SB 51: the California politics thread

-- Athletics
-- Badminton (singles)
-- Throwing a baseball or softball
-- BMX biking
-- Canoeing (singles)
-- Crabbing
-- Cycling
-- Exploring rock pools
-- Gardening (not in groups)
-- Golf (singles, walking – no cart)
-- Hiking (on trails and paths allowing distancing)
-- Horseback riding (singles)
-- Jogging and running
-- Kite boarding and kitesurfing
-- Meditation
-- Outdoor photography
-- Picnics (with your stay-home household members only)
-- Quad Biking
-- Rock Climbing
-- Roller Skating and Roller Blading
-- Rowing (singles)
-- Scootering (not in groups)
-- Skateboarding (not in groups)
-- Soft martial arts – Tai Chi, Chi Kung (not in groups)
-- Table tennis (singles)
-- Throw and catch an American mini football, Frisbee or Frisbee golf (not in groups)
-- Trail running
-- Trampolining
-- Tree climbing
-- Volleyball (singles)
-- Walk the dog
-- Wash the car
-- Watch the sunrise or sunset
-- Yoga

lol

That CA 25th special election has gotten me down. wtf is wrong with democratic voters? I thought everyone was sent an absentee ballot. How hard is it to connect the two sides of ONE arrow with a pen and walk it to a mailbox?

Is that the district that will be re-run in 6 months?

I wouldn't put too much stock into it, esp. considering that's prime Rodney-King-juror country. There's always a bigger turnout in tandem with the Presidential election.

democrats outnumber republicans in that district. I guess I can’t get over how much democratic voters really don’t give a shit. it doesn’t bode well for november imo

"Democrat" seems to be the default now (slowly being overtaken by "Independent"). When you register Republican in California you are a true believer.

by all means worry about november, but until 2018 that district has been republican since 1993. katie hill probably won thanks to state races on the ballot to pull in low information voters. and obviously the "scandal" was bullshit, but it didn't exactly tee the next democrat running for that seat up for success. democrats lose in CA plenty despite their registration advantage.

you want to be depressed, be depressed about lundquist losing the council seat up there back in march (also with a registration advantage). an LA council member has way more power than a freshman congressman (and represents more people iirc!) and the republican was credibly implicated in bribery days before the election. people don't vote!

Simi Valley aside (only 17.6% of the district) this was a 21 point republican shift from Katie Hill’s win in 2018, in a swing district where registered democrats outnumber republicans and where the election was considered a toss-up

the republican share of the vote increased by about 10 points, not 21 (which is the change in margin, and not the right way to think about it imo)

And it won’t be 10 points when the vote is in. It might be as small as 5.

And turnout was so low that Katie hill got like 100,000 more votes than García.

It sucks the democrat lost but it doesn’t mean anything apart from that people don’t vote in special elections.

I didn’t check any of the numbers in that post btw haha

well republicans apparently do vote in special elections

I don’t know about vote totals, I was was just going by Hill winning by 9% and so far then Garcia winning by 12%, maybe his lead will decrease as more votes are counted

but this is suburban LA, Santa Clarita is just over the hill from the San Fernando Valley

in the midst of this republican shit show

well republicans apparently do vote in special elections

yeah -- I am guessing that a lot of the republicans skew older -- and it's also one of those "old people vote more than younger people" things -- like a lot of them are probably retired and voting in a special election is up there with senior discount day at IHOP in terms of things that give their dwindling days on this earth some meaning.

agree with that, but don’t see that seat going back to the democrats in november

Well it was the high water mark of a wave so probably not. Did the democrats flip a redder seat in California?

here we go

New details on the arrest of L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar in an ongoing corruption probe: https://t.co/kspBK4Cbyv

— Emily Alpert Reyes (@AlpertReyes) June 23, 2020

he tried to have his wife replace him so he could continue doing crimes according to today's indictment, but she withdrew when he was first searched, so he's being replaced by kevin de leon. there's at least a couple more council people who might be implicated, along with the mayor's office. good times.

Just came to post the ABC story (but on the LA thread).

#BREAKING Photos from the complaint show some of the cash prosecutors allege Councilman Jose Huizar and his associates received from developers to help push their projects through the city planning process. @SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/5WATbJtNef

— Natalie Brunell (@natbrunell) June 23, 2020

yeah maybe LA thread. what a world.

I love when there's photographs of big bundles of money

And they literally found the money (~$130,000) in a closet at his house.

