Close the doors and batten the hatches, because El Niño isn’t the only tempest on the horizon. Senate Bill 79 (SB 79) and its threat of upzoned neighborhoods is barreling towards us. That was the message from the last City Council meeting.
Residents from the Pico neighborhood lined up to plead for mercy from likely displacement, but they weren’t the only ones seeking protection. Council members also expressed distress about the impending SB 79 tsunami, which would suggest they’re also victims of the law, except for the minor detail that they’re the ones who eagerly opened the floodgates by endorsing it. And they rushed to do so before it was even a law, when it was a bill, only a bill, offering them a chance to get attention on Capitol Hill (if Sacramento had any hills).
Technically, it was Councilmember Dan Hall who demanded that the entire council endorse SB 79. Giving the other council members credit, they caved quickly. It’s also worth mentioning that Hall recently questioned the legitimacy of any city commissioners appointed by previous councils (all those rightwing councils of yore in the People’s Republic of Santa Monica). Even among Hall’s supporters, of whom there are many in the old-guard of the city, there was shock and disapproval that he would say something from the dais so brazenly undemocratic and well, Trumpy.
The other council members didn’t criticize him. They were too busy doing damage control on SB 79, as was the city staff. The community development director, Jing Yeo, repeatedly spoke with urgency at the Council meeting about “closing the door on SB 79 as quickly as possible,” warning that if the Council didn’t pass the proposed legislation “that door would remain open,” for large-scale SB 79 applications.
Mayor Caroline Torosis was troubled by the prospect (and seemingly by the nomenclature), asking Yeo to confirm the Council could preclude such applications “if we were to close the window.”
“The purpose of these exclusion ordinances is to close the door,” Yeo responded.
With all the doors and windows opening and closing, residents could be forgiven for thinking they had wandered into a poorly written French farce.
Karl Marx said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce, and our current dilemma seems to be playing out as proof of that. Five years ago, Santa Monica missed the deadline for passing a housing element compliant with state law, and the result was what is known as “builder’s remedy.” Builders could ignore city zoning laws and erect towers much larger than otherwise allowed, and we will all soon be living with the 34-story skyscraper and other highrises that will be the repercussions.
There was much blame to go around at the time and supposedly a major lesson was learned. Yet here we are again. The SB 79 deadline was July 1st, and the race to “close the door” is after the horse is already out of the barn, to mix metaphors. Once again, builders are free to submit projects that exceed the city’s limits, because the city missed a deadline. And once again no one is being held accountable.
To be fair, many council members have a sincere desire to do something about the dearth of affordable housing, and not all of the SB 79 projects will be towering ones. Councilmember Hall has expressed confidence that the result will be moderately priced townhomes. However, the latest townhomes for sale in Pico were listed at $3.25 million. I asked Hall if that’s what he had in mind, and he didn’t respond.
Facts on the ground are such pesky things, and forcing a politician to face reality is like telling a child that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.
There’s a world of abundance, if we would all just close our eyes and imagine it. Perhaps that was a topic at the campaign fundraiser for Hall that was coincidentally paid for by the developer of the first SB 79 project in Santa Monica. We’ll skip over the fact that this developer is the owner of a sex app, because we’re a sex positive community, and we’ll also skip over the fact that he’s based on the East coast, because it’s a long-established progressive principle to act locally and think globally.
There’s an echo chamber in some political circles about the virtue of their goals that prevents real-world consequences from intruding. Is that a 34-story skyscraper or just one more mountain on the horizon? Are we closing a door or opening one?
Devan Sipher can be reached at Devan@smdp.com.