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Mayor Thorne and City Council Members:
The City has made a big investment of time and money into recent planning for affordable housing:
l. The zoning of many select acres of property throughout Pleasanton, after months of hearings
2. Planning for development of properties close to the BART station within Hacienda Business Park
3. Much work and many workshops for the development of the 2012 Housing Element
All these steps included participation by the public and the time of individual Council members as well as substantial work of staff, without which none of this could have taken place.
The loss of inclusionary zoning as a planning tool gives the City time to assess what it really wants on which to base its affordable housing. The Nexus study is going to take a little time to work out a new plan of fee schedules for our work force housing.
I am here to ask the Council to delay approval of any more multi-use housing until the Nexus study is completed. It would be a shame to throw out all the affordable housing planning Pleasanton has done for the sake of approving present developments which have little affordable housing planned. We would be left with resort-style developments which plan to serve middle and upper income people, who were not the groups Pleasanton promised to plan for in its 2012 Housing Element.
I also ask you to keep in mind the voices and the interests of citizens who are not here, but who will be first in line for the affordable housing we were planning: the clerks and wait staff in our offices and restaurants, our teachers, police and public safety staff, firemen, our veterans, and our retired people. Affordable and work force housing is not just a theoretical idea---it is something that is a real need in our community for people on the lower end of the income scale to have a place to put their heads at night no matter the weather. These people are busy working long hours to survive or commuting many miles on the freeway from their jobs in Pleasanton. They would love to live where they work and contribute to the community. A resort is not what they need. A personal goal of mine is to bring a group of them here so you can hear their voices. I hope you can vote today to represent their best interests.
Thank you.
Patricia Belding
Citizens For A Caring Community
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