Jordan Grimes 🚰 Profile picture
Aug 19 39 tweets 6 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Good evening, Twitter! I’m spending my Friday night in the affluent Bay Area suburb of Millbrae, where the county is presenting a plan to turn a hotel into ~100 homes for unhoused residents.

It appears that the entire city is here, and they are *pissed*. 🧵 Image
It’s gonna be hard to live tweet, because there’s no wifi and my cell service is pretty bad. Also, I’m in an overflow area where it’s hard to hear. But I’ll do my best!
Some background on Millbrae: it's home to SFO, and has, like many cities in San Mateo County, a very high median household income ($141k/year, specifically).

Also like many other cities in San Mateo County, they've built very little housing in the last decade.
County Executive Mike Callagy is doing yeoman's work right now, trying to explain functional zero, and how our lack of affordable housing in San Mateo County and extremely high incomes mean our area is unaffordable to most, and is pushing people into homelessness.
The crowd is rowdy and angry, booing the County Exec until he’s drowned out completely. Multiple times.
We’re on to public comments/questions now. Someone from a nearby HOA wants to know how this will affect their property values, street safety, etc. Because of course.
County staff are attempting to answer questions, but people outside are clearly having their own conversations, yelling and drowning staff out
Another question: why are you taking care of the homeless instead of teachers, police, and nurses? Why are we taking care of the homeless?

County Exec Callagy: *all* housing is important and needed in this county.

Author’s note: that’s goddamn right
Someone else asks why Millbrae is the only option for homekey projects.

Author’s note: there are more than half a dozen other homekey projects throughout the county in other cities
New comment: where is the environmental impact report?!

🙃🙃🙃
County Exec Callagy is explaining that permanent supportive housing projects like this are exempt from environmental review under state law.

We love to hear it!
Ah, we’ve got our first “we pay taxes!” comment. Then “how many supervisors live in cities with Homekey projects.

Author’s note: pretty sure it’s at least 3?
Next audience question: “County Manager Callagy, do you care about our children? They are our future.”

Again, this is the rhetoric being used to oppose housing for the homeless

🙃🙃🙃
Next question: can’t you house homeless people in the rural areas of California instead? Why should they live here?

Woof.
First comment of Callagy’s tonight that I disagree with. He says none of in this room created this situation, but that we’re trying to fix it.

On the contrary, the people in this room, and people like them, are the entire reason we have a crisis to begin with.
Next question: why this site? Why not somewhere else? This would be right next to my house, and a homeless person could wander in and threaten the safety of my family.
Someone just asked how giving homeless people homes will solve homeless, and reader, I screamed
County exec Callagy: housing the homeless is the responsibility of every city and town in this county.

Overwhelming boos.
Got pulled into a long debate with someone standing next to me. The last question was: “why can’t this just go in San Francisco instead?”
The same person next to me is also complaining about new market rate housing in Millbrae 🙃
Next question: how do we vote to stop this project?

Author’s note: you do not
Someone else: whats the likelihood of the Homekey application being approved? Will you withdraw this Homekey application to help us?

County Exec Callagy: no.

Based.
Next question: there was a hotel conversion slated for Japantown. People protested, and it was stopped. Why can’t we do that here?

Author’s note: loooooooooool
Next person says homeless teachers deserve better and we should build real housing for them instead
Meta Moment: was just if I’m “that guy who tweets”

I confirmed that I am indeed “that guy”
Next question: what is the county doing to get rid of the homeless coming to Millbrae on BART?

First:🤮🤮🤮

Second: this entire meeting is about a project to house many of those very people, and you’re screaming about it!
Someone on the sidelines unacquainted with the finer points of how democracies work shouts: we’re starting to live under dictators!
Someone in the audience is once again screaming about environmental impacts, and how an EIR is needed here.

Callagy reminds folks that state housing law means EIRs aren't needed for projects like this.

People now shouting, hollering, etc.
Next question: why are we focusing on this [homeless housing] crap instead of truly affordable housing for single mothers?

Implies many people are lying about their income status, wants to know how the county will verify people are actually homeless
Next question: why are you placing a homeless shelter in Millbrae when Millbrae has no homeless problem?

The question after that: how can you do this when the sheriff can't handle the homeless problem as it is?

Author's note: incredible juxtaposition here
Tom, a 32 year resident who lives next door to the project says he supports it! He immediately gets booed. He asks what he, as a neighbor and resident, can do to help make this a success.

Thank you, Tom!!!
Things are getting *real* rowdy. A woman is refusing to step down from the podium after her minute speaking, saying she deserves more time since she organized a petition that got 5,000 signatures. Tons of screaming, cheering for her, booing the county, etc.
Next commenter is very worried that the unhoused people who move in to the project might get $100,000k tech jobs, not report it, and then get very low income housing and cheat the system.

