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Senator Josh Becker, who represents Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Mountain View, says he opposes a bill allowing multistory apartment buildings near transit stations (www.paloaltoonline.com)

submitted 7 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) by Davriellelouna@lemmy.world to c/bayarea@lemmy.world

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While Becker voted to advance the bill, he emphasized in an interview that his support hinges on significant changes that would need to be made to the legislation before it comes back to the Senate for a final vote

"I will not vote on this bill on the way back unless the radius has changed"

The bill also proved divisive in Palo Alto, where City Council member Pat Burt described the prior version of the bill as a “one-size-fits-all” proposal that takes the “chainsaw to local zoning.”

“We’re talking about 55 feet and 5 stories by right without any parking requirements in an Eichler neighborhood” Burt said at an April meeting, referring to Eichler neighborhoods in south Palo Alto that are within half a mile of the San Antonio Caltrain station.

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/housing/2025/06/11/despite-advancing-fate-of-housing-bill-sb-79-remains-uncertain/

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[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 7 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

His grief is that in a bill that incentives building near public transit there's not a requirement for private parking? That seems weak.

Another senator expressed concerns for the bill that sought to promote building near public transit saying that her district's light rail went "from nowhere to nowhere." Maybe you should advance a bill that incentives putting things near public transit?

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 2 points 53 minutes ago

Sounds like he’s more upset it’s going to uglify the precious Eichler neighborhood.

I fucking hate mid century modern (including Eichler houses) but I also hate the stacked shoebox looking apartment complexes that are popping up like weeds up here in the north bay. We need the housing, so I don’t say much about it, but they are fucking ugly.

Are the two really so far apart?

Eichler:

Not Eichler: