The Pressure's Off Under One Bay Area Plan

Photo from UN Happiness Summit: Women, their teeth red from chewing betel nuts, laugh at a vegetable market in Bhutanese capital Thimpu, October 23, 2006 (Gopal Chitrakar/Courtesy Reuters).

Editors Note: In keeping with our mission of creating conversation about the housing mandates, we will present different community viewpoints for you to consider. David Edmonson writes frequently about Marin housing and SMART from Washington, DC. The full article is published in the Patch.com which is doing an excellent job of local coverage.

 

David Edmondson

Marin ex-pat & editor, The Greater Marin

When Plan Bay Area released its draft preliminary growth numbers (yes, they’re that speculative), a cry went out around Marin that ABAG wants to cram growth down the gullet of stable and "non-growing' county. For years, Marin has lost jobs and so either lost housing units or grew at a snail’s pace. We aren’t like the nearly bankrupt towns of the East Bay or Delta, with vast tracts of new, identical houses. Sadly, if regional and state agencies have their way such reckless and unrestrained growth would come to our counties. You might as well kiss the Marinite way of life goodbye.
That’s a good narrative, but as with most sensationalist narratives of the government losing all reason, it’s pure nonsense.

Full Article: The pressure is off