Dear Editor,
A letter you recently published appears to confuse and weasel around that activating SB10 in Santa Monica will likely lead to 14-unit buildings in single-family neighborhoods. This appears to be an attempt to distract from what very likely will happen if that writer's favored candidates take control of the City Council.
The letter says that even if SB10 is approved it won’t necessarily mean 10 or 14 units... Okay, so maybe it will be only 4 or 8 units per lot. Of course, two years from now, when the pain has numbed, and what has been done cannot be undone, then they will upzone again to 14 units, and no one will have the strength left to fight them anymore. Sound familiar? Just look at what is happening to our city right now. By state law, all upzoning is permanent and acts as a one-way ratchet. And at any moment the state can allow bonus density for any reason they choose. We should never voluntarily upzone anything. That is the sort of delusionary behavior that got us into this mess in the first place. And be assured, SB10 upzoning would be voluntary.
According to SB10 itself, it is OPTIONAL. Therefore, not implementing SB10 would leave Santa Monica (and every other jurisdiction in the state) in full compliance with state law.
Threatening that Sacramento might impose “builders’ remedies” should the city not approve SB10 seems another attempt to terrify residents in the same way that the entrenched power base appears to smear the “safety slate” by falsely claiming that those registered Democrats are MAGA, or that they will weaken rent control, (which they declare, over and over, that they never will, and it is impossible anyway. Unlike the entrenched power base, who clearly stated they support SB10.)
And, if Santa Monica would fall afoul of fair housing by not activating SB10, then surely every other city in the state would be guilty also, and all single-family housing in California would be obliterated. Good luck with that.
In fact, many residents of multi-family neighborhoods aspire to own single family homes, for the space, privacy and peace they promise. Should SB10 be used here those families would need to move out of town to achieve the American dream, as they could not compete with cash-paying developers. And it is the cheapest single-family neighborhoods that would be hit hardest by SB10, the very homes that provide the first step on the ladder of homeownership for many.
Exclusion is something the establishment seems to accuse others of, but they appear to be the experts at exclusion themselves – by seemingly wanting to exclude low-income families from being able to buy their own homes, and so excluding them from potentially growing generational wealth. HUD has clearly stated it supports affordable home-ownership. The report by the Santa Monica Housing Commission on allowing lower income residents to purchase their own homes was strongly argued against by council members who will likely vote for SB10.
Excluding people from ownership opportunities, at all income levels, seems a primary goal of the establishment. Which seems even more hypocritical when some Council members who might support SB10 might be homeowners themselves.
SB10 seems incredibly unpopular in single family neighborhoods, to such a degree that the entrenched powers seem forced to deny and confuse us about their stated aims, and appear to blame single family homes for all sorts of evils. So, one must ask, why do they appear so intent on upzoning single family neighborhoods? Perhaps to support their friends — developers and market rate landlords, who are likely salivating over this relatively cheap source of land.
And perhaps they want to stick it to homeowners who have the temerity to protest against the various assaults on their peace and quiet that they have suffered (Who can forget their allowing large scale childcare operations in the Gandara neighborhood?)
History suggests that the entrenched powers want to destroy single-family neighborhoods in Santa Monica -- and this might be their best chance yet to do it.
If you own, or ever hope to own, an entry-level single-family home in Santa Monica, then you should vote for Brock, Roknian, De La Torre and Putnam, or those homes and neighborhoods will likely come under the wrecking ball.
Peter Borresen, Santa Monica
