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

SB 10 is also running into pushback over concern that it encourages gentrification and high rents. Now author Wiener must decide whether to set an Assembly floor vote next week OR wait until after the monthlong summer recess. So call your Assemblymember first thing Monday (District office number found here!) and URGE THEM to vote No on 10! Do it folks!

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, Auburn, Avenal, Avalon” would you say let’s densify it?
SB 10 doesn’t exempt open space “entirely” as Wiener promised. SB 10 only protects publicly owned parks or public open space. Most land protected by voters is private land, such as Urban Growth Boundaries, hills and farmland. None of it protected by SB 10.
Its cousin bill, 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 to determine which homes facing a bulldozer had renters. Renters are unprotected.
Doing away with yards is anti-environmental and fire-prone. Reducing yards to 4-foot setbacks will destroy a forest of urban and suburban trees in our 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 at 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's an action you can take right now:

Send this letter to YOUR assembly member

To attend on our 10 AM Sat. July 10 meeting, you must RSVP by Friday night. 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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