Barring major cuts to the city budget, MEASURE W is the only way Whittier can continue to provide the services we rely on while working to solve some of our most pressing issues.
Category: Opinions
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Opinion: Senate Bill 50 Failed and My Generation Still Has No Place to Live
Moving back home to Downey, California was a tough transition but was going to be a short one, I assumed. “This is temporary!” I assured my mom, who only had a couch to offer me. “No need to unpack the boxes, I’ll be out of here in no time.” A year later and I’m still living at home.
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Opinion: Homes For Whittier Says We Should Build Granny Flats
Honestly, having a legally sound ADU ordinance is just the beginning. Whittier should be actively promoting ADUs (e.g. City website, bill inserts, Park and Rec classes), letting people know that building one is an option, making sure fees are reasonable and in line with other cities, making standard plans available and making low-interest loans or other financial help available for construction.
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Resolving to Do Better on Homelessness
A public safety response to homelessness is neither effective nor fiscally responsible. Ordinances that disproportionately impact people with nowhere else to be, when they are otherwise committing no crime, shouldn’t exist. Period.
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A Call for Civility at City Hall
Tolerating hate speech, yelling, and clapping at Whittier City Council meetings is uncivil and invites lawlessness. The editor of Sustainable City News calls on City Council to make Public Comment safe by standing firm for civility.
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A Journalist's Welcome to Sustainable City News
I salute the founders of this paper on their mission to spread the gospel of Whittier, at a time when we need to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable more than ever before — and at a time where too many want to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted.
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Opinion Editorial: Whittier’s Mayor Is Right—But Also Wrong
The fastest way to add affordable housing at the lowest cost to the city is through gentle densification. The state has helped us by allowing ADUs ("back houses" and "granny flats") to be added in areas zoned for single-family residences.
The City of Whittier can facilitate homeowners’ adding these units at little or no cost to the city just by setting and meeting a goal to issue at least 100 ADU building permits every six months.
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Opinion: Conservancy Helped Save Parks Department and Tree Ordinance
To reduce expenses, the city announced plans to fire the entire Parks Department staff and contract park maintenance and tree trimming to outside sources. This proposal met with fierce resistance from the community, especially within the context of the homeless problems affecting our parks.
The Whittier Conservancy took an active role in opposing this decision. Most importantly, without a locally based, in-house staff, it would have been impossible to implement our Tree Ordinance.
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Open Letter to Whittier's Mayor re: "Blight"
The real issue that I take with your mailer is your use of the word "blight" in describing what is going on.
Blight, as I'm sure you know, is a disease in plants. The Oxford English Dictionary calls blight "a thing that spoils or damages".
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Opinion Editorial: The Active Hope of Advent
My friend and I shared breakfast with people encamped in our city park. A local congregation and advocacy group rustled up burritos and coffee before the neighborhood protest began. We stood with campers, as a small group of disheartened citizens honked horns, waved humiliating signs, but mostly glared. I approached each group who had skin...