Letters to the Editor: These ‘quiet NIMBY’ cities are fueling California’s housing shortage
To the editor: Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and the state of California have done a great job going after the vocally NIMBY cities like La Cañada Flintridge and Huntington Beach. The bigger problem is that the state is doing nothing about the quiet NIMBY cities. (“More housing, less killing and other New Year’s 2024 resolutions we’d like to see,” editorial, Jan. 1)
South Pasadena decided to only do one of its four required rezones to build more housing. Los Angeles is rolling back the commitments made in its housing element to rezone single-family neighborhoods. Hermosa Beach effectively added around $100,000 in fees to each new housing unit, making sure these units can never be built because of financial reasons.
All of these things will kill new housing more than what La Cañada Flintridge and Huntington Beach are doing, but the California Department of Housing and Community Development isn’t willing to do a single thing to stop these quiet NIMBY cities.
Josh Albrektson, South Pasadena
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To the editor: The Times’ editorial board drew up an admirable list of resolutions for 2024. Here’s one more: for The Times to find a way to comment on land-use controversies without using “NIMBY.”
This acronym for “not in my backyard” appears in the first sentence of your first New Year’s resolution, reflecting your characteristic disdain for stakeholders who do not subscribe to your progressive dogma.
The Times should mothball this overworked cliché for the rest of the year, if not the decade.
Shelley Wagers, Los Angeles
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To the editor: In your resolution on climate change, you write, “And, no, raising the A/C to 70 degrees from 68 does not count.”
Yes, it does count. Every little bit counts and is important.
It counts as a recognition and as an acknowledgment. It is a first step into a world where each and every one of us accepts our responsibility to correct the mistakes of the past and move forward to make our world the place it can be.
We have power over our fate.
Gregg Ferry, Carlsbad
