Maybe if they’d actually built some housing over the years, rather than pandering to NIMBYs, some could afford to remain in California (but why would they want to?).
Via Santa Cruz Sentinel:
ALAMEDA- Despite months of rising anger over evictions and double-digit rent increases, sleepy Alameda was hardly the place anyone expected the first blood to be shed over the Bay Area’s affordable housing crisis.
But that’s exactly what happened Wednesday night when a scuffle during a heated City Council meeting resulted in the hospitalization of a city official and the arrest of two men, including one whose blood spilled on the floor when he was tackled by a police officer.
In a year that has seen Richmond battle over rent control, San Francisco activists target Airbnb, and Oakland put the brakes on a luxury apartment complex viewed as an agent of gentrification, Alameda renters and landlords have spent months working together to help stop excessive rent hikes.
That effort’s unraveling, and the increasingly hostile nature of landlord-tenant relations across the region was laid bare Wednesday night at the raucous Alameda City Council meeting.
As the city prepared to pass the strongest tenant protections in Alameda history, property owners filled the council chamber, forcing tenant advocates to chant outside for a chance to address officials.
After an hour of mostly landlord testimony, tenant advocates had had enough. Bob Davis, 68, rushed forward, fell and appeared to drag down Public Works Director Bob Haun, breaking his hip. Officers, who had been called to the council chamber as the tension ratcheted up, forced Davis to the ground, smearing his blood on the floor as onlookers accused them of brutality.