Look for the helpers, California housing crisis edition

Last night I attended my first Palo Alto City Council meeting about the housing crisis. SB50 was the elephant in the room, and half the town brought their elephant guns. It would have been easy to fixate on the angry, exclusionary views expressed. But as others reminded us, we’re in a crisis almost 40 years in the making.

In a crisis, you look for the helpers. Two brave septu- and octogenarians got up to support building denser housing near transit and stave the crisis. They cited equity, inclusion, climate impact, failure to act, and neighbors’ hypocrisy. I was happily reminded that some use their power and privilege to help, not to hoard.