A backyard brawl over housing

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Friday Jul 28,2023 01:06 pm

Jul 28, 2023

By Dustin Gardiner, Lara Korte and Sejal Govindarao

Presented by Connected Commerce Council

YIMBYs and NIMBYs could face their biggest showdown with a proposed 2024 ballot initiative. The measure is supported by local officials upset over recent state housing legislation, including Aaron Peskin, president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. | AP

DRIVING THE DAY: It was a dramatic end to the week for California’s delegation on Capitol Hill. First, Sen. Dianne Feinstein had an awkward committee vote amid ongoing concerns about her cognitive decline — a colleague urged her to “just say ‘Aye’” as she tried to give a speech during a roll call vote. Then, reports emerged that Rep. Eric Swalwell and Speaker Kevin McCarthy had a colorful and heated argument.

THE BUZZ — A TEARDOWN: Amid soaring home prices — and rising homelessness — the debate about where and how to build more housing in California is about to get more intense.

At least 110 mayors and members of city councils have mobilized into a coalition aiming to take a sledgehammer to the state’s efforts to force local governments to approve more multi-family housing.

Our Neighborhood Voices is collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that would kneecap housing legislation by giving cities and counties wide latitude to sidestep California housing law if it conflicts with local land use and zoning rules, i.e. those that tend to favor single-family homes that have become out of reach for many people.

It’s a direct challenge to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed the legislation and has pushed reluctant cities to build more multi-family housing, and the lawmakers associated with the Yes-in-My-Backyard movement that has sought to challenge restrictive zoning.

In other words, it’s the YIMBY’s vs. the NIMBY’s — and some of the former see it as an existential threat.

“It’s dangerous,” Assemblyman Matt Haney, the YIMBY-aligned chair of the legislative Renters Caucus, told Playbook. “When you say you can’t build here or there or there, we find ourselves in a housing crisis.”

Our Neighborhood Voices argues that the state’s requirements lead mostly to new luxury and market-rate apartments, doing little to increase the supply of affordable housing and fueling gentrification. It’s “based on a trickle-down model,” says Kalimah A. Priforce, an Emeryville councilmember and proponent of the initiative, which includes a carve out for 100% affordable projects.

Early indications are that voters have shifted toward the YIMBY camp. The Public Policy Institute of California found in a recent survey that 59 percent of likely voters support changing local permitting rules and state environmental regulations to make housing more affordable while 39 percent oppose that approach.

But, as they say, all politics is local. Opinions could change between now and November 2024, when the coalition hopes to make the ballot — and how much money they can raise.

It had looked like the measure’s angel investor would be Michael Weinstein, the head of the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation. But Weinstein, whose organization is focused on its third statewide rent control push in four cycles, is adamant he doesn’t plan to get involved despite giving $50,000 to the group in late 2021.

Meanwhile, lawmakers will be anxiously waiting to see if Our Neighborhood Voices has another mega donor — and if Weinstein remains out of the fight.

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WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

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FRESH INK

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivers a speech.

Republican presidential candidate and former Vice President Mike Pence delivers a speech during a Celebrate Life Day Rally on June 24, 2023, in Washington, D.C. | Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

SOUR GRAPES — Former Vice President and languishing Republican presidential candidate Mike Pence stopped by wine country on Thursday, hoping a visit to California might replenish his spirit — and his war chest.

Pence, who is lagging far behind his fellow candidates a month out from the first GOP debate, addressed more than 800 Catholics gathered at the annual conference hosted by the Napa Institute — the religious organization founded by Orange County businessman Timothy Busch that has spent more than a decade promoting Catholic interests in American life and politics.

Pence stopped by the conference amid a campaign swing that also took him to Orange County and San Francisco.

Pence, who grew up Catholic but converted to evangelical Christianity in college, raised a troubling $3.85 million in his last quarter haul. On Thursday, conference leaders praised Pence (and, awkwardly, Donald Trump) as consistent “pro-life leaders.” The former VP played up his anti-abortion bona fides, reminding the audience that he helped install the Supreme Court justices who sent Roe v. Wade to the “ash heap of history” and promising to pack the CDC, HHS and FDA with anti-abortion Americans.

The multi-day event, which drew nuns, bishops, priests and lay people to the swanky Meritage Resort tucked between the verdant vineyards of Napa Valley, focuses heavily on the importance of influencing popular culture and the U.S. government. Past speakers have included former Attorney General Bill Barr and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

The institute is backed by some of the nation’s most powerful conservative coalition builders — including Leonard Leo, a lawyer and Catholic activist who helped fuel the campaigns to install conservative Supreme Court justices, including Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, and in 2008, went on a luxury fishing trip with Justice Samuel Alito, as ProPublica recently reported.

Cost of attendance to the conference is $2,800. The institute does not raise money for candidates.

Pence didn’t lean too heavily on his campaign, touching lightly on his current aspirations — to lukewarm reception.

“In case you haven’t heard about it, I’m running for president of the United States of America,” he said, eliciting some clapping and cheers from the crowded ballroom.

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WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY

HE SAID WHAT? — ‘You are a p*ssy’: McCarthy and Swalwell get in House floor feud,” by the Daily Beast’s Matt Fuller: “The exchange was conveyed to The Daily Beast by two separate lawmakers. When reached by phone, Swalwell said he would not discuss the story with the press, but he also did not deny the account.”

— “Following confusion over vote, Feinstein to return to California for August recess,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Shira Stein: “Feinstein’s actions and whereabouts have drawn increased scrutiny since her return, including an incident Thursday in which she appeared confused during a vote.”

— "In an L.A. suburb, Chinese ‘border crossers’ seek a new life after harrowing journey," by the Los Angeles Times’ Jeong Park and Cindy Chang: “Drawn by a message on the WeChat app, the Chinese immigrants lined up for free bags of leafy greens that volunteers handed out from a battered minivan in a Monterey Park parking lot.”

— "California has adopted a new plan to teach math. Why are people so riled up?" by The Mercury News’ Elissa Miolene: “California is preparing to overhaul the way its schools teach math with new state guidelines, a 1,000-page effort that’s drawn both staunch support and fierce criticism over the nearly four years it’s taken to produce.”

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

Playbookers

SPOTTED — BONTA IN THE BIGTIME: Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Mia Bonta traveled to New Zealand this week to see their daughter play in the Women’s World Cup. Just like her dad did in the early 90s, 24-year-old Reina Bonta played soccer at Yale University before graduating last year and joining the Brazilian Santos Futebol Clube.

Reina is playing with the Philippines women's national team in the World Cup, which notched its first-ever tournament win against host country New Zealand on Monday. Her team takes the field again on Sunday for a matchup with Norway.

WEDDING WATCH — Megan Cassidy, senior criminal justice reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, will marry Miguel Rodrick Escobar, a creative director and animator, this weekend in Nevada City.

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