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CA: Perata wants more state control
Oakland Tribune ^ | 1/7/05 | Steve Geissinger

Posted on 01/07/2005 10:37:32 PM PST by NormsRevenge

SACRAMENTO — The second-most-powerful California politician is proposing the state seize some zoning power from cities and counties to build projects that round out areas like Oakland and the East Bay as transportation hubs, where even depressed inner-city housing would then bloom — an issue voters may decide this year.

The proposal to ease sprawl, traffic congestion and housing prices is opposed by cities and counties but could go to voters this turbulent political year — with or without the support of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The governor is planning to call a statewide special election on a wide array of reforms, whether the Democrat-dominated Legislature approves the proposals or not. If it's without the support of Democrats, majority lawmakers said they'll put their own competing measures on the ballot.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Schwarzenegger's salesmanship would be key in selling the need for the state to supersede local land-use controls in certain cases.

"I believe he can sell big ideas to the state of California. That's his role. I believe our role is come up with some strategies that we believe we can use in support of that effort," Perata said.

Schwarzenegger administration officials declined comment, saying they had seen no formal proposal.

Representatives of local governments in the Bay Area and elsewhere throughout the state said they were against Perata's proposal on the surface but were open to listening to details once they are available.

Perata, who once served on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, said city and county officials ultimately "buckle" under pressure from developers, worsening the linked problems of suburban sprawl, gridlock on roads and the affordability of housing.

"They are scratching each other's backs," said Perata, who is under federal investigation for alleged money-handling improprieties. "Only a damn fool would say it's not true. We could document that until the cows come home."

Experts said the average commute in California is now nearly an hour, and the median price of a home has risen to nearly $475,000.

"It's no wonder people are getting angrier and angrier," said the Senate leader, who replaced the termed-out Democratic Sen. John Burton of San Francisco. "They have to go hundreds of miles to be able to buy a home. They spend most of their time in their cars, not with their families.

"We are radically changing the lifestyle in California based upon our inability to wrestle with the problems of sprawl, congestion and affordability."

The root of the problem lies also with funding — which he hopes Schwarzenegger and the federal government will soon address — along with local government politics.

"The builders get together with the cities and they talk about what kind of changes that we're going to make," Perata said. "What they really talk about is that we'll give up on CEQA (environmental protections) a little bit and you support us on getting out from under the housing element (which guides development). Cities that want to get out from under the housing element don't want to change the way they live.

"So we have to go to some very radical things, some bold ideas. I'll say, much to the dismay of the League of California Cities, maybe we need to find those places in California where it makes a lot of sense for the state to step in and put an overlay zone," the Senate leader said.

Pat Leary, a spokeswoman for the California State Association of Counties, said local governments are opposed to the idea so far.

"It's easy to throw stones at local planners," Leary said. "But it's a pretty big hurdle to overcome, until there's more details, to say anybody in Sacramento could do a better job making decisions than local officials. It's OK to talk about reforms and another thing to talk about people hundreds of miles away making decisions for you."

Implying there's "negative and evil" relations between planners and developers is unsubstantiated, she said.

The more important factor, said Leary, is money.

"We've been talking about reforms for years now, but we need to have money first," she said.

Billions of dollars in transportation funds, in fact, have been shifted to other areas in deficit-plagued California.

But Perata said he foresees both an infusion of money and changes in the law transforming his own district, for instance.

"In the city of Oakland, there is a convergence of an interstate, the BART system, the Capitol Express train system, bus system and ferries. But there is nothing there that would indicate this is the center of a transportation hub," Perata said.

"I will guarantee you that if there was any effort to provide affordable housing, through higher density, there would be a (housing) rush like you wouldn't believe," he said.

But the responsibility to make the changes happen now lies with the governor and Legislature, Perata said. As a step toward the effort, he has combined the transportation and housing committees.

"We could pass laws up here that give people down in the communities the obligation and the responsibilities, knowing full well that they'd buckle."


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: calgov2002; california; control; landuse; perata; state; sunnemcpeak; transportation; wants
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1 posted on 01/07/2005 10:37:32 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge
"We are radically changing the lifestyle in California based upon our inability to wrestle with the problems of sprawl, congestion and affordability."

Perata is unable to deal with sprawl and congestion? Mr. Perata, how can you have sprawl and congestion at the same time? Mr. Perata, in making our constitutional government unable to maintain our infrastructure, you should resign.

Constitutional government works, but the radical changes in lifestyle Mr. Perata is promoting for the state of California is nothing short of establishing a soviet housing system with little or no individual property ownership, no privacy, no backyards for kids to play in, and no automobiles.

Soviet Union, here we come!
2 posted on 01/07/2005 10:49:29 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: NormsRevenge

Socialism - Perata style. Its apopros it should come from one of the most liberal areas in our state.


3 posted on 01/07/2005 10:50:09 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: NormsRevenge

Centralizing powers to the state. Hmmmmmmmmmm. I think they tried it before...

Soviet Union.


