smoking on Tuesday, banning residents from smoking in most multi-unit homes in Carlsbad.

By a vote of 4-1, the Carlsbad City Council adopted “a comprehensive smoke-free multi-family housing ordinance for all properties with at least 3 or more units located within the City of Carlsbad,” the city said in a news release issued on Wednesday morning.

Not everybody approves of the council’s decision.

Fortunately for California’s coast, Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego) was forced to withdraw his controversial bill, AB 2560,  last week when amendments added went counter to Alvarez’ intent.

Alvarez and his so-called YIMBY supporters claimed the bill would have streamlined the approval of housing developments in the coastal zone that make use of the state’s affordable housing density bonus law. Developers liked the bill because it offered them a streamlined process if they set aside a portion of the homes in their projects as affordable housing.

Yet the bill ran afoul of the powers of the California Coastal Commission which, of course, has broad veto power over density bonus projects

From Northwestern / August 22, 2024

New research from Northwestern University has systematically proven that a mild zap of electricity can strengthen a marine coastline for generations—greatly reducing the threat of erosion in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.

In the new study, researchers took inspiration from clams, mussels and other shell-dwelling sea life, which use dissolved minerals in seawater to build their shells.

Similarly, the researchers leveraged the same naturally occurring, dissolved minerals to form a natural cement

Roll-up For Cannabis Equity

By Terrie Best

The year was 2010. For medical cannabis patients in California it was a time of raids, confusion and painful interruptions to cannabis access. Activists were very organized and engaged in fighting for patients in courts; showing up to raids and badgering San Diego district attorney Bonnie Dumanis to clarify the laws meant to protect sick and dying patients.  Dumanis would not stop her raids, she led a fierce fight and victimization against us. But she and other anti-cannabis DAs in California inadvertently mobilized an oppositional force that has political implications to this day.

Meanwhile in 2010 Los Angeles, Steve Cooley, their district attorney, was a complete disaster too. He had raided medical collectives and added support for implementing proposition 8 (anti equality) to his arsenal of hate. If you care to look up any of his “tough on crime” rhetoric in the form of his braying press conferences, they are likely still on the internet. BTW, where is Cooley now? Not on stage with the winners this week.

Then there was Kamala Harris, district attorney in San Francisco who came out early for marriage equality. She wasn’t horrible on cannabis and was tagged as a liberal during a time when Democratic DAs were being pulled to the right by the harmful drug war nonsense that almost broke us.

From SanDiegoVille / August 12, 2024

Erin Brockovich, the renowned environmental activist portrayed by Julia Roberts in the film about her life, recently took to social media to criticize California Governor Gavin Newsom for what she sees as his lack of attention to the ongoing Tijuana/San Diego sewage crisis.

In a Facebook post shared to her profile on Monday, Brockovich highlighted the escalating Tijuana/San Diego sewage crisis, calling out Governor Newsom

by Marisa Kendall /Cal-Matters / August 12, 2024

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s message on homelessness in recent weeks has been clear: The state will no longer tolerate encampments, and cities shouldn’t either.

Californians who live on the streets, as well as the outreach workers who support them, say they’re already feeling the difference. Places where someone used to be able to pitch a tent and sleep in peace have suddenly become inhospitable. Police seem to be clearing camps more often and more aggressively, and are less likely to give advance notice before they come in with bulldozers and trash compactors, according to anecdotal reports in some cities. Even in cities where officials said publicly nothing would change, unhoused people and activists say it’s become harder to be homeless.

Note: On June 3, Circulate San Diego moved its offices to an upscale high rise that, unlike their previous location, has reserved parking. The following document was purportedly found among the empty Starbucks cups and Postmates debris at their prior address.

Herewith are the common terms with their insider meanings that every YIMBY must know. They are not just received wisdom, but also rote rhetorical devices to denude meaning and nuance from any debate and appear more knowledgeable than our opponents.

ABUNDANCE, ABUNDANT: A state in human history that has only ever been achieved in short bursts as a result of social cooperation and environmental grace; the promise offered by every developer.

ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT (ADU): A granny flat, with four stories and seven other units having zero setbacks or parking.

ADAPTIVE REUSE: The ecologically superior repurposing of existing structures that are less suited for their original use than as alternatives, such as converting shopping malls and offices to housing. Not as enriching for every segment of the construction industrial complex as new development, and so never to be recommended beyond boutique renovations of quaint Victorian homes for law offices.

ALL HOUSING MATTERS: An appropriation of the racist “All lives matter” retort to the Black Lives Matter movement. (Since a lot of people started realizing that, we try not to use it in public much anymore.)

BICYCLING, BIKING: The most virtuous form of transportation, far more honored in breach than in practice; only used by YIMBYs in the context of performative or physical exercise. The Ivermectin offered to solve every lack of actually affordable housing.

By Rebecca Hersher / NPR News / August 7, 2024

High tide floods – when water collects in streets or even seeps into buildings on days without rain – are increasingly common in coastal areas as sea levels rise, a new report warns.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: Tropical Storm Debby has flooded the southeastern U.S. this week. Many of the hardest-hit areas also have the fastest sea level rise in the country. Nicole LeBoeuf is the director of the National Ocean Service.

NICOLE LEBOEUF: These areas are already under the thumb of sea level rise, making the combination of Debby’s rainfall and storm surge potentially catastrophic.

MARTIN: Rebecca Hersher from NPR’s climate desk has learned of a new report that warns those sea level changes are accelerating.

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Editordude: The information in the following U-T article by Jennifer van Grove is too important to be hidden away from San Diegans who don’t subscribe to the U-T.

By Jennifer van Grove / San Diego Union-Tribune / August 1, 2024

An otherwise routine loan morphed into a flashpoint of contention between a council member, Pacific Beach community members and two affordable housing developers.

That’s because the money, to be doled out by the city of San Diego to the nonprofit developers of the proposed Rose Creek Village project, was the last thing standing in the way of a mid-rise residential building that promises to skirt a voter-enacted law that keeps building heights at 30 feet or less in coastal neighborhoods.

On Tuesday, San Diego City Councilmember Joe LaCava, who represents the Pacific Beach community, sought to kill the loan — and, by association, the project. The developers, he said, were initially dishonest with community members about the project’s planned height. What’s more, taxpayer funds should not be used to override the will of voters, he said.