His office and home were raided by the FBI 19 months ago, **everyone** in LA government knew he was guilty, but the culture of incumbency protection is so powerful nobody said a word until multiple guilty pleas came in. So now a sitting Councilman is in lockup. Nice work gang https://t.co/TWhi5IzWSA

— Hayes Davenport (@hayesdavenport) June 23, 2020

an extremely good point!

There is absolutely nothing that warms my heart more than $3M homes that pay about 1 to 2 iPhone Pros in property taxes per year, for an effective property tax rate of 0.03%.

1 to 2 iPhone Pros per year!

All hail #Prop13! pic.twitter.com/2Ya1ZBied8

— Next door in Silicon Valley (@nextdoorsv) May 27, 2020

caek, you seem to know what you're talking about, and I'm certainly not paying much attention to Sacramento these days - do you know if the state legislature has any momentum or likelihood or whatever to repeal or reform Prop 13 anytime soon? does Gavin have a position on it?

meanwhile I wish we could retire the prop number like a hall of famer's jersey (or just rename it the Howard Jarvis Arbitrary Assessment Initiative) so there's no more potential for ambiguity leading to things like the first failed school bond proposal in two decades (2020's Prop 13)

There’s a ballot measure this year to repeal is for commercial property! Tactically this is supposed to be the thin end of the wedge to repeal the whole thing https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_15,_Tax_on_Commercial_and_Industrial_Properties_for_Education_and_Local_Government_Funding_Initiative_(2020).

I haven’t seen any polling but a measure that seemed like a fairly easy sell a year ago when they started seems like a tougher sell in a recession, so I’m not optimistic.

ah very cool! I didn't know this was on deck for November. you're probably right about any momentum being spoiled though.

Lmao this thread rules

Jaw on the floor listening to SD planning commissioner @mcboomhower light up a neighborhood group opposing a new duplex. "When you say 'pride of ownership' that means 'we don't want renters. If you can't afford to buy in our lovely little neighborhood, we don't want you here.'"

— Kenneth Stahl 🌇 (@kookie13) July 31, 2020

awesome

need more of this

they are opposing -- a duplex -- good grief.

meanwhile, I get fb ads for houses and real estate a lot, and I got one yesterday advertising a duplex that is "planned to be vacant" at 9th and Wood in West Oakland. ... Later that evening I had to drop stuff in the mail at the main post office a few blocks away from said address, so I ended up driving by this spot. ... I had forgotten the exact character of 9th and Wood and the few blocks up/down from it ... but when I drove by, I was like, OH SHIIIT YEAH the corner of 8th and Wood is where the liquor store is where everyone hangs out across the street -- some hanging, some slinging ... and the block of 9th and Wood is the frequent site of stuffed animal infused altars to victims of "gun violence" ... and I forget what my point is here, but, yeah, duplexes ... does the neighborhood group in SD believe that the inherent nature of "the duplex" will transplant the people and problems of 9th and Wood in West Oakland to their neighborhood??

booming comment from boomhower! stickin it to the NIMBYs in the name of strict municipal code interpretation

as it happens I'm working on a fancy mile-long grade-separated bike lane construction project that will be going to that very same La Jolla community planning group for approval in about six months. by the sound of it he may not be as supportive as he is for this duplex, since the construction of the bike lane involves multiple deviations from the municipal code for the construction of a retaining wall and a quarter acre of wetland impacts resulting from having to widen the road itself to meet Caltrans code for the installation of a bike lane!

no big deal if the community planning group rejects it, we've only spent a few years/millions designing it already

Regarding Prop 13:

Prior to 1978, corporate landowners paid about two-thirds of statewide property tax revenues; homeowners paid about one-third. Proposition 13 flipped that equation to where homeowners paid two-thirds and corporations one-third.

Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/opinion/readers-opinion/article156302674.html#storylink=cpy

xp - CA muni code is impressively convoluted and in some cases requires a lot of mental gymnastics to try and accommodate all the provisions in all the separate code chapters! ... A few months ago I spent quality time trying to figure out what exactly are the code requirements for live/work housing ... geez. But I am definitely rooting for you, burrito!! I haven't spent much time in that area of SD, but your project sounds super necessary and useful, considering the terrain and sprawl

appreciate the rooting, and it is a good project. mostly. unless you start thinking about other ways the money could be spent. but that's none of my business

CA muni code is impressively convoluted

tell me about it!

https://i.imgur.com/n1lLLM8.png

Okay, I'm dying to know ... what does Section 143.0150 say?!!!!!!

