Say No To Tower at North Berkeley Bart
24 Story MacArthur BART, Oakland.      
Bart is building privately-funded high rise developments on public land in residential neighborhoods. 

 Recently, they pushed through a 24-story tower at Oakland MacArthur Bart, and two towers (27&21-stories) at Lake Merritt Bart. The MacArthur Bart residential community raised several thousand dollars to stop the tower from being built, but failed. 

 The most appropriate type of development at North Berkeley Bart should blend in with the residential neighborhood, be limited to housing, and be affordable for local local teachers and families. 


Bart's housing in these high-rises are not affordable for local neighborhoods. At MacArthur Bart, their Transit Oriented Development are charging $3,010 for a studio. 

Bart in the Housing Business?  What could go wrong?

Assembly Bill 2923 passed and gave BART the freedom to build private developments without city zoning or city environmental impact approval. It was such a radical bill that even three Bart board members voted against it. At a January 2019 Berkeley City council meeting BART stated that they did not understand the bill, and needed to do research on how it would impact their property. 

Bart is is allowing developers to build unaffordable housing with unnecessary water-wasting swimming pools, some of which are currently half vacant, such as MacArthur Bart.


Who is Funding this?

They are developer-backed lobbyists funded by Real Estate Associations, Developers and Technology Companies, and organizations who provide free legal services for private developers to file lawsuits against cities. 
Post after a North Berkeley Bart 
Housing Development Community Meeting on 4/15/18



These political lobbyists have used bullying tactics such as doxing residents and reporters, age-shaming on twitter, harassing communities and targeting the North Berkeley Bart Community.



The Latino community in the SF mission district are currently fighting against their develop-at-any-cost agenda. 




Tenant Rights Groups Condemn Them

Multiple tenant rights groups have condemned these lobbyists for displacing local residents and forcing luxury developments, including: San Francisco Tenants Union, SF Mission Coalition, Affordable Divisidero, Chinatown Community Development Center, Affordable Housing Plaza 16 Coalition and the Democratic Socialist party.  
Neighborhood is Not a Wealthy Privileged Enclave 

Developer lobbyists are now promoting a message that the North Berkeley Bart neighborhood is a wealthy privileged Nimby enclave because real estate prices have sky rocketed all over the bay area. But here are the current facts* about this historically working class neighborhood:
$77,000 is the Median Household Income.
54% are renters.
43% work in the fields of education, health care and the service industry.
20% are over 62 years of age - many on fixed incomes.
53% White, 19% African American, 13% Asian 
*North Berkeley Bart zip code Census 2017 Click on left side tabs for more detailed demographics.



Stop the Land Grab. Contact:

Elected Bart Representative Rebecca Saltzman 
Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin
City Councilperson Kesarwani



~


Read the Facts

Bait and Switch 24-story MacArthur BART Development

McArthur Bart Bait-and-switch: 8 years of planning a 6 story building, then developer tripled the size at the last minute without community knowledge.
http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/May-2017/Towering-Complexity/

City Council Approves 260-Foot Tower For MacArthur Transit Village
http://hoodline.com/2017/03/city-council-approves-260-foot-tower-for-macarthur-transit-village

Oakland Planning Commission Approves 'Mammoth' Tower Next to MacArthur BART. Vote almost didn't happen because multiple planning commissioners had to recuse themselves.
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2017/02/02/oakland-planning-commission-approves-mammoth-tower-next-to-macarthur-bart

Yimby's received $2,500 from the MacArthur BART Mammoth Developer
https://oaklandnorth.net/2016/10/27/yes-in-my-back-yard-party-seeks-new-housing-developments-in-the-bay-area/

BART Development TOD Guidelines
https://www.bart.gov/sites/default/files/docs/BART_TODGuidelinesFinal2017.pdf




Who Funds these Private Developments?

