This is arguably one of the most important issues facing the four cities on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, as well as the other 478 cities in California. It affects the fabric and nature of our neighborhoods, our lifestyles and our safety.
Despair is felt by the passage of recent legislation in Sacramento, but fortunately there is now legitimate hope that a remedy to this destructive folly is on the horizon.
STOP THE SACRAMENTO LAND GRAB INITIATIVE
Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand is the driving force behind the Stop the Sacramento Land Grab Initiative. This was filed with the state on August 26, 2021, and has gone through a 30-day comment period. It is now being reviewed by the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, who will draft a summary and title for the initiative.
Once this is done petitions will be circulated for 180 days to gather enough signatures to put this important Initiative on the November 8, 2022, ballot. Since this will be an amendment to the California Constitution 8% of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election will be needed, and that is 997,139 valid signatures. However, based on the disqualification rate of signatures in the past Brand feels 1,400,000 will be needed to ensure its qualification for the ballot. All PV homeowners should sign this petition.
WHAT IT DOES
This Initiative will amend the California Constitution to affirm that when a local law clashes with a state law regarding zoning or land use the local ordinance will prevail. The Initiative will reverse any state law that has been enacted taking zoning authority from city councils, or county authorities in unincorporated areas. This includes the recently passed Senate Bill 9 (SB-9) and Senate Bill 10 (SB-10) which will be dwelled on later. It also enshrines in the constitution that when local initiatives regulating local land use and zoning are passed by local voters they will not be overturned or nullified by any legislative body.
WHY IS THIS INITIATIVE NECESSARY?
During a September 4, 2021, live-stream event sponsored by Livable California Brand advised that he is convinced the only way to stop the governor and state legislators from continuing to usurp local control, including zoning authority and land use issues, is through a constitutional amendment.
Susan Candell, the mayor of Lafayette, California, validated this by pointing out that 67 bills aimed at taking local control from mayors and city councilors have passed since 2017. This is a legislative tsunami that many Californians are not aware of, but PVP Watch feels will gradually erode our manner of living.
The last day of the California 2021 legislative session was September 10th. Unfortunately, the California state legislature does not abide by that old physician’s maxim, “First do no harm.” The legislature continued to pass bills which the governor signed, enacting them into laws. These laws do not usher in a minor power shift, but a movement making local elected officials, men and women who actually know their communities, almost irrelevant.
SB 9 AND SB 10
Livable California, a non-profit that advocates for affordable housing, local government self-determination, and livability published a fact sheet in January regarding SB-9. Visit their website at www.livablecalifornia.org to read in detail what SB-9 does and why they opposed it.
They point out it allows as many as 8 housing units on a lot where there is now one. As Susan Shelley recently pointed out in a column for the Southern California News Group, due to this legislation “single-family zoning has been abolished in the state of California.”
SB-10 permits 10-unit apartment buildings to be built on a lot now zoned for one home, in many areas of our cities. It also allows local initiatives, passed by the residents of a municipality, to be disregarded.
Readers are urged to seek websites and news sources that describe the destructive nature of bills such as these.
For example, www.unitedneighbors.net graphically shows how neighborhoods can now be turned into “heat islands” due to the elimination of amenities that families value like yards, lawns, trees, driveways, garages, hiking paths, equestrian trails, etc. www.catalystsca.org has information not found in traditional news outlets exposing the truth of this issue. These websites have data showing how our communities of the future will look if voters do not act.
Most citizens in California believe that local decisions should be made by local officials elected by local residents.
David Binder Research (DBR) has conducted surveys to determine public opinion for over 25 years for numerous clients, including the Barack Obama White House. DBR polled Californians in July 2021 regarding SB-9 and SB-10. Respondents were given arguments for and against the bills, as well as told what groups were in support and opposition of them.
SB-9 was opposed by 71% of respondents and supported by 19%. SB-10 polled 75% in opposition and 15% in support. For both bills, 10% had no opinion.
The League of California Cities sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom listing 241 cities, large (Los Angeles) and small (Rolling Hills) alike, all urging Newsom to veto SB-9.
California Cities for Local Control (CCLC), formed only one year ago by Torrance City Councilman Mike Griffiths, with little if any funds spent, have had 78 cities throughout the state sign resolutions urging Sacramento politicians to refrain from their power grab and leave local control where it belongs…in local communities. CCLC has had 525 local elected officials agree as well. Visit the CCLC website at www.localcontrolca.com to determine if your city councilors are on this list.
