South Pasadena Ballot Measure Aims To Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater

GUEST OPINION

The view of Mission Street shops from Jones Coffee in South Pasadena (Photo – Garrett Rowlan)

This November, South Pasadena will vote on a measure that claims to increase affordable housing while preserving single-family neighborhoods.

By Elizabeth Anne Bagasao

The November ballot measure, called the Neighborhood Preservation & Local Control Measure, will permit taller buildings in the Huntington, Fair Oaks, Mission, and Ostrich Farm corridors. Due to a legal settlement with Californians for Homeownership, the city must put forth a ballot measure for the repeal of the existing three-story building height limit, established by South Pasadena voters in 1983.

Essentially, to comply with the legal settlement, the city is choosing to jeopardize homes of thousands of renters to protect single-family home neighborhoods.

A form of class warfare

This reflects a form of class warfare: using scare tactics to pit homeowners against their neighbors who rent. The approved ballot language suggests that renter communities are not neighborhoods worth saving… and that is hurtful!

Proposed redevelopment zones contain most of the city’s remaining affordable housing. The council argues that the passage of the measure will increase overall affordability. The logic is flawed. Even with 10% inclusion of affordable units, replacing 20 units of affordable housing with just 5 to 8 units doesn’t add up. Moreover, there is no guarantee that developers will include affordable housing in new eight-story buildings.

Negative impact

The council approved an expenditure not to exceed $54,000 to “educate” the community about this measure. However, this “education” feels more like advocacy. The council has directed staff and consultants to inform civic organizations about the necessity of this measure and its implications for South Pasadena. What they aren’t talking to residents about is the negative impact this will have on all of us, the most obvious being the potential evictions of thousands of families, children and the elderly.

Elizabeth Anne Bagasao is a resident of South Pasadena.

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