Restore local planning to ease housing crisis
Regarding “Two Views on Housing,” Aug. 23:
Since 2016, over 100 state housing bills have been passed to solve the housing crisis, yet Berkeley’s Terner Center reports, “We’re coming up short.” Construction costs, interest rates and lack of funding keep housing production stagnant.
California has spent $20.6 billion toward housing and homelessness since 2018-2019. During that time, the number of unhoused people has increased by nearly a third to more than 170,000 in 2022.
Developers claim affordable housing – our most pressing need – doesn’t “pencil out.” They prefer to build 55-story condos near the beach in San Francisco or 348-foot towers in suburban Menlo Park. They add some affordable units to gain concessions like additional stories or reduced parking, or threaten not to build anything if they have to pay “the extraneous fees” Sue Russell protests.
As Ann Duwe noted, when developers get a free ride on fees, cities bear the infrastructure costs for new schools, parks, road repair, emergency services, sewers, water, power and more.
State legislators, beholden to wealthy campaign donors from real estate and construction industries, are clearly not solving the housing crisis. Please visit ourneighborhoodvoices.com to learn more about the 2024 ballot initiative to restore local planning control.
Pat Marriott
Los Altos
LA council limited with Rancho decisions
As a longtime resident and homeowner (since 1976) of Los Altos, I am increasingly concerned with misinformation circulating about the possible redevelopment of Rancho Shopping Center. Although I don’t live in that neighborhood, I shop at businesses there regularly.
Apparently, many people don’t understand the powers and limitations the Los Altos City Council has, nor, apparently is the role of the property owner well understood.
In this case, the council is simply following the law, having committed to rezoning parts of the city through the housing element. If they were not to do so, we could face harsh penalties from the state. I commend the city council for herculean efforts to keep R-1 (single-family housing) in place.
The city does not build housing. The owner of Rancho is in the driver’s seat in that regard and could, if he so desired, raze all of Rancho and replace it with housing now, regardless of council decisions about zoning.
Some 34.2% of responses to the Town Crier’s admittedly unscientific poll last week favor including both retail and housing at Rancho, which seems like a smart way to go, especially given the age and condition of the current buildings.
Marie Young
Los Altos
Lave’s mentorship left lasting impact
Roy Lave was my professor at Stanford University and head of the Industrial Engineering Department. I was his teaching assistant in the early ’70s.
As a recent engineering graduate, I applied for a job at El Camino Hospital in March 1973 along with 221 applicants for one opening for a systems engineer. The applicant would be part of a team of 30 management scientists whose challenge was to introduce and evaluate the use of computers in developing the first-in-the-world Medical Information System (MIS).
The head of the Industrial Engineering Department at El Camino Hospital was John Gall, who was a Stanford graduate and former student of Lave’s. A small world.
I spent nine years working at El Camino Hospital and helped develop the MIS with 12,000 integrated computer programs. The MIS as developed at El Camino Hospital was installed in 100 other hospitals in the U.S. and other countries, including England, France, Spain, Sweden and Japan.
In summary, this personal chapter in my life and professional development is an example of how Lave’s mentorship had an impact on me and helped contribute to this major improvement in the effectiveness and delivery of health care.
Luis Yanez
Los Altos Hills
Church should pick up post-festival trash
I think it is great that the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Los Altos creates opportunities for the community to get together at its annual food festival. I just wish the attendees would be more respectful of our neighborhoods. Every year, there is a significant amount of trash left on our streets. This year on my Monday morning dog-walk the day after the festival, I noticed a significant increase in the amount of cigarette butts, paper waste, water bottles and other trash along both sides of Magdalena Avenue near the church and continuing on Eastbrook, where festival attendees parked.
In 2018, I complained to Father Samer Youssef via email about the trash and asked him if there was a church crew that does cleanup. That year, dirty diapers were left at the corner of Magdalena and Eastbrook. He replied that he was the crew and would be out with his trash bags soon. Maybe he did go out, but I never noticed any improvement. After a couple of weeks, I picked up the dirty diapers and some of the other trash along Eastbrook.
The neighborhood around the church deals with increased traffic, illegal parking and noise from the festival. We shouldn’t also have to deal with trash being left on our streets. I’m sure someone picks up trash left on church grounds. I implore the church to also pick up the trash on the surrounding streets.
Dan Stellenberg
Los Altos