These methodologies indicate that the residents of California prefer those laws dictating the nature of their neighborhoods be determined by men and women who live in them.
Men and women who have invested time, talent and treasure into their community feel local elected officials, who have done the same, are much better qualified to govern their municipalities than distant politicians who have not heard of their city, much less visited it.
Thomas Jefferson’s maxim, “The government closest to the people serves the people best”, rings true here.
Two lawmakers leading the effort to eliminate local control are State Senator Scott Wiener and Newsom. Both began their political climb to power in San Francisco, formulating plans and policies for that city. Those plans and policies have turned a popular, beautiful destination into a metropolis that is now avoided by tourists and conventions alike. Why would anyone want politicians like that leading the effort to transform all the cities in the state?
Cal Matters, a nonprofit nonpartisan news outlet committed to explaining California policy and politics, recently pointed out that developers, real estate investors, and realtors gave at least $5,300,000 (not ME, so don’t blame me) to defeat the Newsom recall, while also pushing legislation to build more homes, which will benefit their industries. Two days after the recall, on September 16th, Newsom signed SB-9 and SB-10, to the delight of these lobbyists.
These same individuals and industries, plus others with deep pockets, will be funding the effort to defeat the Stop the Sacramento Land Grab Initiative.
They want to enhance their profits…not our neighborhoods...and that is what motivates them. That is why it is critical that those who want local control to be in the hands of local officials not only sign the petition on its behalf but donate to it now.
Few, if any, major contributors are expected to fund the effort to collect signatures, publicize the Initiative and do other things necessary to ensure it makes it onto the November ballot. It will only be done by folks like us. Please donate to this cause today!
There will be canards that the opposition will use and predictably one of them is that this is racially motivated. Wrong!
Brand has as co-sponsors of this Initiative a racially diverse group who all eloquently voice why top-down zoning measures enacted in Sacramento hurt their constituencies.
John Heath is an African American and president of the United Homeowners Association in South Los Angeles. He has been involved in the affordable housing issue in Southern California for many years.
Jovita Mendoza a Hispanic American city councilwoman in Brentwood located in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Peggy Huang an Asian American mayor of Yorba Linda in Orange County.
Dennis Richard is a former San Francisco City and County planning commissioner.
This racially diverse group appeared with Brand on the September 4th livestream to introduce and encourage support of the Initiative. Go to www.unitedneighbors.net and watch the Fight Against Gentrification video. This two-minutes by Lynetta McElroy explains why enactment of SB-9 and SB-10 will be so destructive to her community in Los Angeles, Leimert Park.
Leimert Park is one of the oldest Black communities in the country and McElroy explains why the elimination of single-family zoning will destroy the essence of Leimert Park and other neighborhoods throughout the state. Also, the DBR survey noted that the Urban League, one of the oldest and most respected civil rights organizations in America, opposed both SB-9 and SB-10.
Another untruth that is anticipated to be raised by the opponents is that this is a partisan issue supported by only one political party. Wrong!
Brand and his co-sponsors are members of both major political parties. During this time of highly partisan politics this is truly non-partisan.
There are three ways to undo the theft of local control.
Litigate these laws. This is a long, tedious and costly tactic with the desired results difficult to obtain.
The second is to defeat at the polls assemblymen/women and state senators who year after year are re-elected yet pass laws detrimental to their constituents. However, incumbents are rarely defeated. The CCLC website, www.localcontrolca.com, features the voting record of each assemblyman/woman and state senator regarding ten different bills that pertained to local land use control and zoning issues. Check it out!
Determine how your legislators voted on these issues…and then you vote accordingly. This is a great tool for every voter in the state. However, based on history a significant revamping of the legislature cannot be counted on any time soon.
Therefore, the Stop the Sacramento Land Grab Initiative is by far the best hope to reverse this relentless trend.
The only way this Initiative will make it to the ballot is if it generates grassroot support and those supporters not only sign the petition but visit the website www.stopsacramento.org and make a generous donation.
Donations can be made on the website and the text of the Initiative is posted there.
I urge all readers of this blog post to forward it to friends, family and associates throughout California. If Californians are educated regarding this Initiative, it will have overwhelming support. Do your part!