Organizations who support this unrestricted growth are not required to publicize their funding sources, but some of their individual donors do.  Here is a sampling:
Stripe gives $1 million to pro-development Yimby group 
45% of Yimby Funders came from the Real Estate Industry
http://inthesetimes.com/features/yimbys_activists_san_francisco_housing_crisis.html

$300,000 grant received from Facebook founder Dustin Moskovitz
https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/land-use-reform/california-renters-legal-advocacy-and-education-fund-general-support

$100,000 from Yelp 

$300,000 from Maximus Real Estate
http://www.sfexaminer.com/attacking-sierra-club-wont-solve-housing-crisis/

Yimby's received $2,500 from the McArthur BART Mammoth Developer 
https://oaklandnorth.net/2016/10/27/yes-in-my-back-yard-party-seeks-new-housing-developments-in-the-bay-area/

Additional $40,000 grant received Facebook founder Dustin Moskovitz
https://www.openphilanthropy.org/focus/us-policy/land-use-reform/east-bay-forward-yimbytown-2017-conference

YIMBY PAC received tens of thousands more from political committees funded by the Association of Realtors, Shorenstein Real Estate.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/attacking-sierra-club-wont-solve-housing-crisis/

Additional PAC donations have included representatives from the following companies:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56b2ae8e27d4bd936c3acf49/t/57f7c07520099ee9d2edc10f/1475854453708/460_Sept_24.pdf
  • Google
  • Thiel Capital Investments
  • Twitch Interactive Video Games
  • Buzzfeed Internet media
  • March Capital (Venture Capital)
  • Cisco Systems
  • Everlane Inc Retail
  • Imgix Website Image Application
  • Citidev Construction
  • Pantheon Website Management
  • GCA Strategies Land use Strategy 

Meet the YIMBYs: Can tech bros change California’s housing policies?
https://therealdeal.com/la/2017/07/10/meet-the-yimbys-can-tech-bros-change-californias-housing-policies/

‘Yes in my backyard.’ Silicon Valley money fuels fight against state’s housing crisis
http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article161525828.html


Articles about Local Real Estate Lobbyists


YIMBYs: The Darlings of the Real Estate Industry
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/40509-yimbys-the-alt-right-darlings-of-the-real-estate-industry

Yimby's Exposed: The Techies Hawking Free Market Housing: http://inthesetimes.com/features/yimbys_activists_san_francisco_housing_crisis.html


Rise of the yimbys: the angry millennials with a radical housing solution 
[Doxing Reporters]
The Problem with the YIMBY 
http://www.sfexaminer.com/the-problem-with-yimby/ 

YIMBYism is a perfect complement to the tech ethos; it manages to feel playful and subversive."
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/in-california-momentum-builds-for-radical-action-on-housing/554768/

Suing the Suburbs, Making life easier for real estate developers by rolling back zoning regulations and environmental rules.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/business/economy/san-francisco-housing-tech-boom-sf-barf.html 

Yimbys try to force Brisbane to double its population
https://modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/the-yimbys-next-door

Yimby propaganda suggests that folks in the real estate industry, are somehow victims now. 
https://www.sftu.org/2017/07/dear-yimbys-the-brutal-unfettered-market-wont-stop-displacement/

What's in My Backyard?
YIMBYs look to the free market but the profit motive is what caused the affordability crunch in the first place.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/08/yimbys-housing-affordability-crisis-density

Meet YIMBY: Pro-development groups join the battle in California housing wars
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/09/10/meet-yimby-pro-development-groups-join-the-battle-in-california-housing-wars/

San Francisco’s Civil War
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/metropolis/2017/06/yimbys_and_the_dsa_can_t_get_along_despite_their_common_enemy_high_rent.html 


Selling Out California: State Senator Scott Wiener's Ties to Big Real Estate 
http://www.housinghumanright.org/selling-out-california-scott-wiener-money-ties-to-big-real-estate/


 New Bill Would Give BART Power to Set Zoning Rules at Stations
https://www.kqed.org/news/11653914/new-bill-would-give-bart-power-to-set-zoning-rules-at-stations

