Saad Asad
@realsaadasad
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Advocacy + Comms @YIMBYDemsSD . Product Marketing @USDResponse . Tweets on housing, climate change, and San Diego/California politics
San Diego, CA
Joined October 2010
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I’ve seen enough. Cancel historic preservationists right now.
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Can’t believe NIMBYs in San Diego didn’t want these apartments to go up.
Their comments were “not in line with community character” and “no parking!”
Today we have a beautiful building and still way too much parking in the surrounding neighborhood.
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Why do we let retiree homeowners dominate city hall with 15-minute speeches?
Their long-winded nostalgia isn't progress—it's the last gasp of outdated views.
We need to hear from renters and working families actually facing today's housing crunch!
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Ahh peak carbrain. Going to someone’s house in Clairemont and I was parking on the STREET. And a neighbor arrives at same time and claims “That’s my parking spot!”
No, lady it’s not.
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Nearly a third of San Diegans spend more than 50% of their paycheck on rent.
Anti-housing groups talk a lot about the quality of life - but what quality of life is there if you can barely spend on transportation, food, or leisure?
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NIMBYs: "We need affordable housing!"
Also NIMBYs: "New apartments must..."
✅ Stay under 4 stories
✅ Include 2 stories of parking
✅ Match local "character"
✅ Preserve previous building
✅ Be 30% below-market
✅ Not increase traffic
$4000/mo apt appears
NIMBYs: 😱 "How
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NIMBY San Diegans say, "We don't wanna be LA!"
Yet they demand:
-More parking lots
-Just suburban homes
-Wider freeways
I hate to say it, NIMBYs, but you can't clone LA's urban design and expect not to become LA.
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In my first op-ed, I explain San Diego's housing crisis isn't just about homes—it's about reimagining our city.
New plans for homes near transit could transform how we live, work, and move.
Here's why these changes are more impactful than you might realize 🧵1/7:
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Good point fixed. Way less greedy now.
@realsaadasad
That's a ridiculous "solution."
No providing parking is greed, pure and simple.
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Today the San Diego Planning Commission voted unanimously to hold up SB 10 implementation for fear of what it would do to single-family neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, I drove past a gigantic multimillion-dollar mansion today in Mission Hills with a No on SB 10 sign.
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This comment from
@louismirante
nails it. You need a 100 green lights to get housing built, but just one red light to stop it whether it be community objection, frivolous lawsuits, burdensome rules, etc.
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@marcelemoran
It’s also a bit of a vicious cycle. Make the dining room less pleasant and then more people will use the drive thru. Shaping consumer trends rather than responding
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San Diego's historic review process is broken.
Properties >45 years old must have a site-specific survey to determine if the structure is historic before construction is allowed.
Here's a recent submission.
Is this historic?
🧵
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There are over 11k fewer young kids in the San Diego region than before the pandemic.
SD is losing its future. We must tackle the high cost of housing and address quality of life concerns that young families have!
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Adjacent to the apartments is unfortunately a dilapidated, vacant “historic” library.
City wanted to build permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless there but NIMBYs made it historic to prevent most reuse of the property. Shameful.
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@paulkruegersd
Cool, thousands of San Diegans recently voted in city council candidates that support more housing than not.
If these protests were truly representative of less housing, Hough and Lukacs would have won.
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Rent starts at $1,800 in those studio apts. Relatively affordable for a young teacher or nurse. With zero taxpayer subsidies.
The only cheaper homes in the neighborhood are studios built in the 1970s going for $1.6-$1.7k.
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Why are condos so scarce in CA?
A new
@TernerCenter
report by
@Muhammad_Speaks
&
@skarlinsky
digs into our construction defect laws.
These rules, meant to protect buyers, might be unintentionally limiting affordable homeownership options. 🧵1/10
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Encinitas:
-95% of land zoned for single-family
-Met 0.07% of housing goals (2014-2019) for low and very-low-income homes
-Just 20 min from UTC jobs
Legalize housing in Encinitas.
