Who is State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco?
State Senator Scott Wiener.
Why does he know so much more than anybody else about zoning and land use in historic Mid-Wilshire Los Angeles?
Sen. Wiener, 47, is a lawyer and former member of the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco. He was elected to the State Senate to represent San Francisco, Daly City, and nearby communities in 2016.
He has proposed many bills that favor increased development over neighborhood protection.
Developer donors
He is the recipient of a substantial portion of his campaign contributions from donors in the development and construction industries. Among his top donors are the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California, the California Association of Realtors, the Northern California Regional Council of Carpenters, the California Apartment Association and the California Building Industry Association.
According to FollowTheMoney.org, Sen. Wiener’s 2016 campaign received contributions amounting to one-fifth of the money he raised from these nine categories of donors: finance, insurance and real estate, $278,500; general trade unions, $145,950; lawyers and lobbyists, $114,845; general contractors, home builders and construction, $33,700.
Sen. Wiener clearly appears to be a good friend of developers; not so much for residents of historic urban neighborhoods.
Local leaders must act
Senate Bill 827.
Action is needed now from our Los Angeles City Council and the city’s Sacramento advocates, plus from our local members of the Assembly and State Senate, from the League of California Cities, and from Mayor Garcetti, among other leaders.
All of them should work with members of the Senate and Assembly to limit the continued local zoning overreach coming from Sacramento — especially what is contained in Sen. Wiener’s S.B. 827, introduced on Jan. 3. The bill would allow increased development within one-half mile and one-quarter mile of transit stops and bus corridors, respectively.
Residents in Citrus Square, Hancock Park, Melrose Hill and Lafayette Square certainly live in California. But, primarily, they live in Citrus Square, Hancock Park, Melrose Hill and Lafayette Square — all in our City of Los Angeles. The most-local of elected representatives, Paul Koretz, David Ryu, Mitch O’Farrell and Herb Wesson, and their City Council colleagues, can best design the rules to achieve the goal of increasing needed housing while still protecting Historic Mid-Wilshire.
“No” on S.B. 827
All who are local elected leaders should urge the Legislature to vote “no“ on Senate Bill 827. It is bad for Historic Mid-Wilshire. While maybe good for apartment builders, the Wiener bill is bad for Los Angeles residents. The specific locations for increased density near local transit should be determined locally, not in Sacramento, and not by a politician from San Francisco.
Category: News
Scott Weiner is detrimental to California. He needs to be voted out.