We were thrilled when environmental groups like Sierra Club opposed SB 10 by state Sen. Scott Wiener. His bill has backfired with environmentalists, hundreds of communities, and cities.

SB 10 was NOT heard this week. It ran into pushback! In part over concern that it encourages gentrification and high rents. It will be heard next week or AFTER recess in mid-August.

You MUST zoom in July with your Assemblymember. So join us Sat. at 10 am with respected CEQA attorney Sabrina Venskus, on why SB 10 and its cousin SB 9 must not become law.

SB 10 by Wiener does not require ANY fire hardening of homes beyond our 10-yr-old law. SB 10’s tangled wording appears to require more fire hardening. No, it doesn’t.
SB 10 does NOT protect environmentally sensitive areas from “14-unit apartment buildings almost everywhere.” Despite Wiener’s promise, SB 10 is NOT restricted to dense areas. His “Urban Clusters” includes hamlets and tiny towns. If we say “Arbuckle, Arvin, Angels, Arcata, Auburg, Avenal, Avalon” would you say let’s densify?
SB 10 doesn’t exempt open space “entirely” as Wiener promised. SB 10 only protects publicly owned land that is protected by a ballot measure. Most open land protected by voters is private land, such as Urban Growth Boundaries and farmland.
SB 9 by Atkins is NOT about putting 4 units where 1 home sits now. Four units is unacceptable. But SB 9 allows 6 units, and up to 8 units once granny flats are added.
SB 9’s renter protections are unenforceable and unacceptable. There is no way determine which homes had renters living in them. Renters are not protected.
Doing away with yards is anti-environmental and fire-prone. Reducing yards to 4-foot setbacks will destroy a forest of shade trees in a heat-island state. As bad, SB 9 overrides efforts to create defensible space around homes in fire zones.
SB 9 is silent on the vast infrastructure needed if you quadruple density. We look to upzoned Vancouver and Seattle, now overbuilt, crowded, expensive and overwhelmed.

If we have time we’ll get to SB 478, another Bad Bill of 2021.

Here are two actions you can take right now:

Send this letter to YOUR assembly member

Go to our Act Now page here for tips on how to meet NOW with your own Assemblymember this week, to explain why this bill must die.

To attend on our 10 AM Sat. July 10 meeting, you must RSVP by noon Friday. USE YOUR PREVIOUSLY ASSIGNED ZOOM LINK, SENT IN EARLIER EMAILS TO YOU. DON’T SHARE YOUR UNIQUE NUMBER! DON’T ATTEND UNLESS YOUR CAMERA IS ON. THANKS!

First-time attending? You must RSVP at this link. Questions? Email us at: [email protected]

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