Wahab says that we need to "course correct" on housing development. She notes we are 2.5M homes behind, that it takes ~4 years to get a unit built. Last year we did just 100k new homes. That's unacceptable. Author's note: the audience is *not pleased* with this answer
Wahab says this isn't about YIMBY or NIMBY, and the term "YIMBY" has been "co-opted" and is "not honest" when it comes in housing. She claims everyone wants to build housing (fact check: false). But the details matter, especially with regard to affordability.
Wahab says she has taken lots of hits for her stance on housing, but it's because no one is speaking the truth when it comes to the issue. Says the legislature has passed lots of bills, only killed a few that were deeply problematic.
Tricia says a boardmember wants to know Wahab's thoughts on Prop 19, which reformed Prop 13 by limiting the ability of people to inherit property tax benefits from parents or grandparents. Santa Monica NIMBYs are very upset about this, and claim it impacts affordability bigly!
Wahab says adjustments to Prop 19 probably need to be made and it's not working the way it was planned. Feels like pure pandering to her audience here.
Another question, this time about SB79! Tricia says that opposition is strong in Santa Monica, despite the fact that their city council voted to support the bill! Author's note: lol, lmao, etc.
Wahab says she wants to "tell the story of SB79." She claims the author was not willing to take any amendments in her committee (untrue) and so she was a no vote in committee. She then incorrectly claims the bill originally had no affordability requirement
Wahab she also had concerns with SB79 because it "removed all local control" which, again, is flatly untrue. She says the "height amount" in single-family zones was "deeply significant." She says local councils should have a say in what housing makes sense for their community.
Wahab says SB79 barely got out of the senate, but the bill has changed significantly. She claims that pretty much every amendment she was concerned with has been taken at this point. She says she hasn't really looked at the bill recently, but it's much better than it was. Author's note: woah!
Note: judging by the faces of the audience, this is neither what the expected nor wanted to hear from her...
We're talking now about how to limit the power of lobbyists. Wahab says because they don't have term limits, lobbyists can and do outlast legislators, which makes things tricky.
What
Well if she tells Weiner she'll only vote for the bill if it allows local councils to get the same density a different way, and Weiner says, OK, done...
Jordan - if I had an extra $79 in my pocket - do you think I should wager it on SB79 being signed by the Governor by the end of September?
It's very much not a done deal yet. Assembly floor will be tough, as will senate concurrence. Call your assemblymember and senator if you haven't already!
I don't think we need to re-instate property tax breaks for non-resident 2nd and 3rd generation owners of property.
Can’t wait for all of those wilshire high rises start to go up. They are gonna lose their minds.
Affordable housing, but only for the children of rich NIMBYs.
Tricia is trying to lead Wahab into saying she supports repealing the death tax and explicitly name drops Howard Jarvis Association lmao
They should indeed get rid of the "death tax" (which affects few people) and do like Canada does: mark all assets on the estate to market and do a final income tax -- the heirs get a new step-up basis but after all gains have been taxed.
WHAT IN THE HELL IS SHE TALKING ABOUT
She voted for the unbundled parking before she was against it!
If people telling themselves "everyone wants to build housing" is part of the high road to actually building housing, I can get behind it.