Catalysts in California Times #5
Elected officials Lydia Kou and Peggy Huang talk about the impact of misguided state legislation on cities. Whether in northern California or southern California, the overreach of regional and state laws is taking its toll on cities’ capacity to serve the constituents who elected them.
Catalysts in California Times #4
Rick Johnson spent 40 years with the San Francisco Water Department and retired as Senior Water Inspector, overseeing the work of ten other water inspectors.
Johnson describes the growing water emergency in the context of Sacramento’s push to build housing. Johnson sums it up like this: “If you don’t have water, you’re not going to have housing.”
Catalysts in California Times #3
Hydee Feldstein Soto, candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney 2022, and John Heath, president of the United Homeowners’ Association based in Los Angeles, describe their efforts to get solutions-based housing policy from Sacramento legislators.
Feldstein Soto says, “Dictating from on high will not work.” Heath adds. “Sacramento is facilitating a massive transfer of wealth from low-income communities to Wall Street.”
Catalysts in California Times #2
Mike Griffiths, Torrance City Council member and founder of California Cities for Local Control doesn’t think state legislators set sound housing policy when they make sweeping mandates for communities they have never stepped foot in and know nothing about.
Griffiths and his all-volunteer team have recruited dozens of cities and hundreds of city council members to sign a Resolution objecting to the state’s top- down, one-size-fits-all mandates.