Democrat California Governor Gavin Newsom recently took on some far-left progressive activists in California.
The Blaze reports that the state appeals court stopped a proposed housing project over environmental concerns. Newsom responded to this by blaming environmentalists for escalating housing prices in the Golden State. He stated that those far-left environmentalists are making California less affordable..
The proposed plan seeks to use land known as the Peoples Park, which operated as a free public park in the 1970s, to put housing on it. This is even though the land is currently owned by the University of California, Berkeley. If the plan goes through, it will provide housing for 1,100 students and around 100 homeless individuals.
Just last week, the First District Court of Appeal blocked the projects construction because they ruled that the university did not explore other sites and assess potential noise impacts from loud student parties in residential neighborhoods near the campus. That is a requirement by the California Environmental Quality Act.
Many students on campus rallied against the proposed plan and demanded that the space remain green for all.
Berkeleyside said that students on campus wanted the site to be returned to indigenous stewardship, homeless residents who lived at the park to be connected to permanent housing, and to defund the UC Police Department and have those financial resources redirected to services for homeless residents, as well as Cal students and staff.
Make UC a Good Neighbor and the Peoples Park Historic District Advocacy Group also filed a lawsuit against the universitys proposed plan. Their lawsuit cited the environmental laws in California. It made many complaints about the potential for a significant amount of additional noise being added to the area if this plan were to go through.
Newsom called the activists selfish and stated they were a few wealthy Berkeley homeowners. He also accused them of being NIMBYs, which stands for not in my backyard. This is the idea that many people prefer the concept of having progress made on construction projects, but they dont tend to like it when those proposed projects show up in the area where they live.
Newsom stated: Our CEQA process is clearly broken when a few wealthy Berkeley homeowners can block desperately needed student housing for years and even decades.
Right now, this puts him directly at odds with the most progressive residents of California that he has typically relied upon.
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