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A case for taller buildings

Charles Siegel, Berkeley
Monday September 09, 2002

To the Editor: 

 

Does Howie Muir expect anyone to take him seriously when he says (Forum, Sept. 6) that he not only wanted to scale down the proposed apartment building on San Pablo Ave., but also wanted it to be “as high as 100 percent” affordable housing? Scaling down the building would make it less feasible economically, and requiring that much affordable housing would make it totally infeasible economically.  

Maybe Muir should have used the same tactic in the height initiative. The initiative is such a drastic “down-zoning” that virtually no housing would be built if it passes. He could have added a provision to the initiative requiring developers to make 100 percent of their units affordable – which would guarantee that absolutely no housing would be built. 

In his suit against the city, Muir is using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) against the environment. By working against smart growth in Berkeley, he is working for worse sprawl, worse auto dependency, worse air pollution and worse global warming.  

 

 

Charles Siegel, 

Berkeley