Why we need to Preserve Measure A

Measure A, the Building Height Freeze was passed by Voter Initiative in 1985.  It requires a  a vote of the electorate before the City Council can approve projects that exceed the height limits in place at that time.  

Height limits are also specified in the City’s General Plan.  Sometimes they match the Measure A limit, sometimes they are lower.  Measure A was a quickly thrown-together and imperfectly written citizen’s backlash in response to the City raising height limits to approve 10-story office buildings north of the BART station.  The General Plan, on the other hand, was developed over several years with a lot of thought and citizen input going into it.  The General Plan is the City’s vision of what it should become.  Measure A was more of a reflexive swipe by the voters against a 1985 City Council that went too far ... but it matters, because nothing much has changed since then.

Our Lost Heritage

Have you noticed the Heritage Walk signs that have been popping up on downtown lamp posts?  On the sidewalk side of the posts are pictures of historic buildings with instructions for calling in to a cellphone-based tour for more information.  But in most cases, the picture of the old historic building is all there is to see.  Site after site has been demolished to make way for new development.  There’s almost nothing left of the town I grew up in.  Our heritage is that we have none.

Watching your lawn slowly die …

At a recent “Conversations with the Mayor”,  a resident asked why we are still developing when we are in a drought, and where the water is going to come from.  Mayor Bob responded that the water districts have not asked the City Council to stop developing.

While that may be true, EBMUD has declared a Stage 4 critical drought and set a community-wide goal to reduce water use 20% compared to 2013.  The Contra Costa Water District Board of Directors set a water conservation requirement of 25% compared to 2013.

There are currently 1,525 new units approved or already under construction in just eight major projects downtown.  That represents almost a 5% increase in the City’s housing stock over 2013.

Think about it as you watch your lawn slowly die.