Letters to the Editor: ‘Build housing for people, not cars’ is based on a fantasy

To the editor: In backing a state bill that would do away with parking requirements for new housing developments located near transit, The Times Editorial Board writes as if developers are actually seeking to build affordable housing rather than maximize their return on investment.

In fact, there is no guarantee that getting rid of parking requirements for market-rate developments will result in more affordable units, and higher-income tenants tend not to use transit. Market-rate housing near transit may even reduce ridership.

The editorial also assumes that the cost savings to developers will trickle down to renters. In reality, a developer who would not have to spend money building a parking garage can pay more for land, driving up prices and making it harder for affordable housing projects to pencil out.

Creating more demand for already limited street parking leads only to idling and circling drivers, thereby exacerbating traffic and pollution. I have written landmark climate change legislation and have been an activist in this arena for decades. If I thought this bill would help, I would be leading the charge, not opposing this legislation.

We have a crisis-level shortage of homeless, affordable and workforce housing. If we built rental units without parking near transit for those uses only, we would address our real shortages instead of building more unnecessary luxury units, and we would likely add many transit users. That would truly address the climate and affordability crisis.

Paul Koretz, Los Angeles

The writer is a member of the L.A. City Council

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To the editor: Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, the Democrat who wrote the parking requirement bill, began her political career in Glendale, which is where I have lived for more than 40 years.

I have seen neighborhoods of single-family homes decimated by apartment buildings with the required parking, and even then, street parking takes up the slack.

After 4 p.m. in many parts of Glendale, there is not a street parking space to be found.

Friedman and her liberal partners would have us believe that if you build housing near transit, most residents will walk to the corner and take a bus or train to work. That is a utopian vision that only works in the minds of people who think that these people will not want a car to use on the weekends or to go to the store.

It’s as if they want to make life so miserable that we will just knuckle under to their progressive agenda. I want nothing to do with this.

Jim Kussman, Glendale