Wiener | Discoveryink

Bay Sara Libby : sfchronicle – excerpt (audio)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom stays famously tight-lipped about bills making their way through the state Legislature. So it was a surprise this week when he not only endorsed two bills to slash local restrictions that can hold up housing construction — he said he would leapfrog lawmakers altogether and implement them through the budget.

Newsom was not subtle about where he believes the fault for the housing crisis lies: “It is not the state of California that remains the biggest impediment. The obstacle remains at the local level.”

His comments incensed the California League of Cities, which argued, “California cities are not the obstacle.”

But just hours later, a city on the California coast set out to prove Newsom right.

Cheered on by constituents, the City Council of Encinitas, just north of San Diego, voted on Wednesday to support a prospective ballot measure that would amend California’s Constitution by handing control over housing back to localities…

On Wednesday, [Mayor Bruce] Ehlers, [Encinitas City Council Member Luke Shaffer] Shaffer and their colleagues backed the resolution to support a potential statewide ballot measure that would amend California’s Constitution and hand control over housing back to localities…(more)

Does building homes lead to lower housing costs? New research is roiling the debate

The question no one has answered yet, is why, if the state has been writing density bills and developers have been building dense housing for decades, why have the housing prices gone up instead of down? Where are the studies that prove building dense housing has lowered housing prices anywhere?

100’s of California cities are fighting the state’s ferocious appetite for power that has been carving out a larger role for itself while handing the local communities and their citizens the bills for increased infrastructure bills that used to go to developers.

The state claims the cities can raise the funds by raising taxes to pay for growth they demand and nobody wants. That is not a winning argument yet, the YIMBY keep peddling it.

It gets better. Newsom and Wienerites are now tipping their toes in the Maga sea of inequities by cutting off social services and tearing the safety nets they once built. How is this going to play among what is left of the Democratic Party they want to lead in Washington?

by Josh Koehn : sfstandard – excerpt

Two state legislators representing Silicon Valley are ruffling feathers in their home districts after asking California’s aggressive auditing department to scrutinize the local response to two intractable issues: homelessness and transportation.

Senator Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, and Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, each confirmed to The Standard that they requested audits looking into San Jose’s homelessness response and operations at the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), respectively, in an effort to ensure taxpayer money is being used effectively.

The audits—expected to be completed around the end of the year—are almost certain to have broader political implications, as any shortcomings identified in the reports will likely set off a blame game that pits state and local officials against one another…(more)

The same may be said of Newsom, Wiener, Ting, and Haney. They are writing laws that remove the rights of their constituents to decide how the want to live. Attorney General Bonta is suiting cities that do not follow these laws.

Politicians used to ask “How may I help make your life better”. Now they are say “I don’t care what you think. I am going to force you to live the way I think you should, and, by the way, please send money to my campaign fund, so I can continue to make your life miserable by removing more of your rights.”