Infill: A YIMBY Podcast

Guest Randy Shaw, author of Generation Priced Out and blogger at Beyond Chron, comes on the pod to hash over SB 50 and the politics of YIMBY. What is dead may never die.

In this short episode we sit down with Senator Scott Wiener in his State Capitol office on the eve of battle. You, mighty YIMBY Army, are being called to arms. TO ARMS! Email now: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/email-your-state-reps-to-support-sb-50

Berkeley councilmembers Lori Droste and Rashi Kesarwani join us to discuss their effort to expand missing-middle housing options. We also talk opportunity and belonging in the Bay Area. And a fun side story: UC Berkeley students' recent advocacy for housing at 2190 Shattuck, at what Laura describes as the "F*ck a View hearing," after a memorable student sign. (The councilmembers want you to know Laura called it that, not them.) Lori and Rashi's missing-middle legislation, which is also sponsored by councilmembers Rigel Robinson and Ben Bartlett, will be presented to Berkeley's City Council on February 26th. East Bay for Everyone has details on that hearing, if you can show up.

Can you effectively advance urbanist policy without doing "politics"? We discuss with our guest from Washington, DC, Alex Baca, who writes and works for the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Alex previously ran a bikeshare system in Cleveland, and before that worked for the Washington Area Bicyclist Association and Washington City Paper. Along the way, we get into DC's Congressionally set height limits, the 16th Street bus lanes, Virginia's weird rule for city incorporation, and the similarities of BART to DC's Metro. By partial coincidence, all of the people on this episode lived in both San Francisco and the DC area at some point. Coalition for Smarter Growth Alex on Twitter A selection of Alex's writing from 2018

We chat with outgoing Supervisor Katy Tang, of the Sunset District, about her work on the board, and particularly Home-SF, the local density bonus. Also the recently passed Central SoMa Plan. Home-SF Sunset YIMBYs should join Westside = best side!

Senator Scott Wiener's newly unveiled More HOMES Act, or Senate Bill 50, would unban apartments near transit and in high-opportunity areas. It's the new SB 827, but it's more ambitious, has clearer and stronger anti-displacement protections, and has racked up new supporters, including the building trade unions and many local officials. We invited Senator Wiener's policy lead on housing and transportation, Annie Fryman, to join us for a frank conversation about the bill, the public reaction so far, and its relationship to the Bay Area's regional housing compact, CASA. By the way, the name stands for More Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, Equity, and Stability. 1:02 What SB50 (More HOMES Act) is 4:04 Stronger public support vis-a-vis SB827 10:20 Sensitive communities carve-out 15:24 Minneapolis comprehensive plan vs SF Planning 17:23 Reactions to including job-rich areas 23:57 Preserving tenant-occupied housing 27:39 How Annie met Laura and got into housing politics 32:00 Demolition controls: SF compared to L.A. 37:47 Endorsements from big-city mayors and Building Trades 42:02 Affordable housing developer's take on More HOMES 45:33 Laura's Thanksgiving argument with her mom 51:25 CASA regional compact 1:02:47 Final thoughts Become a community supporter of the More HOMES Act!

Elections happened, and by now it's well known that the YIMBY supervisor candidates in San Francisco took a bruising. But there's good news from the East Bay, statewide, and elsewhere on the ballot. Darrell Owens from East Bay for Everyone joins Laura and Sam to talk about what just happened and what's next. Joe Eskenazi's article on YIMBYs and the election CASA: The Committee to House the Bay Area Interactive map of election results

Sonja made hand-drawn posters for an extremely niche issue in the Tenderloin. Meanwhile in the Sunset, the race is polling as a four-way tie. What?! And Laura gets phone-banked for a non-YIMBY-endorsed campaign that... can't think of any actual talking points. All this and more as we prepare for Election Day, with Laura Foote, Sam Moss, and special guest Ben Libbey, who's working as the volunteer coordinator for Sonja Trauss's campaign. Read the YIMBY Endorsements Share the YIMBY Endorsements on VoterCircle Sign up to get out the vote this last weekend!

Guests Michelle Parker and Victor Olivieri discuss San Francisco's transportation challenges getting kids to public schools and City College's plans for its land, including housing on Balboa Reservoir. Michelle and Victor have been endorsed by YIMBY Action in their campaigns for School Board and College Board respectively. Michelle Parker for School Board Victor Olivieri for City College Board Share the YIMBY endorsements on VoterCircle

California wants homelessness and transportation to get better, but isn't always willing to pay for it. That's why in San Francisco, we have our work cut out for us to pass local Prop C, which would tax businesses making over $50 million to provide a permanent funding source for supportive housing, mental health services and shelters. At the beginning of the program, Nick Kimura (Eviction Defense Collaborative/Yes on C) tells us about some of the unfunded programs Prop C could start back up, like the Moving On program, and Sam adds his take as an affordable housing developer. At 16:34, we talk to Adina Levin (Friends of Caltrain and a South Bay YIMBY) about No on 6, the fight to protect transportation funding against the Republicans' gas tax repeal measure. We go into what's at stake: important road repairs, Caltrain to downtown SF, longer BART trains, new AC Transit and Muni vehicles, bike/pedestrian improvements, and a regional means-based fare pilot. All these projects lose funding if Prop 6 passes, so find out what you can do! Lastly, at 27:27, YIMBY volunteer Scott Feeney introduces the nascent YIMBY Mobility, a caucus (or "club," we're not sure which) that recently mobilized for Janice Li/No on 6 on the west side and has a District 2 mobilization coming up. YIMBY endorsements for November 6th Share the YIMBY endorsements with your friends using VoterCircle! Prop C: Our City, Our Home No on Prop 6 statewide campaign In San Mateo County, Adina recommends Measure W Saturday's YIMBY Mobility action for Nick and Janice