4 posted on 01/07/2005 10:50:54 PM PST by Simmy2.5 (Kerry will be inaugurated January 20th! I BELIEVE!!! [DUmmie taken away in a straight jacket])
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To: Simmy2.5
Centralizing powers to the state

Check out the California Performance Review, if you need reassurance that we are headed toward a soviet system. The governor wants to eliminate elected representatives, create mega agencies with appointed heads all reporting directly to the governor, and wipe out our county system by undermining county boundaries with unelected regional councils to govern us.

Many people don't know that "soviet" is another word for council. Its no coincidence that those that want to promote a lifestyle in the image of the soviet union is using unelected councils to do it. In fact its the same trick the Russians used in the Ukraine in the 1930s to establish their control of that country.
5 posted on 01/07/2005 10:59:03 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer

Peralta is just another Stalinoid apparatchik.


6 posted on 01/07/2005 10:59:38 PM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: NormsRevenge
...the state seize some...power from cities and counties ..." and centralize planning authority.

And it would be a shining success, just like the BCS!

7 posted on 01/07/2005 11:00:11 PM PST by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: goldstategop
Do you know of Sunne Wright McPeak? She heads the governor's office of Business, Transportation & Housing. All those functions under one person. Its no coincidence that a "smart growth" advocate like Sunne would be in charge of jobs, transporation and housing. Smart growth is another name for government controlling every aspect of a persons life, from where they work, to where they live and how they get to their job.

Guess who decides which businesses operate in a smart growth community? Guess who decides who is going live in the cost shifted housing and who is going to pay for the price bubble it causes in the so-called market priced housing? Guess who decides if you get to keep your car?
8 posted on 01/07/2005 11:05:07 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer

BTW, what they are trying to do, with the high density 'Soviet' housing, check out this website! http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=439

Check out some of the threads containing Russian cities. They look like those old housing project ghettos areas in Chicago or New York...EXCEPT BIGGER! Is this what we want the future of California to be? Smart growth?


9 posted on 01/07/2005 11:07:03 PM PST by Simmy2.5 (Kerry will be inaugurated January 20th! I BELIEVE!!! [DUmmie taken away in a straight jacket])
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To: sheik yerbouty
Peralta is just another Stalinoid apparatchik

That being said, what are we going to do to preserve our liberty and the free market for housing and jobs and businesses? Peralta can do the citizens of California great harm in his position.
10 posted on 01/07/2005 11:07:26 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer

Obviously he needs to be removed from office. Isn't he in some sort of legal hot water now?


11 posted on 01/07/2005 11:10:45 PM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: Simmy2.5
Is this what we want the future of California to be? Smart growth?

Not me! But it is the future of our whole country, as smart growth is a policy adopted under the federal governments sustainable development policies-- which are nothing short of a transformation of our constitutional government to a soviet socialist system.

Right now Arnold is dangling money from the state to the counties if they put in smart growth projects. They are trying to put lipstick on a pig however, and are adding architectural amenities to their soviet bloc housing projects so people will think they look nice.
12 posted on 01/07/2005 11:11:22 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: NormsRevenge
"I will guarantee you that if there was any effort to provide affordable housing, through higher density, there would be a (housing) rush like you wouldn't believe," he (Perata) said.

What a guy!

He could invest his own money in high density affordable housing and become rich overnight, but instead he continues to plug away for all of California for a salary.

/sarcasm

13 posted on 01/07/2005 11:13:56 PM PST by RJL
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To: sheik yerbouty

Bribes or illegal money of some sort, I think.


14 posted on 01/07/2005 11:15:05 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: NormsRevenge; Carry_Okie; forester; sasquatch; B4Ranch; SierraWasp; hedgetrimmer; knews_hound; ...

Hmmm.


16 posted on 01/07/2005 11:15:36 PM PST by farmfriend ( Congratulation. You are everything we've come to expect from years of government training.)
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Comment #17 Removed by Moderator

To: RJL

I'll propose a deal with Perata: the libs in the Bay Area can have state-controlled housing if we get a spending limit cap constitutional amendment. In other words, the libs get they want and we get what we want. Since he's a wheeler-dealer, it should save us a bloody fight in the State Legislature over spending reform.


18 posted on 01/07/2005 11:18:46 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: RJL
"I will guarantee you that if there was any effort to provide affordable housing cost shifted is the correct term, through higher density, there would be a (housing) rush like you wouldn't believe," he (Perata) said.

Every one of the smart growth affordable homes require that someone else buying into the development pay more that than their home is worth to shift the cost from the so called low invome buyer to someone else "who can afford it". It is classic wealth redistribution, soviet style, from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The smart growth planners and politicians talk about housing needs all the time, and they mean to each according to his need when they say it.
19 posted on 01/07/2005 11:20:10 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: NormsRevenge
The California legislature needs to start thinking about sustainability too.

The tsunami in Asia proves that the sea coast is not sustainable. California must completely stop all improvements within 10 miles of the coast and move or destroy all improvements within 10 miles of the coast within 10 years.

This same plan must also be implemented along all known fault lines as well.

This might seem a little drastic, but think of the lives we will eventually save. These off limit areas will return to a wild state for all the animals too.

It's a win win for everybody!
20 posted on 01/07/2005 11:23:23 PM PST by RJL
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