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UC San Diego's enrollment should grow because California's population has grown.
Public universities are one of the best tools for economic mobility, and we should aim to continuously expand enrollment (even as pop. stabilizes).
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UCSD has the 4th highest enrollment in the state at 42k students. It is the largest employer in all of San Diego County. And it sits beside the biggest job center in the city.
It's non-negotiable. We need to build more housing in the University City area.
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@GudTroubl2
Good point. We need to make those other buildings 8 stories too.
Also fyi, the ones next to it are a fire station and an abandoned vacant library that can’t be reused because it’s “historic”
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This is A+ content. Very clear! Who can fix this? Caltrans? SANDAG? City?
We wanted to show y'all how bad beach access is from a trolley stop here in San Diego, so we made this video that recreates our March 16th walk audit with
@CirculateSD
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Our neighborhoods aren't museums.
Preservation reviews instantly trigger in San Diego once a building turns 45.
This is a waste of staff time. Check out my letter to the editor for more of my thoughts:
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Point Loma residents do not get veto power over the homelessness crisis.
We don’t need community meetings, open mic nights, etc for wealthy residents to oppose an abandoned lot from being used a temporary shelter.
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Glen gets it.
Coronado (median income: $126k) begrudgingly approves zoning for 912 new homes, including affordable units.
City leaders claim "loss of local control," but the real issue is our housing crisis. More homes are essential for affordability.
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San Diego City Council passes its Housing Action Package 2.0 7-1!
Thank you, Councilmembers, for supporting housing:
@SeanEloRiveraD9
@JoeLaCavaD1
@CMKentLee
@CMWhitburnD3
@vivianmorenoSD
@marnivonwilpert
@CMRaulCampillo
These reforms:
-Encourage new home construction
San Diego's Housing Action Package 2.0 is on the docket today and deserves your strong support.
While it doesn’t include all our desired policies, this reform package aims to spur more affordable and market-rate housing development through impactful changes.
We all know
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Is this forreal? Last bus of the night is at 7:53pm???
On a major corridor in a dense part of the city…
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So
@MayorToddGloria
Housing Action Package includes the implementation of SB 10, a state law that cities can opt-in to increase housing supply and affordability.
A Zillow study finds San Diego's median rent exceeds San Francisco's, so SB 10 can help address this crisis. 🧵
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San Diego is in the early stages of exploring the feasibility of municipalizing SG&E!
In the 7/20 Environment Cmte, Council members will hear a report showing it's financially feasible for the City to acquire SDG&E's delivery and transmission assets of SDG&E.
Some thoughts 🧵
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@sdut
This is a non-starter. The rail is a critical connector for the military between Vandenberg, Camp Pendleton, and Miramar.
Economically, the train brings in $1B of goods each year. Diverting those goods to the 5 causes congestion and delays that impact businesses and jobs.
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The uncovered side of this story:
Low-income college students fed up with San Diego housing costs.
College East residents fed up with ADUs overpopulating neighborhoods
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To say I'm upset about the failure to pass meager housing reforms is an understatement.
I sent a personal note to the Mayor and Council members about my displeasure.
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San Diego's power company,
@SDGE
, is working behind the scenes to block national climate policy, even as it publicly touts commitments to reducing emissions.
This blatant hypocrisy risks climate progress when bold leadership is needed most. 🧵
#UtilityMomentofTruth
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News that San Diego’s median rent is higher than San Francisco’s is especially troubling because San Diego median wages have always been lower than SF’s.
Even more reason to pass
@MayorToddGloria
’s Housing Action Package, including SB 10.
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Packed YIMBY meeting today where the 4 San Diego council members up for for re-election came to seek our endorsement.
A testament to the power that YIMBY Dems have built over the past five years.
