Eye Level Pasadena

Foothill Cities has a post today on a possible cap on housing development in Pasadena’s Central District, except for projects with a high percentage of affordable housing units: The Omnipresent Bunny

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I’m curious about what you guys’ ideas might be for solving Pasadena’s housing problems. What do you think we should do and how should we do it?

latimes.com: Pasadena mayor speaks softly — and wins: Bill Bogaard strives to be boring, a secret to his successful reelection, he says (by way of proctorformayor.com)

I love this city.

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Update: Kelly at West Coast Grrlie Blather on this article in her post Where the Boring Mayor Lives:

I’ve lived in Pasadena for over two decades, and I’m becoming a curmudgeon. Why? Because of the way this city has changed….

…Pasadena now has scads of expensive, ugly rental housing. (Note to self: post photos of egregious examples.) Our traffic has started to rival the famed Westside of LA traffic. And lower income folks are moving out of this town because they cannot afford to stay here.

I’m glad to read that Bill wants to address the affordable housing issue over the next four years. Sadly, that train left the station quite a while ago. Pasadena does have an affordable housing ordinance, but developers can buy their way out if their deep pockets are so inclined (scroll down to “The Breakdown”). (link)

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Update #2: Aaron Proctor and I were emailing back and forth about this today, too, and he posts an excerpt from one of his emails in Rant to a friend:

It’s a shame that this city actually doesn’t care if low income people can’t afford to live here. My friend and his wife have two kids and are taking care of their 100+ year old grandmother and live in a house that they can’t afford to live in anymore. They’re probably going to move back to Nevada..they can’t afford to live here anymore. But, hey, as long as the Paseo is cashing in on people who live in Arcadia, Monrovia, and surrounding cities – who the hell cares about Pasadena? (link)

And here’s a snip from one of my emails:

I don’t want Pasadena to grow by squeezing people out. I want it to grow for everyone. Otherwise, everyone loses. Squeezing people out hurts the squeezers and the squeezees. I don’t want us to become sterile and chain-storey and even more isolated and lonely and afraid.