Three of San Mateo’s five City Council seats were up for grabs in November, when newcomers Adam Loraine, Lisa Diaz Nash and Rob Newsom won. The drama around Lee started in December, when the balance of power on the City Council over housing decisions was at stake in the wake of the recent election. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle 2020 Council election and the balance of power San Mateo Mayor Amourence Lee is the target of a recall campaign over her housing stance. “It really does come back to what the city looks like … who is allowed to live here.” “Housing is the linchpin, but it’s really a power struggle between an older generation and new generation and competing visions for the future of San Mateo,” he told The Chronicle. Lifelong San Matean and pro-housing activist Jordan Grimes agreed that more than just recent politics was at play.
“Amourence does not represent all San Mateans.” “Many of us are concerned about the level of development and how that’s going to affect San Mateo as a suburban city,” he said, adding that he believes state goals can be met while preserving existing height and density limits, despite letters from the state saying otherwise. Michael Weinhauer, a longtime San Matean and community activist who is spearheading Lee’s attempted ouster, said that the drive to recall her was the result of her being “disdainful” and unwilling to compromise - but how the city will meet its state-mandated goal of 7,000 new units over the next eight years “ties directly to this conversation.” But in San Mateo, an affluent city of 102,000, the dispute is central to a power struggle among factions in the city that threatens to bring down pro-housing Mayor Amourence Lee. It’s the same conflict playing out in many cities in the Bay Area, where the state’s mandate to build nearly half a million housing units by 2030 has met fierce resistance from residents opposed to growth in their communities.
0 kommentar(er)