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Congrats to
@Monica4SanDiego
! Our new County Supervisor. Much needed to bring back a 3-2 Democratic majority! Woo
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@paulkruegersd
I do love the irony of someone taking a pic from an apartment building lamenting the building of…another apartment building.
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The dumbest argument against SB 10 is that no other large city has adopted it.
Guess what?
No other city adopted ADU density bonuses and it has worked phenomenally at building affordable housing.
No other city had a legally blinding Climate Action Plan. And while not perfect,
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Great example of something that should unite all YIMBYs.
One of the wealthiest cities in the region blocks 45 100% affordable homes. Creates "task force" to find another location. But task forces are delay tactics.
And housing delayed is housing denied.
Encinitas betrays workers by axing 100% affordable housing.
Three City Councilmembers caved to wealthy homeowners' concerns, limiting our region's ability to house people in the communities they work in.
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Balboa Park is a gem.
But also this road should be a pedestrian pathway.
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YIMBY coalition basics (my view):
-Housing abundance esp. near jobs and transit
-Mixed-income communities w/ diverse housing options
These unite us. Beyond this, views vary.
e.g. I support more bldg electrification & tenant right to counsel, but not all YIMBYs agree. 1/3
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If your answer to "where do we build housing in CA?" is "out east." You're a climate denalist. More sprawl means more vehicle emissions.
Not to mention, the refusal of coastal cities to build is leading to housing crises in Sacramento and Fresno.
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LA millennials are leaving due to a shortage of affordable 3 BRs.
With only 11% able to buy & rents at $4K, we need diverse housing to keep families in cities.
SD faces the same challenge.
More homes = stronger communities.
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San Francisco closed JFK promenade in Golden Gate Park to cars. It’s a wonderful place for walkers, bikers, kids, and people of all ages.
Let’s dream and demand a world where Balboa Park’s roads in San Diego cater to humans not cars.
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@maxdubler
This is bonkers to me. She sounds like what someone in a much less transit dense city would say. It’s the Haight in San Francisco!! People 100 pct take public transportation, esp in a all affordable housing building
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Our county supes failed the homeless and all San Diegans.
Caving to NIMBYs cost us $10M in state funds for 150 tiny homes. Now San Jose gets our money.
We need officials who prioritize solutions over appeasing vocal homeowners. Inaction has costs.
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On Wednesdays, we tell wealthy cities that they should build their fair share of affordable housing.
Del Mar Housing Watch:
🙄1,245 days since state-mandated housing goal set
📢113 affordable homes required
🏠0 affordable homes built
🔭0 serious plans in sight
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A new CA law would allow homeowners to sell ADUs on their property.
Great policy, but unfortunately, it’s opt-in.
And see what NIMBYs are saying
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NIMBYs tell us that building more homes will ruin the dream of homeownership.
Too bad it’s already near its death in California.
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This is so cool. UCSD is offering dorms for housing for Comic-Con. Special packages for alumni.
With a trolley, folks still won't have to rent a car. Plus programming on campus!!
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The NIMBYs who made this flyer are the main opponents we deal with in SD housing discussions.
And no matter what Twitter is like, these are the main people stopping housing in ~most~ jurisdictions not esoteric leftist professors or social media comedians.
“There was no community input”
Also:
“There were 4 years of community input”
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Reviewing San Diego's Annual Housing Report. We permitted 5.3k homes in 2022, up from 5k in 2021.
To stay on track to meet our City's housing goal set by the state, we'd need to permit 16k units per year for the next 6 years.
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@GudTroubl2
The apt didn’t surprise that on the new renters. They know there is no parking.
If they have cars, they park on the street. These aren’t suburbs. Many people can walk to the grocery store, walk to the hospital for work, etc.
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@MayaBodnick
TOC finals are not representative of typical debate. It’s a very elite group who can afford to travel to multiple out of state tournaments who can even qualify.
Comparing State finals and Nationals are a more accurate view of the typical debate experience.
