By Mary O’KEEFE

SB 79 is a California State Senate bill that has created a lot of emotion throughout the state including in residents and businesses in Los Angeles, Glendale, Burbank and other California cities. One complaint from cities is their concern that the decision-making process has shifted from each individual city to following a statewide mandate. It is also a concern that cities that have been working on, and succeeding, at creating housing and grappling with transportation issues are being lumped in with cities that have done very little in those areas. 

SB 79, briefly, will make it faster and easier to build multi-family housing near transit stops, like those of train and bus lines, by making it legal for more homes to be built in these areas. The bill will help lower housing costs by increasing the supply of homes in transit-adjacent areas while bolstering transit use and improving the funding of public transportation systems, according to CA YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard),  a proponent of SB 79. 

The bill will also support climate change goals by reducing transportation pollution by allowing Californians to drive fewer miles each day, focusing on growth near existing infrastructure, reducing demand for highways, concrete and other pollution intensive projects and helping to preserve farmland and open space by reducing pressures to convert farmland to tract housing and subdivisions, according to CA YIMBY. 

YIMBY is a non-profit organization that promotes construction of more housing in California, so it makes sense its members support SB 79.

And if I had not been following politics for as long as I have been, I would probably buy everything this bill is selling … but come on – it’s going to get more people in areas like Los Angeles out of their cars and into public transportation? It’s going to build more housing? Okay, but how many of us will be able to afford that housing? And it will reduce so much greenhouse gas emissions, therefore climate change, and freeways will be no longer be needed … in LA? Really? 

Now the answer to the high costs of housing is to build more housing – I got that – supply vs. demand – but I don’t see how any of the new housing projects so far are bringing down any rent prices. So do we have to wait for over 2 million homes to be completed? (That’s the amount of new housing that has been suggested has to be built in the state to make a difference.)

Climate change is real and we really need to work toward solutions – but shouldn’t we look at the entire issue of transportation beyond accessibility to transit stations before we decide this bill will solve that issue? Or at the very least make a major dent in greenhouse gas emissions?

I love the Metro but it doesn’t take me to half the places I need to go. And having to get on the Metro, then a bus and then sometimes back on the Metro … so how will having my home closer to a boarding station help me get to my destination? 

Now Senator Scott Wiener, the author of SB 79, has been praised by other lawmakers for making numerous amendments to his original bill, and that is good he is actually listening to those who are concerned about so much in this bill including fire safety; however, it took 13 rounds of amendments … doesn’t that say something? First, the bill is now a little more confusing with all of the add-ons including protecting areas in fire zones and giving cities a little more say, but again … doesn’t that tell us that the bill was not well thought-out to begin with? 

I am all in favor of getting us out of our vehicles and for creating more rental properties that will lower rents and I think that can be done – but it seems to me it should be done with a conversation that includes stakeholders at the table. 

A while back, when Mike Gatto was our  area’s assembly member, we attended a meeting of local business owners. There Gatto heard complaints and concerns from real people who had real issues. One local restaurant owner shared a story of predatory lawyers who were coming into the owner’s restaurant and then suing the owner because signs were not placed correctly regarding ADA and microwave use. In one case a business was being sued because a sign on the wall was an eighth of an inch too low. The average costs of these types of lawsuits paid by businesses was about $10,000 – a cost most mom-and-pop businesses could not afford. Then Assembly member Gatto returned to Sacramento and wrote a bill that gave businesses 90 days to respond to complaints. That gave businesses time to correct any issues without being threatened with a lawsuit. 

That’s how government is supposed to work – citizens are supposed to share issues of concern with their elected officials. And that did happen, in some cases, with SB 79 but unfortunately those incidents occurred after the bill was created and was making its way to the governor’s desk. 

The Red Line cable cars made Los Angeles a transit dream but then gas companies created freeways and life changed. The plan to create a Los Angeles car haven was well thought-out and planned (perhaps an evil plan but a well thought-out plan nonetheless). To combat climate change it really does take a village – not just one person in Sacramento. Getting people out of their beloved cars will take more than just proximity to a Metro hub or bus stop. It will require what Californians are famous for … innovative and creative thinking. 

Yesterday the fog rolled in as if John Carpenter was directing it [don’t get the reference? Watch “The Fog”]. 

Although it is October and we are only a little over 20 days from when the veil between worlds is thin [again – don’t get the reference? Samhain and Halloween] this fog is not brought on by supernatural effects but by a deep marine layer that is driven by a weak low pressure system off the California coast. 

The fog came rolling in from the southeast. It is the depth of the marine layer that will determine if we are foggy or cloudy, according to NOAA.

For Wednesday’s fog our elevation, around 1,500 feet, was near the top of the marine layer, which is why it was so fog creepy [not a NOAA term but fits]. Most of the times the marine layer is at a higher elevation and therefore the clouds are above us. 

The fog was expected here today but then there will be tropical moisture that will disrupt the marine layer. This tropical moisture is from Hurricane Priscilla off the coast of Cabo San Lucas and it could bring some rain, including thunderstorms, to the area over the course of the next few days. The weekend should be milder with highs in the upper 70s, according to NOAA.

“Right now there are some whispers of off shore Santa Ana … [winds] more north and west of [our] area that could see dry and windy conditions on Sunday and Monday,” according to NOAA.