It is time to Rethink Density
Opinion
We are in the midst of an unimaginable health crisis growing out of control in our large coastal cities that many believe is exasperated by dense, crowded living conditions. It is time to stop the bills in Sacramento that are on a fast track for passage that would force density on everyone in the California, especially in the small new communities former city dwellers moved to when they were forced out of the big cities. They moved to get away from the urban lifestyle.
According to recent articles on population shifts in New York and California, people were leaving crowded cities for greener pastures before the COVID-19 crisis hit. By the time the quarantine is over, many people will have become comfortable working at home, and that home can be anywhere when there is no reason to commute to work. For many, working at home is a better deal than a free shuttle ride to work and back each day.
For a number of years contractors and suppliers have been exiting cities, pushed out by skyrocketing land prices, difficult parking, labor shortages, and a high degree of uncertainty . Many of those contractors found more relaxed, easier working conditions near their new homes. They dropped the commutes and developers followed them, building cheaper, larger, nicer single-family homes outside the crowded cities. Why pay twice as much for less?
“Build it and they will come.” Disgruntled business owners are closing their dying struggling businesses as they are choked out of the cities. They are moving out of small, expensive city apartments and condos into new, less expensive single-family homes with yards, garages, rooftop solar power systems and all the latest tech and infrastructure. They are building new communities, opening businesses and establishing cultural centers. They will be moving their votes inland as well and that could shift the political balance of power away from the coast.
Thus this new block of voters will not appreciate density bills like, SB 902, AB 725, and AB 1279. Many of the former city inhabitants have a sophisticated political understanding of the gentrification schemes that were used against them and they will push their new representatives to oppose these bills.
There is one bill they will support this year. They will support SB 953, the Solar Rights Bill that prevents corporations from imposing high fees and fines on solar power producers who hook up to the grid. The Solar Rights Alliance is tracking the bill that is currently in the Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.
While the Committees are considering how to proceed during the shutdown, they are accepting comments on the bills. Go here for more information: https://seuc.senate.ca.gov/.