Little-known developer bill will change local planning
https://48hills.org/2017/12/yimby-developer-bills/

20,000 new homes by BART stations? A new California zoning bill aims to speed building 

New law quietly slipped through the state legislature allows developers to approve their own projects without local review. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Berkeley-4th-Street-developer-plans-to-use-new-12739652.php 
 
Bill Would Force Locals to Follow BART's Plans for Station-Adjacent Development
https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/03/97569-bill-would-force-locals-follow-barts-plans-station-adjacent-development



 

Lobbyist take Legal Actions Against Cities to Force Developments

Sausalito
We sued Sausalito. And then we won.
https://carlaef.org/2018/04/20/we-sued-sausalito-and-then-we-won/

CaRLA sues Sausalito over alleged Housing Accountability Act violations
https://www.carlaef.org/2017/11/27/carla-sues-sausalito-over-alleged-housing-accountability-act-violations/

‘Homes for human beings’: Millennial-driven anti-NIMBY movement is winning with a simple message
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/12/homes-for-human-beings-millennial-driven-anti-nimby-movement-is-winning-with-a-simple-message/

Lafayette
http://www.lovelafayette.org/Home/Components/News/News/4147/18?backlist=%2F

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Renters-group-tries-to-force-suburbs-to-add-7386206.php?utm_campaign=sfgate&utm_source=article&utm_medium=https%3A%2F%2F

www.sfgate.com%2Fbayarea%2Farticle%2FCourt-tells-Lafayette-to-let-voters-decide-on-12657656.php

https://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/city-housing-activists-file-first-sue-the-suburbs-lawsuit

Renters group sues to force suburbs to add housing amid shortage
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Renters-group-tries-to-force-suburbs-to-add-7386206.php

Judge denies "Sue the Suburbs" lawsuit seeking more housing in East Bay city
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2017/04/07/lafayette-housing-lawsuit-sfbarf-sonja-trauss.html

Dublin

 2.2 million lawsuit
http://www.independentnews.com/news/dublin-council-changing-mind-about--unit-development/article_f0f4ce56-fbe7-11e7-9771-3302a1420b39.html

http://www.independentnews.com/news/dublin-council-views-revision-in--unit-apartment-complex-plan/article_49e26e58-11d0-11e8-a151-47a7d1c75b86.html

Berkeley 
Berkeley 4th Street developer plans to use new housing law to bypass review
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Berkeley-4th-Street-developer-plans-to-use-new-12739652.php

Berkeley required to pay $44K in housing development lawsuit
http://www.dailycal.org/2017/09/09/berkeley-city-council-to-pay-44k-in-housing-development-lawsuit/

Judge moves to forward 1310 Haskell St. development
http://www.dailycal.org/2017/07/26/judge-moves-forward-1310-haskell-st-development/

Who Backs Building on North Berkeley BART Parking Lot? What Do They Want?
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2018-03-09/article/46544?headline=Who-Backs-Building-on-North-Berkeley-BART-Parking-Lot-br-What-Do-They-Want-br-Thursday-Meeting-Could-Yield-Answers--Zelda-Bronstein


San Mateo
New Housing Law Empowers Renters Group to Sue Cities that Deny New Construction
https://www.planetizen.com/news/2018/05/98493-new-housing-law-empowers-renters-group-sue-cities-deny-new-construction

‘Homes for human beings’: Millennial-driven anti-NIMBY movement is winning with a simple message 
https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/11/12/homes-for-human-beings-millennial-driven-anti-nimby-movement-is-winning-with-a-simple-message/

The City of San Mateo denied housing. Today, we filed suit.
https://www.carlaef.org/2018/04/26/the-city-of-san-mateo-denied-housing-today-we-filed-suit/

Orinda
http://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1126/print/Orinda-creeps-forward-with-streetscape-plan.html

Brisbane
Yimbys try to force Brisbane to double its population
https://modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/the-yimbys-next-door

Cupertino 
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/26/letter-design-process-for-vallco-project-raises-questions/ 



 



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