To the editor: Guest contributor Jesse Zwick says L.A. officials won’t commit to more housing (“Los Angeles is sabotaging itself on housing,” Jan. 27). In fact, the city worked closely with the community and already submitted a thoughtful plan with enough housing to satisfy California state law.
Zwick, however, favors SB 79. This one-size-fits-none bill wipes out local zoning. Instead of adding density on existing corridors with adequate capacity to meet the need, SB 79 crams huge apartments into low-density and single-family zones across the city. It targets all neighborhoods within a half-mile radius of existing and “future” transit stops — stops that can be designated at will.
SB 79 does very little for affordable housing and nothing whatsoever to upgrade water, power, roads and emergency services.
Defenders say developers won’t actually use the full extent of SB 79 entitlements. Maybe so, but let’s not hand them a big check and then pray they won’t cash it.
Danielle Peters and Shelley Wagers, Los Angeles
These writers are officers with the Beverly Grove Neighborhood Assn., a community advocacy nonprofit.
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To the editor: One reason we have a shortage of housing is that people who have average incomes with the money to invest cannot buy or build small, two-to-six-unit apartment buildings, as they did in the 1950s through the 1980s. They put their retirement money in stocks because that is the way 401(k)s and IRAs are designed.
Large funds are buying up most residential small units and even individual homes. These should be limited to individuals or no more than six owners for apartments of six or fewer units. It might not solve the problem, but it would help.
Edward Gilbert, Studio City