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Racially concentrated areas of influence in San Diego. Census tracts that are 80 pct white with $125k median income.
What you expect: La Jolla, Point Loma, Bankers Hill, Mission Hills, Coronado, Kensington
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Let’s goooooo! Get the biggest NIMBY out of the SF Board of Supervisors and support Bilal!
It's official. I am launching my campaign for San Francisco Supervisor.
Because it's time for results, not excuses. It's time for progress, not regress. It's time for collaboration, not disfunction.
It's time for Dean Preston to go.
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Demolition begins for the first affordable student housing downtown! 800 units! Won't be ready until 2028 though.
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Am I reading this right?
San Diego City Council Rules Committee is considering removing virtual public comment???
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Over 500 unhoused folks died in San Diego County this year.
Yet Point Loma residents are up in arms about an emergency shelter site on a vacant site near them. NIMBYs make my blood boil.
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People who were homeless in San Diego were:
-118 times more likely than the general population to die of a drug overdose
-19 times more likely to be murdered
-12 times more likely to be assaulted
-8 times more likely to commit suicide.
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NIMBYs cry "greed" when new homes are built near them, but the real greed is fighting those homes.
The Bay Ho project includes 12 homes, 6 affordable, in a neighborhood near good jobs, schools, and amenities.
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About 14 pct of San Diego’s downtown is devoted to parking. This puts SD roughly in the middle of the pack compared to American cities, it’s no Vegas but it’s also no SF either.
I will say, many of those northern lots are so under-used, and should be redeveloped into housing.
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Actually, I think City Council should support 59 100% affordable homes .5 miles from the Balboa trolley stop in a neighborhood with amenities and jobs.
It's over 2 miles from the beach. This is not about coastal access.
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The median La Jolla home is $2.2M.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were more affordable homes in such a well-resourced area?
Wouldn’t it be nice if service workers didn’t have to sit in traffic to La Jolla?
I think so. My latest letter to the editor:
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@KUSINews
@ToddGloria
If they choose to, SB 10 allows property owners to sell their property to someone who wants to build up to 10 units. Single-family homes next to apts are common in Normal Heights.
This will add gentle density to address our housing crisis. Most opponents are wealthy homeowners.
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San Diego's City Planning Department is on a roll as part of its annual code updates:
More Homes
-Allow large shopping malls to be converted into mixed-use projects w/ housing as the primary use
-Allow more ground-floor commercial to residential conversions downtown
-Ban
Huge batch of proposed San Diego policy changes would make it easier to open behavioral-health clinics, turn malls into homes and more
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@IDoTheThinking
East Germany never really caught up economically to West Germany after unification.
Throw in globalization, benefits for refugees, and you get a disaffected region susceptible to far-right, populist politics.
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This is the crux of the debate over SB 10 in San Diego.
It's one policy, but the fundamental debate is: Should San Diego be a town for the wealthy and retirees? Or should it be an inclusive city for all income levels?
It is impossible to overemphasize how important housing costs are. EVERYTHING about how cities work or don't work starts with housing costs. Cities that don't build enough housing to meet demand are fucked. It's that simple. Build more housing.
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Another day on Balboa drive where I just can’t find any parking.
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Housing Action Package already lost SB10 and now more? And we have to wait even longer?
State needs to intervene as
@Scott_Wiener
did to San Francisco. Annual reviews of San Diego's housing permitting process. City leaders aren't serious; time to put it in adult hands.
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Opponents claim the character of single-family neighborhoods will be destroyed. But let me show you what 8 units next to a single-family house looks like. It's not that scary:
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I sometimes wonder what the point of housing targets are if we don’t even get close to reaching them.
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@sixtycyclespdx
The context here is that there were multiple retiree homeowner white men who had time ceded to them so they could all speak for 10 minutes each.
Senior voices are important, but they must not dominate our public input.
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YIKES.
Councilmember Whitburn claims "safe sleeping sites" are essentially outdoor shelters. "
This is legally gray to even say.