*popcorn.gif*

any odds/betting sites have this action?

§143.0150 Deviations from Environmentally Sensitive Lands Regulations
Plans submitted in accordance with this section shall, to the maximum extent feasible,
comply with the regulations of this division. If a proposed development does not
comply with all applicable development regulations of this division and a deviation is
requested as indicated in Table 143-01A, the decision maker may approve,
conditionally approve, or deny the proposed Site Development Permit in accordance
with the following:
(a) Deviations from the regulations of this division may be granted only if the
decision maker makes the findings in Section 126.0504(c).
(b) Deviations from the Supplemental Regulations for Special Flood Hazard
Areas in Section 143.0146 may be granted only if the decision maker makes
the findings in Section 126.0504(d).
(c) Within the Coastal Overlay Zone, deviations from the Environmentally
Sensitive Lands Regulations may be granted only if the decision maker makes
the findings in Section 126.0708.
(d) Deviations to the wetland regulations in Section 143.0141(b) shall not be
granted unless the development is located outside of the Coastal Overlay Zone
and qualifies to be processed as one of the three options set forth in the
following regulations and in accordance with the Biology Guidelines in the
Land Development Manual:
(1) Essential Public Projects Option
(A) A deviation may only be requested for an Essential Public
Project where no feasible alternative exists that would avoid
impacts to wetlands.
(B) For the purpose of this section, Essential Public Projects shall
include:
(i) Any public project identified in an adopted land use
plan or implementing document and identified on the
Essential Public Projects List adopted by Resolution
No. R-307377 as Appendix III to the Biology
Guidelines; or
Ch. Art. Div.
14 3 1 47
San Diego Municipal Code Chapter 14: General Regulations
(2-2020)
(ii) Linear infrastructure, including but not limited to major
roads and land use plan circulation element roads and
facilities including bike lanes, water and sewer
pipelines including appurtenances, and stormwater
conveyance systems including appurtenances; or
(iii) Maintenance of existing public infrastructure; or
(iv) State and federally mandated projects.
(2) Economic Viability Option
A deviation may be requested to preserve economically viable use of a
property that would otherwise be deprived by a strict application of the
regulations. Such a deviation shall be the minimum necessary to
achieve economically viable use of the property and shall avoid
wetland resources to the maximum extent practicable.
(3) Biologically Superior Option
(A) A deviation may be requested to achieve a superior biological
result which would provide long term biological benefit and a
net increase in quality and viability (functions and value),
relative to existing conditions or the project originally
proposed by the applicant, and long term biological benefit.
(B) Wetland resources that would be impacted by the project shall
be demonstrated to be of low biological quality.
(Amended 4-22-2002 by O-19051 N.S.; effective 10-8-2002.)
(Amended 5-7-2012 by O-20161 N.S.; effective 6-6-2012.)
(Amended 2-9-2018 by O-20899 N.S.; effective 3-11-2018.)

does anyone want to learn about affordable housing density bonus regulations?

If Kamala Harris is elected vice president, Gavin Newsom gets to appoint a new California senator. Who could it be? ⁦@philwillon⁩ https://t.co/SFcaqRvaWl

— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) August 11, 2020

Newsom himself!

he wants to be president

yeah no way is Gavin gonna give up being governor to be a senator ...

I think it's gonna be either:

Schiff
Lee
Porter
Breed
or
Newsom

Need some oddsmakers to chime in!

i guess it's politically impossible for him to pick the person who is in some ways next in line by virtue of his strong performance in the runoff with feinstein, i.e. kevin de leon because, well, he tried to primary feinstein.

it better not be garcetti

it's going to be that turd schiff isn't it

what about the woman who lost to Harris in the election -- it was super close?

though my preference would be Libby Schaaf -- take my mayor ... please!

though if he picks Barbara Lee, then maybe we can "upgrade" one of our less appealing City Council members ... oh Lynette G-M ... please seek higher office.

though it would be "hilarious" if Gavin chose his patron, Willie Brown ...

lol

Given that Uber rides have cratered during the pandemic, I wonder if people will care about this threat as much as they would have, say, a year ago https://t.co/MtQrfcUYdI

— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) August 12, 2020

iirc spending (almost entirely from uber/lyft/doordash etc.) on the AB5 ballot measure is ~$110m. spending on prop 15 (the actual big deal about split roll property tax) is like 10% of that. to zuck's credit, almost all the pro-prop 15 money comes from his foundation.

Anyway I nominate caek to be our senator.