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KUSP LandWatch
News
Week of January 31, 2005 to February 4, 2005
Week of January 31, 2005 to February 4, 2005
KUSP provided a brief Land Use Report on KUSP Radio from January 2003 to May 2016. Archives of past transcripts are available here.
Week of January 31, 2005 to February 4, 2005
- Monday, January 31, 2005 – Scotts Valley and Inclusionary Housing
- Tuesday, February 1, 2005 – The General Plan Update, One More Time?
- Wednesday, February 2, 2005 – Obesity and Land Use
- Thursday, February 3, 2005 – Water Privatization Will Be Discussed
- Friday, February 4, 2005 – NPH and Inclusionary Housing
The following Land Use Reports have been presented on KUSP Radio by Gary Patton, Executive Director of LandWatch Monterey County. The opinions expressed by Mr. Patton are not necessarily those of KUSP Radio, nor of any of its sponsors.
| Monday, January 31, 2005 – Scotts Valley and Inclusionary Housing |
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Tomorrow night, the Scotts Valley City Council will be taking up exactly the same topic that the Monterey City Council took up last week. Scotts Valley and Monterey, and many other cities are all considering what is known as “inclusionary housing.” In the case of Scotts Valley, the Council will be discussing whether or not to increase the inclusionary percentage in new developments. Hats off to Council Member Stephany Aguilar for raising this very pertinent question! The basic theory of “inclusionary housing” programs is that new housing developments should “include” a certain percentage of housing that is reserved for sale to persons whose economic means would not otherwise allow them to purchase one of the new homes. The idea is sometimes called “below market rate” housing, because it’s aimed at providing housing opportunities for those who can’t successfully compete in the housing market. The “market,” as we all know, directs the goods available to those who have the most money. We are all competing with each other, and those who have the gold get the goods. The premise of “inclusionary housing” is that there is a social and community benefit to homeownership, and so the local community needs to do something to offset the effects of complete reliance on the market. As I promised last Friday, I’m going to be talking about inclusionary housing over the next several weeks, because it’s so important as a way to help address our current housing crisis. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton
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| Tuesday, February 1, 2005 – The General Plan Update, One More Time? |
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The current Monterey County General Plan was adopted in 1982. That General Plan is no longer “in tune with the times,” you might say. It’s outdated and outmoded, and does not provide a legally adequate guide for the development proposals that are barraging the County’s Planning Department.
About six years ago, the State Attorney General wrote to Monterey County, and urged the County to update its General Plan, or face potential legal consequences. The County did initiate a General Plan Update, and after five years, and the expenditure of $5 million dollars, the County staff and Planning Commission delivered a General Plan Update document to the Board last June. Attorneys for the developers lined up at the podium last June, and said “reject the Plan.” By a 3-2 vote, the Board obliged. The Board rejected the Plan without even reviewing it, and voted to “start over.” The Board did not, notably, slow down its efforts to process major development permits. Today, more than six months after the “start over” direction, the Board is actually now “starting over,” and is considering a new General Plan Update process. In the meantime, eighteen community groups have produced a completely integrated and legally sufficient General Plan, which was presented to the Board two weeks ago. Those groups are appealing to the Board, this week, to stop the delays, and use the work products it already has before it, to get the job done. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton
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| Wednesday, February 2, 2005 – Obesity and Land Use |
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Last Friday, the Salinas Californian newspaper carried an editorial headlined as follows: “Yes, obesity’s a problem; what do we do now?” The newspaper had some good suggestions for the “policy wonks” gathering at CSU Monterey Bay to discuss “the obesity epidemic.” For instance, returning physical education to its proper place, and integrating health education into daily instruction in the schools. Not mentioned was getting serious about better land use planning. That was a big oversight. Evidence is growing not only that there is an “obesity epidemic,” but that one of the root causes is the seventy-five years of bad planning decisions that have created urban sprawl. Last June, Time Magazine reported that researchers have begun to recognize a previously unsuspected correlation between sprawling suburbs and spreading waistlines. “Very simply, people who live in communities where it's hard to get anywhere on foot are heavier than those who live in less car-dependent settings.” Dr. Richard Jackson, California state public health officer, puts it this way: “As a pediatrician and public health doctor, it amazes me that good people who would never dream of abusing … their children think so little about the dangers embedded in their communities….While critics may doubt and debate the merits of smart growth, its underlying benefits are common sense….” For KUSP, this is Gary Patton |
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| Thursday, February 3, 2005 – Water Privatization Will Be Discussed |
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The League of Women Voters of the Monterey Peninsula is hosting what will be a lively program about water privatization. A community forum titled “Who Owns Your Water?” will take place during a luncheon meeting on Wednesday, February 9th, at the Elks Lodge in Monterey. The public is invited, and if you’d like to attend, you can sign up for lunch by calling the League at 648-8683. Lunch is at noon, and the program begins at 12:30. Moderating the forum will be Molly Ericksen, former Chair of the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. Panel members will be Juliette Beck, of Public Citizen and their “Water for All” project, and Guy Phillips, who is a consultant working for the California American Water Company. Santa Cruz County residents may have been following the water privatization debate in Felton, where a group of local citizens, and Cal-Am customers, have started the group called “Felton FLOW” (“Friends of Locally Owned Water”) to work towards a public purchase of what is now a private water system. The League’s title is “Who Owns Your Water?” Think about it. If you don’t own it, then maybe it’s not “yours.” Who owns our water supplies, and the distribution systems which makes it possible for us actually to use the water out there, is an incredibly important public policy issue. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton
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| Friday, February 4, 2005 – NPH and Inclusionary Housing |
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The California Nonprofit Housing Association (or NPH) is the “trade association” for the nonprofit housing agencies of Northern California. It’s a terrifically effective organization, which has traditionally focused its efforts in Sacramento (and to some degree in Washington, D.C.) to maximize the amount of dollars available to subsidize housing that can be afforded by persons with very low, low, and moderate incomes. Our housing crisis is, in fact, a national crisis, but there are state and local hotspots, and there’s no place hotter than the California Central Coast. Rachel Anne Goodman’s “Boomtown Chronicles,” produced by one of KUSP’s own, made that abundantly clear. To address our housing crisis, the California Nonprofit Housing Association has always focused on getting more federal and state money to “write down” the cost of homeownership, or rental prices, so that those who can’t win the market competition for housing can nonetheless have a decent place to live. They’re still doing that, but now, though, they’ve launched a new campaign aimed not at Sacramento or Washington, D.C., but at local communities. You can find out why NPH thinks that inclusionary housing is a key to addressing our housing crisis by clicking on the Land Use Report link at www.kusp.org. For KUSP, this is Gary Patton.
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Archives of past transcripts are available here
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