Critical Call To Action - CHIP Vote Tomorrow
The full City Council takes up CHIP for a vote
Everything we’ve worked for regarding the CHIP Ordinance comes to fruition tomorrow! If you missed the journey, read about the Planning Commission Hearing here and the Planning & Land Use Management Committee Hearing here. CHIP is not part of our Community Plan Update, but it is citywide and high-rises in our single-family communities are on the menu across the city if developer interests have their way.
It seems so obvious to you and me that high-rises simply do not belong in our low-rise neighborhoods, but the cheaper land is in our R-1 neighborhoods. Developer interests are highly organized and they’ve convinced younger constituents that they want to live in our neighborhoods and that the market rate boxes will somehow be affordable.
We have to pushback on this crazy narrative.
I can tell you that our councilperson has assured me that she will vote to approve CHIP without our R-1 neighborhoods, and presumably the four councilmembers on the PLUM committee will vote the same (as they did unanimously at the last hearing), but that still leaves 10 other councilmembers whose single family home owner constituents may or may not be following this crazy ordinance.
How You Can Help
There are several ways to help:
submit comments to LACouncilComment.com (council file 21-1230-S5) (don’t forget to confirm your submission in your email inbox)
attend the meeting in person or by phone and submit public comment
How To Email Council Members
This is the easiest step, but also the easiest for council members to ignore. What they can’t ignore is volume. We don’t need lengthy messages. We need lots of messages.
While members should be willing to hear from the whole city on citywide matters, we also know that they will be most persuaded by hearing from their own personal constituents, so if you can send your own email plus enlist a friend or two from the constituencies of council members, that’s a huge bonus.
Although I’ve been assured that our council member supports our view on this issue, please email her, too. She needs to hear how much we care about this issue.
Make sure your subject line says: Please Exclude R-1 From CHIP - Council File 21-1230-S5.
How To Submit Comments To The Official Hearing File
Post a comment to the Council File, which makes your comment part of the permanent record. This takes less than a few minutes with these helpful tips:
Click this link
Fill in your name and email address
Copy/paste the following:
I oppose expanding building incentives into R-1
Concentrating density along our corridors allows economies of scale by developers that will hopefully translate to more affordability of the resulting units [or your favorite talking point]
Thank you.
Click “I am not a robot”
Click “submit”
You must respond to the verification email sent to your listed email address
Your comment will be posted to the file within 24 hours
Please note! If you submitted comments via this channel in response to one of my calls to action for another hearing, your comments are already part of the public record.
How To Attend The Meeting
The meeting starts at 10 am downtown. Find the agenda here. The agenda is long and our item is #35, but they are taking public comment for all agenda items early in the meeting.
The physical location for the meeting is the Council Chamber at City Hall at 200 North Spring Street, Room 340, LA CA 90012. Parking can be tricky, but here’s a cheat sheet.
I was hoping the meeting could be accessed by zoom, but I don’t see a link on the agenda. I see a meeting ID, but no password.
If you want to make a public comment, the instructions are to call 1 669 254 5252 and use Meeting ID No. 160 535 8466 and then press #. Press # again when prompted for a participant ID. Once admitted into the meeting, press *9 to request to speak.
It appears from the agenda that the meeting will also livestream on YouTube, but comments will not be taken on that platform.
Let’s do this!
Please take five minutes right now to dash off an email to the council and the file. If you emailed before, the same comments work here.
And then:
🚨 Please take 30 seconds to forward this email to 5 neighbors or local friends. 🚨
Until Next Time…
Be well and use this link to refer others to The Politics Of Housing. Let’s grow a community of informed neighbors!
Concerned For Westchester Playa - Sharing upzoning and housing policy information and guidance to residents in Westchester, Playa del Rey, Ladera & Playa Vista