Letters: Bill for housing near transit further threatens neighborhoods

SB 79 requires six- to seven-story residential buildings within a half-mile of qualifying transit stops, a designation that can include some bus stops. Single-family neighborhoods averaging about eight houses per acre would face adjacent high-density developments that could not be stopped if the bill passes. Cities would be compelled to upzone additional areas as more transit stops qualify. The bill has passed the California Senate and awaits an Assembly vote. Dennis Rockstroh wrote the "Action Line" column for a decade, providing researched solutions, guidance to readers, teaching students, and helping new arrivals. A letter expresses gratitude to public health workers for their commitment to health and safety.

SB 79, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, mandates that six- to seven-story residential buildings be built within a half-mile radius of any qualifying transit stops, which include some bus stops. This is beyond what has already been mandated along linear corridors and with the housing elements plan. A single-family home neighborhood currently has about eight houses per acre. These will be near developments that cannot be stopped if this bill passes.

My thanks to the family of Dennis Rockstroh for including his life story in the "In Memoriam" page of this week's newspaper. As always, I learned much more about this reporter whose name and face had been so familiar to me. For 10 years, he wrote one of my favorite Mercury News columns, "Action Line." He was our go-to resource when all else had failed. We knew we could count on him to research our toughest problems and give us his best guidance.

Read at The Mercury News