Dear Editor,
I recently bought my ‘forever’ house with my spouse in Culver City—in an ideal location on the Crest. SB9 and SB10 which recently passed in California means I as an owner and/or my city council can opt to make my neighborhood more affordable for people of all incomes by providing more housing using single family lots. I’m actually Ok with this.
I don’t mind making room in my neighborhood for some affordable housing. I think our school teachers, firefighters and restaurant workers should live here too. Will it cost me a little? Will my house devalue a bit and my commute time get longer? Perhaps, but not in the exaggerated way that some are saying. That Culver City will grow from a city of 40,000 to 160,000. I don’t think so.
There is a sensible solution to more affordable housing. It will take some power balance shifting to get this done. The benefit goes beyond housing access according to professor Daniel Kammen from UC Berkeley who wrote to our city council this summer. Building multi-family homes near jobs and transit ‘promotes civil cohesion, diversity and sustainability.‘
It’s gotten to a point where housing is a crisis in California and bold steps need to be taken to achieve some relief. Affordable housing should not be a privilege.
Yes, that means some R1 housing restrictions will need to be lifted. That also means I can share this lovely neighborhood with the people I see every day and with the teachers my kids see everyday.
Jorge Garza
It seems Mr Garza has no qualms about changing the density of other home-owners’s property throughout our city. Since his “dream house” is on the Crest, his property will be exempt and safe from the onerous local, city-wide rezoning due to the apparent problems with area’s hilly terrain and narrow streets, thereby reducing emergency vehicle access.