Warren v Chico says, "Shelter must be more than an asphalt tarmac with large umbrellas for shade that does not include a roof, walls, water, or
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Council members LaCava, Wilpert, Campbell, and Campillo voted against expanding housing near transit centers. And today, they voted to increase enforcement against homeless people.
Fewer homes, more penalties is not the solution to a housing crisis.
.
@SeanEloRiveraD9
says he will be voting no. “I want to make sure what we do doesn’t cause more harm.” He is concerned this ordinance will do that.
@SDCityCouncil
just voted 5-4 to approve the homeless camping ban.
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San Diego County is expected to only have 2% annual rent gain in the next two years thanks to increase in rental construction.
New housing of ALL KINDS slows rent growth. Slower rent growth helps all San Diegans.
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Many small, wealthy cities such as Coronado, Del Mar, and Encinitas in SD County refused to comply with new housing laws.
But looks like pressure from the AG Rob Bonita’s
@California_HCD
is working. They’ve had to support new housing and plan for more.
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You don't need to write in boring, marketing speak.
But the next worst thing is a forced casual speak. You know - when the marketing email is trying TOO hard to be relatable.
It's just as inauthentic to do that.
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Next week, San Diego City Council could grant an appeal that removes the old Mission Hills Library's historic designation.
I live close by, and this old abandoned library is a terrible use of the land. It's at the very edge of the commercial district, so no one even walks by.
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Key San Diego City Council actions in 2023:
-Declare housing a human right
-Ban homeless encampments
-Reject policy reforms to produce more housing
No wonder San Diego is the most expensive city to live in the U.S.
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Thank you to
@AlvarezSD
for introducing AB 2560.
The bill challenges wealthy coastal areas that block apartment buildings with affordable units. Removing their special exemption is fair - the coast should be open to all Californians, not just the rich.
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Nice house! It's over 45 years old, though. So the owner has to have a site-specific survey if they want to do any construction!
Waste of the owner's time and money and waste of the staff's time. Let them remodel. Bureaucrats don't need to poke around.
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Many Mission Hills homes in SD had racial covenants that often read like this:
“no part of the premises hereby conveyed shall be conveyed, transferred or demised to any person other than the White or Caucasian race.”
Opposition to SB 10 has similar exclusionary vibes.
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Hypothetically, if I were to run, this would be my platform:
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I watched the 3 hours of San Diego City Council discussion on Housing Action Package 2.0.
Here's why each Councilmember voted the way they did:
@SeanEloRiveraD9
would only support the package if it added amendments that a) Added restrictions where offsite affordable housing
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refusing to build more homes is class warfare against the poor
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Anti-housing groups and “preservation” groups are one and the same.
I don’t even mean it metaphorically.
The chair of SD’s anti-housing group was the main applicant to designate his neighborhood as historic.
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Hearing Neighbors for a Better San Diego suddenly care about equity in City Council comments is so insulting.
In the Planning Commission meetings on the new housing action package, they said we shouldn't discuss race and segregation.
But when it's helpful to them, they'll
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Hey, so council member Jennifer Campbell opposed the expansion of more housing, opposed new tenant protections, and now supports increased criminalization of homelessness.
Why did
@sandiegodems
want folks to vote for her? Repub Linda Lukacs would have voted the same.
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A wealthy Encinitas resident messaged me on LinkedIn and missed the point. This was 100% affordable housing proposed on public land.
Moreover, we need regional solutions, not just "I got mine" attitudes. Encinitas can do better.
Encinitas’ leaders' decision to delay affordable housing is a mistake. See my letter to the editor in
@sdutOpinion
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Prop 19 is causing an Oceanside landlord's property taxes to skyrocket from $3,900 to $25,000, putting his low-income tenants at risk of displacement.
Thoughts on solutions?
-Short-term relief through emergency funds?
-Long-term carve-out for landlords who rent below-market
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