After a contentious, divisive and expensive detour into the initiative process, we're relieved that efforts to fine-tune the city's affordable housing policies are back on the right track.
Efforts by Citizens for a Balanced Community to place a poorly designed initiative on the November ballot were thwarted by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Kleinberg earlier this month. Kleinberg agreed with the city's contention that the initiative, if passed, would have put the city in violation of several state laws.
Leaders of the initiative process made the right decision - and saved the Morgan Hill community untold additional legal expenses - when they declined to appeal Kleinberg's decision to a higher court.
Back in talks
This week, talks resumed between the city and leaders of the initiative effort. Those talks are aimed at finding ways to improve the city's affordable housing policies without gutting them. After all, these policies are, in large part, what make Morgan Hill a truly balanced community with homes available to people across the income spectrum.
We believe that this negotiation process - which, before it broke down amid petition drives and a shamefully conducted initiative campaign, produced agreement on several important points - can yield results that address developers' concerns and protect our balanced community at the same time.
Checks and balances worked
The real estate market is in a tailspin, in part because a correction for sky-high real estate prices was overdue. That needed correction was enhanced by recession and the the mortgage crisis. But we need to heed Councilmember Marby Lee's wise words: "I don't know that changing the whole structure of the (below-market-rate homes) program was the solution for a temporary economic climate," she said.
Things are tough right now, but that's not unusual: The real estate is cyclical. Home builders, developers and Realtors have to take the good times with the bad. It's not in the city's best interest to decimate its affordable housing policies to address a temporary situation.
Let's work together to adjust to Morgan Hill's affordable housing policies that make sense for the long-term best interest of everyone in our community, wealthy or working class, well-connected or invisible.
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Contact the Morgan Hill City Council to let them know your feelings on the issue. (408) 779-7271 or via their Web site: www.morganhill.ca.gov.
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