Latest News
NOTE: The opinions expressed in the news items cited here do not necessarily represent the opinion of Catalysts for Local Control. We try to present a balanced picture of the news on the subject of housing and legislation.
BAHFA blunders on ballot language for RM4; gets busted for wildly lowballing cost to taxpayers
By Jason Bezis, Esq
August 8, 2024
A group of residents opposed to a $20 billion regional housing bond measure filed a court challenge today to Regional Measure 4’s (RM4) 75- word ballot question. Opponents’ Attorney Jason Bezis sent BAHFA a letter last Friday demanding a series of nine language changes to remove prejudicial language. Opponents assert that the true annual cost of the measure is nearly 36% higher than the amount shown in the ballot question.
The YIMBYs are wrong: Suburbs are better
By Christopher LeGras
August 7, 2024
Some of the most powerful figures and institutions in big finance, big business, big tech, and big philanthropy, who collectively refer to themselves as “YIMBYs,” for “yes in my back yard,” are on a mission to radically transform the United States. The YIMBYs central world view is that this country is a paragon of wickedness, if not evil, and it’s high time we took our collective medicine.
Marin Voice: State housing push still must respect fire hazard maps
By Amy Kalish
August 1, 2024
Our state Legislature’s quest to remove any inhibitors to housing, no matter how impactful, has taken a new and dangerous form.
With Senate Bill 610, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) shows he is not content to merely wrest zoning control from cities. He is now targeting fire hazard severity zone maps as “impediments” to housing.
Ballot battles, lawsuits and a ticked off millionaire: What’s behind Eureka’s parking lot war?
BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
JULY 25, 2024
City officials in Eureka thought the plan to turn public parking lots into affordable housing would be easy. Now they’re facing a ballot measure campaign funded by one of the city’s richest men.
When California housing regulators beef with voters, who wins?
BY BEN CHRISTOPHER
JULY 25, 2024
What happens when voters take to the ballot to thumb their nose at state housing law? Courts haven’t offered a clear answer.
In November, voters in Eureka will decide whether to scrap a housing development plan that was approved by California housing regulators in 2020 — and, in the process, risk thumbing their noses at Sacramento.
Sausalito creates charter city subcommittee
By KRISSY WAITE
July 24, 2024
Sausalito is toying with the idea of becoming a charter city.
The city is currently a general law city, which requires it to follow the governance rules set by California Constitution and the California Legislature. Charter cities give greater local control and flexibility to cities, and potentially open up revenue sources.
The City Council discussed the possibility and created a subcommittee for the topic at its July 16 meeting.
Billionaires’ utopia company California Forever scraps plan for ballot initiative in wake of damning report
By ETHAN BARON |
July 22, 2024
Days after a Solano County report slammed a plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaires to build a utopian new city from scratch near Fairfield, the company behind the “California Forever” project has scrapped the ballot initiative it was to put to county voters in November.
Crazy Hourly Wage Needed To Afford Average CA 2-Bed Apartment
Anna Schier and Megan VerHelst
Wed, Jul 10, 2024
California is the most expensive state in the U.S. for renters, according to a new report, which details how finding an affordable rental home remains out of reach for many low-income workers in the state.
In fact, a minimum wage employee would need to work nearly three full-time jobs just to afford a modest, two-bedroom home in California.
Newsom wants California to be a bastion of democracy. Except where Prop 47 is concerned
By Emily Hoeven
July 1, 2024
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders really, really don’t want California voters to approve a November ballot measure to roll back parts of Proposition 47, the controversial 2014 initiative that reduced some theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.
In fact, they’re so desperate to prevent the measure from succeeding that they’re willing to subvert and twist the very process they claim to revere more than anything else — democracy — to achieve their aims.