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GUEST COMMENTARY - As City Hall continues to prioritize fast-tracking development, one bill moving through Sacramento deserves close scrutiny—and firm opposition from every Angeleno who values community input, public safety, and environmental justice. That bill is SB 607.
At first glance, SB 607 is framed as a fix for California’s housing crisis—a way to clear “obstacles” to urban housing and clean energy projects. But a deeper look reveals a far more troubling reality: SB 607 undermines the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), weakens oversight of major developments, and all but silences the very communities most affected by these projects.
UN4LA (United Neighborhoods for Los Angeles), a coalition advocating for sustainable planning and accountable government, is calling on CityWatch readers to understand what this bill really does—and to help stop it.
💥 SB 607 Dismantles CEQA Protections
At its core, SB 607 eliminates CEQA’s long-standing “fair argument” standard. This standard gives residents the ability to trigger environmental review when credible evidence suggests a project may cause significant harm.
SB 607 removes this safeguard, handing unchecked power to unelected bureaucrats and developers, and allowing cities to ignore red flags raised by community members and experts alike.
In other words: If SB 607 passes, your neighborhood could be impacted—and your voice won't matter.
🔥 It Puts Public Safety at Risk—Especially in Fire Zones
Despite years of wildfires and expanding high-risk zones, SB 607 would make it easier to bypass fire safety reviews for development in vulnerable areas. CEQA currently requires developers to study evacuation routes and wildfire risks. SB 607 says: don’t bother.
This is not just shortsighted—it’s dangerous.
🔒 It Slashes Transparency and Legal Recourse
The bill also limits public oversight by excluding email records from administrative hearings, shielding flawed decisions from public scrutiny. And it curbs the legal rights of communities to challenge unjust approvals.
The message is clear: Developers win. The public gets shut out.
🚧 It Weakens Oversight for Mega Projects—Not Just Housing
SB 607 supporters claim it’s about building “sustainable housing” and “clean energy.” But buried in the bill is the reality: it eases approvals for massive infrastructure and industrial projects like:
- Freeways and airports
- Landfills and incinerators
- Power plants and prisons
- Dams and desalination facilities
These are not the kinds of projects CEQA lawsuits have historically blocked. And yet SB 607 shields them from review—while offering no evidence to support its premise that CEQA is a major barrier to environmentally beneficial development.
🚫 Transit-Oriented Development Isn’t Working—And SB 607 Ignores the Data
Proponents claim that more housing near transit will reduce car usage and emissions. But the data say otherwise.
According to multiple reports from the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and the California Air Resources Board, transit ridership has been steadily declining, even as new high-density housing goes up near stations.
In fact, Los Angeles has cut transit lines in high-density areas like Hollywood because of low ridership—even as thousands of new units have been built.
Transit-oriented development may sound good on paper, but SB 607 is built on false assumptions that don't hold up in practice.
⚖️ Environmental Injustice: A Dangerous Step Backward
SB 607 will hit low-income communities and communities of color the hardest—those already living near industrial sites, freeways, and polluting infrastructure. By removing environmental review and limiting public input, it increases the risk of new developments in these already burdened neighborhoods.
Even the Senate’s own analysis acknowledges that SB 607 “has the potential to increase… the legacy of environmental injustice in California.”
📣 What We Need Instead: Real Planning, Not Reckless Fast-Tracking
SB 607 isn’t smart planning—it’s a developer giveaway masquerading as housing reform.
If we truly want to build a sustainable, equitable California, we need policies that:
- Preserve environmental safeguards
- Expand—not restrict—community engagement
- Address housing needs with thoughtful, evidence-based solutions
- Hold developers and agencies accountable
✊ Take Action: Say No to SB 607
UN4LA urges CityWatch readers and Los Angeles residents to contact your state legislators and urge them to oppose SB 607. We must not allow Sacramento to silence our communities and greenlight unchecked development at the expense of people and the planet.
For more information, visit www.un4la.com
(Adapted from a letter by Casey Maddren, UN4LA.)
(CityWatch provides a platform for community voices. Views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch editors or contributors.)
