I believe that Daily KOS is one of the most valuable voices for progressive values. This is why I am just absolutely dumbfounded to receive an email from California YIMBY via D-KOS in my email box earlier today! In my mind, there is doubtlessly very few things that fly in the face of progressive values than California Senate Bill SB50.
As a progressive elected Los Angeles City Official, my belief in progressive values stems from the following principles:
- Protect and defend the most vulnerable amongst us.
- No one should go without food, shelter, medicine or an education.
- The pursuit of wealth and abundance up to the point it is a detriment to our society.
- Equitable opportunity for ALL people no matter the color of their skin, where they come from, who they love, how they pray, or how they identify.
- To fight to keep the corruptive influences of money out of our body politic.
These are the basic progressive values I believe in that are germane to any progressive discussion about Planning and Land Use. I seriously doubt any progressives reading this can say they do not agree with these principles. If you do, you know where the comment section is…
Before I go any further I will state, California YIMBY is not a progressive grassroots campaign or movement. It is not a secret, even though they would like it to be, that California YIMBY gets its funding from the tech industry. They are funded by companies such as Yelp and Stripe and most certainly can be categorized as an astroturf organization even-though they try to pass themselves off as grassroots. This is dishonest.
So what does this have to do with SB50?
Here in the City of Los Angeles, I have witnessed first hand the devastation wrought by unrestrained development by national and international developers. SB50 will unlock millions of acres within our cities to predatory developers. These developers have had and still have only one loyalty. Their bottom line. And in furtherance of that bottom line, they have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying state and local electeds for decades for zoning variances and the like and for the most part, at least in LA City Hall, these were granted with an almost rubber-stamping frenzy. This has resulted in observable gentrification. It has only been through actual grassroots progressives here in LA that we have been able to only slightly staunch the flow of displacement of working families onto our streets as a result of these devastating practices. These practices fly in the face of the progressive values I have listed above.
These developers are not loyal to the citizens of our great cities. They are not loyal to the progressive values above and by California YIMBY pushing these developer’s agenda to build as much unaffordable housing as possible for profit, then one can only conclude California YIMBY does not subscribe to these progressive values. Therefore, any support of California YIMBY by D-KOS is in direct conflict with what I thought D-KOS stood for.
SB50’s author is CA State Senator Scott Wiener. Senator Wiener has his own loyalties and they are not to the people of his district or the citizens of our state. By following the money, it is very clear to whom he is loyal. More specifically, some of the groups that have donated to his campaign are:
CALIFORNIA APARTMENT ASSOCIATION
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS
STATE BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CARPENTERS REGIONAL COUNCIL
CALIFORNIA STATE COUNCIL OF LABORERS
SOUTHWEST REGIONAL COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS
PLUMBERS & STEAMFITTERS LOCAL 467
CALIFORNIA BUILDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
PLUMBERS & PIPEFITTERS LOCAL 38
SAN FRANCISCO APARTMENT ASSOCIATION
Clearly, these are all organizations that would benefit from the passage of SB50. Does this scream progressive values to you?
The harm this bill will cause to people making #25kPerYear is immense and flies in the face of protecting and defending the most vulnerable amongst us. These are the people that are being displaced into our streets.
Not for nothing, but tonight coincidentally is the night I will go out onto the streets of my city to participate in the homeless count. Since last year’s results where in showing a 16% increase in the City of LA, our city officials have been tripping over themselves to “do something” about this crisis. We cannot talk about homelessness without talking about housing and we cannot talk about housing without talking about the need for units that regular folks can afford.
The major overriding cause of the homeless crisis in my observations as the Chair of my Neighborhood Council’s Planning & Land Use committee is the displacement of tens of thousands of Angelenos onto our streets from gentrification. How in the world can anyone look at SB50 and say that the bill will not further exacerbate this? You can’t. And given that gentrification is the major cause of homelessness, how can any progressive say that unrestrained development fits with your values?
Here’s the rub and what they will not tell you. Here in Los Angeles, without up-zoning a single parcel, we have the capacity to build enough housing for upwards of 9 million people. The difference is that we, as citizens of Los Angeles, we get to decide where these projects best fit with our vision of our city. It is a direct assault on the progressive value of self and local rule.
It has been reported that there are over 100,000 vacant luxury units in LA. We need more of these types of units like we need another hole in our heads. These predatory developers, and the folks investing in them, are using these units as a commodity. In many many cases, they have no intention of renting these units out even if they could find renters that can afford $5000 per month rents. In fact, a recent article, in NYC and London, demand for these units has slumped. Additionally, it is no secret that international oligarchs use these properties to launder money. And now Senator Wiener and California YIMBY wants you to believe a further glut of these types of units will somehow make things more affordable for hard working families?
As progressives, we know that trickle down economics does not work. Trickle down is one of the major economic fallacies that progressives have been railing against since Reagan pushed this in the 80s. So, do you really think it is progressive to believe that trickle down housing will have the result of making housing more affordable? If trickle down has shown us anything, the only ones that benefit are the 1%.
Look, I don’t know what happened over at D-KOS, and I would hate to think that they accepted money for putting out that email, but most certainly, they have failed us as progressives. As such, I encourage you to write to D-KOS demanding they issue a retraction email.
But do not take my word for it. Here is a link to the legislation so you can read it for yourself.
Now I am off to count heads and I hope like anything D-KOS will reconsider their support of astroturf un-progressive California YIMBY.
Rachael Rose Luckey is a progressive political activist, with special emphasis on the LGB/Trans Movements, living in Los Angeles. As President of the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council, she is one of only a couple of dozen openly Transgender elected Government Officials in the nation. She also participates on community advisory committees/working groups including LAPD and LA Care. (The views expressed are solely her own and do not represent the views of any political party, organization, government entity or candidate/elected official.)