Save SJ land; vote no on Measure B and vote yes on C

Measure B, the Evergreen Senior Homes initiative on San Jose’s June ballot, is a scam.

It would allow housing to be built on far more than Evergreen’s rural land.

It overrides the publicly approved citywide general plan with a “senior housing overlay” that allows homes to be built on “underutilized employment land” anywhere. This is land now reserved for job creation to strengthen the city’s tax base.

“Underutilized.” There is nothing more “underutilized” than open space. For instance: Coyote Valley.

Vote no on Measure B, a measure promulgated by billionaire developers at the expense of San Jose’s taxpayers and environment.

And vote yes on Measure C, a measure sponsored by the mayor and City Council that would retain some public voice in plans for open land at the city’s edge. Measure C would require fiscal and environmental review and, if housing is approved, require 50 percent to be affordable.

Most of the 910 units of senior housing sought in Evergreen’s industrial-zoned land are not for struggling moms and pops: 80 percent will be a gated community of milliondollar homes for people 55 or older. The 20 percent of affordable apartments will, of course, be outside the walls, and developers will be exempt from city requirements to build them concurrently with the market-rate homes.

If all the land potentially affected by Measure B citywide could no longer be used for economic development, it would result in a $24.5 million annual budget deficit. San Jose would lose its capacity to add the jobs it needs for a stable tax base like ones built by Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto.

The rural Coyote Valley at the southern edge of San Jose for decades has been reserved for premium job-creating development. Many now believe this rich farming and wildlife corridor should never be developed at all. For either purpose, if Measure B passes, kiss it good-bye.

The developers’ campaign for Measure B and against Measure C argues that C is too complex. Yes, land use is a legally complex topic. But Measure B is 367 pages — read it, we dare you — and rife with contradictions and empty promises.

One of them is to try to give a “preference” to veterans for housing. Under most circumstances, this would be illegal.

See for yourself. Read the arguments and analyses of these measures on the ballot or on the City of San Jose election website. Look at the Yes and No campaigns’ websites. Notice who is supporting Measure B and who is not. Hint: Opponents include the AARP, League of Women Voters, affordable housing advocates including the grassroots PACT and the watchdog Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility.

Measure B is not about Evergreen. It is about breaking San Jose’s general plan to benefit developers. Vote no on B. And vote yes on Measure C to strengthen protection of rural land, whether B passes or not.

Election 2018