For those who are wondering about the recently filed housing element litigation, I would like to suggest a look at the experience of our near neighbor - the City of Alameda.
Alameda resembles Albany in many ways, although its population is about four times larger. Like Albany, Alameda's existing neighborhoods are of longstanding and largely 'built out', with development opportunities limited almost exclusively to the re-purposing of previously developed sites and 'special' large sites (in Alameda's case, the old Naval Air Station, in Albany's case, whatever the future holds for Golden Gate Fields).
Like Albany, Alameda has a 1970s-era charter amendment in place, passed by the voters, that makes it difficult to implement even modest density increases. As a result, like Albany, up until last year Alameda had a housing element that dated back to the early 90's. A compliant housing element just could not easily be reconciled with the City Charter.
However, Alameda differed from Albany in a crucial respect: for over a decade, Alameda's social-justice advocates put their focus on creating HOUSING affordable to low income people (by contrast, in Albany the advocates have unfortunately focused on keeping people in tents and shacks in our waterfront park).
The work of Alameda's skilled housing advocates, and apparently some courageous leadership by local officials, led to a resolution of the problem WITHOUT litigation: http://www.publicadvocates.org/alameda-housing-element-compliance, and that resolution seems to have won widespread acceptance http://blog.sfgate.com/inalameda/2012/07/18/alameda-okays-multifamily-housing-after-four-decade-ban/
It is sad that here in Albany it took the development of appalling conditions in the sprawling encampments on the Bulb to 'surface' the issue of the housing element, and to stimulate the creation of a community-based housing advocacy group. Both the City Council - which counseled the former Homeless Task Force to move in this direction back in May, and the advocates themselves, deserve kudos for this change of focus.
And Amber Whitson, who takes a lot of heat here on the Patch, deserves to be recognized for her role. Amber, you can add me to the list of those who think you should consider attending law school, once you are 'up and out' of the encampments.
It still strikes me as a shame that 'Albany Housing Advocates' chose the path of litigation, not only because unnecessary lawsuits are wasteful, but because they can actually impede the important work of persuasion that needs to take place around housing issues. Still, Albany may not need to 'reinvent the wheel.' Perhaps a a close look at the successful outcome in Alameda will light a path towards a solution our community can embrace, without impeding the critical work of getting the Bulb campers into shelter before the rainy season.
