People have an almost infinite number of choices of where to live and every locale has its own character. Certainly, Lafayette has its own character. Those of us who live in Lafayette are proud that we know our neighbors; that we live in a rather small, but thriving city; that we don’t have an overcrowding problem. The City Council and its pricey consultants, however, are open about their agenda to change this. They call it “smart growth” and Lafayette’s primary role in this “smart growth” plan is as a BART node.
Lafayette’s future, they say, is in producing more inexpensive housing for commuters, despite, or maybe because of, what that may do to the market value of Lafayette’s homes. Our Council takes its cues from the Association of Bay Area Governments, a group that does not give Lafayette’s needs or ambiance much weight, but instead wants to increase our population density and lower our housing prices to turn us into a perfect commuter town, like Concord.
They intend to focus resources not on neighborhood roads, but on pushing merchants and residents into a concentrated area near the BART. Instead of being a city rich in retailers, who produce sales tax, Lafayette is to be a city that provides housing and services for all the commuters whom will hopefully move here.
This is not a good model for the future. We should encourage our retailers, by keeping the sales tax in check, assuming we cannot reduce it. We should stop taking actions that heavily concentrate more and more people downtown, increasing congestion and placing heavy strain on our infrastructure.
Perhaps more importantly, we should be preserving our way of life. Our renters tend to rent in buildings that have only one or two levels. We have a healthy number of apartments, in relatively low-unit developments, often with attached outdoor areas; a healthy number of condos available and many single-family units. Our city has breathing room. Our high level of home ownership is wonderful for quality of life, keeping down crime, encouraging healthy school funding and giving citizens a stake in keeping the area they live in clean and beautiful. A city built on small neighborhoods is also a more difficult target for petty crime; neighbors who know each other are effectively the eyes and ears of the police.
We do not need to change this situation. Lafayette has naturally grown by 15% or 3,000 residents since 1971. This is a healthy rate of growth and there is no need to spend resources on low-income housing and towering developments in order to attract more people. It is also wrong to put these units downtown, where most of the city’s money is spent, while neglecting the needs of homeowners a few minutes down the street. Our downtown is congested enough already.
On November 4th, let the Council know how you feel about this, and vote for Gabriel Froymovich.
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In case you are interested in Lafayette’s demographics (as of 2000 Census):
Population: 23,908; 25.9% under 18, 14.4% senior citizens
Households: 9,152; 36.3% w/ children; 64.9% married; 7.1% senior citizen living alone; avg. 2.6 people
Families: 6,754; avg. 3.02 individuals per family
Population Density: 1,572.5/sq. mi.
Housing Units: 9,334
I am impressed so far and agree that the council needs new blood and a fresh perspective. I also agree with the vast majority of the positions you are campaigning on. Please help me understand your position on 2 other issues.
First….What will you do about the city’s planning staff’s overt obstructionist and often mean spiritedness when dealing with residents who are trying to improve the homes they already live in. In many cased this is done by intimidation and by putting in place unreasonable obstacles to doing property improvements that are clearly “in-scale” with the surrounding neighborhood. How do you view these type of property improvements. Are they in keeping with your vision to maintain the character of Lafayette?
Second…. Traffic is an issue. We need to be more responsible drivers…. Would you support a plan to help the Lafayette School District and residents bring back the “School Bus” as a way to use “mass transit” as a more “green” way to get our kids to school and to help us get some of the polluting “short commute” cars off the road.
Are you holding any meetings and get the vote out events?
Good Luck.
Glen Coleman
Your first issue is a complex one. I can assure you in this small space that I stand on the side of homeowners. Within the limits of some basic needs to respect one’s neighbors rights and not unduly harm the environment, homeowners, once approved to build on a property, should be given great leeway to design the home of their choosing. Not only is this right, but it helps keep property tax revenue up, without raising the rate. Unfortunately, our Council may soon pass a law the restricts this much further. I believe this to be an intentional attempt to depress property values in line with ABAG’s regional planning. This is not a good way to manage our city.
I know little about the school bus issue and do not want to promise anything, but would be happy to research it and speak with you about it. It definitely sounds promising, though we must keep sources of funding in mind.