In the Media
Media Coverage of Urban Habitat Programs and Allies
Urban Habitat works in coalition with Bay Area and national organizations on environmental and social justice campaigns. Here's a selection of recent media releases and press coverage featuring UH and our allies.
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San Leandro development proposal draws mixed reaction
Dateline:
08/09/2008SAN LEANDRO — In its inaugural meeting with the public, the developer for the city's first transit-oriented development project was met with cheers and jeers as it laid out the proposed plans and tried to gain feedback from residents.
Many of the objectors were residents of the Pacific Plaza condominium complex near the BART station. They said they vehemently opposed the development proposal because they feared it would attract an influx of low-income residents and drag down property values.
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Press Release: Alameda County Hosts National Initiative to Reduce Health Disparities
Dateline:
07/23/2008OAKLAND, Calif., July 23, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Alameda County Place Matters Team will host a three-day meeting July 24-26 at the Oakland Marriott to address the social conditions that lead to poor health outcomes in individuals from low-income and communities of color. Over 100 representatives from 24 U.S. cities and counties will attend. Place Matters is a national initiative of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' Health Policy Institute and is funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
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Press Release: Chevron Offers Richmond $61 Million to Approve Refinery Expansion
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07/16/2008Related stories:
No More Excuses by Juliet Ellis
Dateline:
07/07/2008This Opinion piece appeared in The Independent, a weekly newspaper serving the Pleasanton area. Urban Habitat is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city for it's failure to build the amount of affordable housing as required by law. In response to a City Attorney's comments, Executive Director Juliet Ellis wrote the following Letter to the Editor which appeared in the Independent's July 3, 2008 Edition.
Given his statements last week (Affordable Housing Lawsuit Back in Play, June 26, 2008) Pleasanton City Attorney Michael Roush apparently needs to study up on his basic arithmetic.
As stated in the article, the City has reneged on its promise in the last Housing Element to rezone enough land for some 800 units of lower-income housing by June 2004. An additional 3,277 new units were allocated this month for the next planning period. For Mr. Roush’s benefit, that’s more than 4,000 units now needed, significantly more than the 2,755 units remaining under the 29,000-unit Housing Cap according to the City’s own staff report.
Court of Appeals reinstates affordable housing lawsuit against city of Pleasanton
Dateline:
06/23/2008The California Court of Appeal has reinstated a 2006 lawsuit claiming the city of Pleasanton has failed to meet its affordable housing obligations due to exclusionary policies and practices.
The ruling allows the group Urban Habitat and Pleasanton resident Sandra De Gregorio to pursue their challenge to the city's voter-approved housing cap and growth management program, as well as ask the court to require the city to rezone land for affordable housing.
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AC Transit to pitch $48 property tax
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06/10/2008AC Transit's board of directors had been scheduled to consider a fare increase, including raising base fares from $1.75 to $2 and a highly controversial youth pass boost from $15 to $28 a month.
A recent poll commissioned by AC Transit showed that the required two-thirds majority of residents of the district it serves, in western Alameda and Contra Costa counties from Richmond to Fremont, would support a parcel tax increase of $4 a month. Agency officials estimate the tax would raise an estimated $14 million a year.
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Transit crunch may spark new vision
Dateline:
06/06/2008
OAKLAND, Calif. — Just when soaring gas prices, clogged highways and deepening worries about global warming are leading Americans to abandon their cars for public transit, a budget squeeze is wrapping itself like a boa constrictor around the nation’s public transit systems.
But those very factors could inspire a new national vision of transit’s vital role.
The New York Times recently reported that transit ridership has grown by at least 5 percent this year in New York and Boston, while other metropolitan areas in the South and West have seen ridership soar by as much as 10-15 percent.
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KPFA reports on AC Transit Rally
Dateline:
05/21/2008Listen to Wendell Harper's report on KPFA by clicking here.
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Bus rates spark rally
Dateline:
05/21/2008OAKLAND — AC Transit riders protested outside City Hall and packed the Oakland City Council chamber Wednesday to oppose a package of bus fare increases, focusing their primary energy against a plan to nearly double the cost of monthly youth passes.
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