Monday Morning Bullpen: SB 9 Ordinance, Homeless Count and Budget Hearings Continue

Looks like Monday’s City Council meeting could be a short one. The over-under probably should be somewhere right about 6 p.m.

Hard to call when you don’t know how many ceremonial matters are scheduled.

Here are the items to watch.

The City Council will conduct the second reading of an ordinance amending the zoning code in response to SB 9.

Last week, the council approved the zoning code amendments which provide protections for landmark districts.

The ordinance replaces the city’s interim urgency ordinance which made statewide news after Attorney General Rob Bonta took the city to task and claimed the city had violated the law by exempting “landmark districts.”

Of course we know the state is in the midst of a housing crisis.

But a funny thing happened after the City Council approved the zoning code amendments last week.

Bonta praised the city for the ordinance in a statement, and quite frankly I didn’t know what in the wide world of sports he was talking about when I read it in context with his first statement.

From his letter in March:
“The ordinance attempts to broadly exempt from SB 9 compliance any areas that the City chooses to designate as ‘landmark districts’ despite no such exemption existing within SB 9.”

Keep that in mind as you read this from his statement last week after the council passed a zoning code amendment protecting landmark districts from SB 9.

“Pasadena’s proposed ordinance, first considered by the City Council last night, is a reflection of our successful collaboration with the City and an important step forward. We appreciate the City for working with us on this issue, and we hope the City Council will move swiftly to approve the ordinance in the days ahead.”

Talk about trying to have it every which way.

Either that or he can hide his own Easter eggs and not remember where they are five minutes later.

Anyway, kudos to the Mayor and the City Council for standing firm on the issue, which went through the Planning Commission.

Gordo got it right, Bonta was wrong when he came down on the city over the issues.

Obviously, the two sides spoke afterwards based on Bonta’s account. Pasadena made the right decision not joining the lawsuit over SB-9 filed by a group of other So Cal cities.

The city was doing what the law allows. Bonta had the problem, not Pasadena.

Still it will be interesting to see how that lawsuit plays out. On a previous issue a different attorney general said cities had to change their election calendars to comply with a law designed to increase voter turnout.

Redondo Beach, the same city leading this lawsuit, won in court on that matter and maintained the right to control its own elections.

The state can get it wrong.

The other item on Monday’s agenda is an information item on the results of the homeless count. Findings in the annual count showed a slight decrease in the number of homeless people sleeping on Pasadena’s streets at night.

Budget hearings continue during committee meetings this week.