Reader, once again, I am screaming (internally).
Someone says: "don't sugar coat this. It's a homeless shelter." Lots of cheering. Says he wants an "independent study" to show that Millbrae can afford this project.

Again, the median household income here is $141,000/yr.
More screaming 🙃
Meeting is over now. At the end, Mayor Schneider, a staunch opponent of the project, rallied the crowd and told them that Millbrae City Council will convene a special council meeting this week to try to figure out what they can do.

Gross.
People mobbing Supervisor Pine in the aftermath of the meeting. One woman told him he will be directly responsible when the first child gets molested by an unhoused person from this project.

Unbelievably awful.
Looks like the Millbrae residents found my thread 😂

For the record: I couldn't care less about how affluent you are as long as you're not blocking new housing! And I'm not villifying anyone here -- they're taking care of that all on their own!

Final tweet on this: an enormous thank you to County Exec Callagy and all our extraordinary county staff who're working so hard to make this project happen.

Despite incredible pressure and endless vitriol, they remain steadfast.

Grateful for their service and leadership!

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More from @cafedujord

Jul 12
Evening, all! I'm watching a local meeting in the affluent Bay Area suburb of Millbrae, home of SFO.

The council is hearing a county presentation on a plan to use state funds to purchase a convert a hotel into 100 units of homeless housing.

As expected, people are Big Mad. 🧵
We start with a fiery speech by the Mayor, chastising housing advocates, the county manager, etc.

Says Millbrae (median HH income $140,000/yr) is an underresourced community.

Says the city has no money, hasn't done a tree inventory since 1992. "We have no swimming program."
In a rejoinder to the County Manager, who earlier said that homelessness is the biggest issue in the county, Mayor Schneider says that homelessness may be his biggest issues, but hers is the climate.

Then says something about how they need more trees.
Read 59 tweets
May 3
I’m in the Bay Area suburb of Santa Clara tonight supporting an interim housing project for 30 unhoused families. Debate and opposition are fierce.

We’re on hour 10, over two council meetings, with 12+ more hours in 4 community meetings.

How does this process make any sense? ImageImageImageImage
Councilmember Becker speaking now, explaining his parent's history of housing insecurity and being priced out, unhoused family members, and why he's supporting the project.

The audience shouts him down, and the mayor has to bang her gavel. Several times.
CM Becker brings up the HBO show Show Me A Hero, the history of racism and exclusion in housing, and the need for compassion.

The audience is riled up, shouting him down, and the mayor once again has to call for order.
Read 32 tweets
May 2
This is the most concise piece I've seen on the mayoral recall effort in San Mateo.

Tl;dr: the city's Old Guard (NIMBYs, realtors, politicos of yesteryear) has largely lost their grip on power. They're willing to do or say anything to regain it.

sfchronicle.com/bayarea/articl…
What's at stake are competing visions for the city: one as a walled off retirement community for the rich and nostalgic, and one that welcomes people of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.

You can guess which which one I (and Mayor Lee) am fighting for.
Important background: Mayor Lee has *repeatedly* beaten the Old Guard at their own game.

Winning an appointment to council, winning a general election, outmaneuvering a NIMBY candidate in the city's most conservative district, etc.

They've lost a lot, and they're desperate.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 25
Happy Saturday, folks! It's been a minute, but I'm back once again to bring you the (best?) of statewide NIMBY group Livable California.

Today's discussion will feature updates on new state housing legislation that they're mad about.

As always, grab some🍿, 🧵starts here!
I tuned in a little late, and hopped in during the middle of some complaining about courts upholding housing laws, as well as the Washington State Supreme Court upholding a new tax on capital gains.

Lol, lmao, etc.
Per LCA President Rick Hall, the org has supported 10 bills, opposing 8.

A while ago, the org figured out they needed to start supporting stuff so as to not be written off completely. Hasn't really worked though.

Here's a link to their letters.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/… Image
Read 30 tweets
Mar 23
Evening, folks. I'm currently attending a community meeting on an interim housing project via Project Homekey for unhoused residents in the Bay Area suburb of Santa Clara.

Previous meetings have been extremely heated. There are nearly 400 people in the Zoom. 🧵starts here!
A summary of all the concerns thus far. And there are...many. Chief among them: safety and property values. Image
Staff says that some of the biggest complaints have been about height, and whether or not the project could have fewer units. This is apparently being explored.

☹️
Read 48 tweets
Mar 22
Hey, folks! Want to hear from California legislators on how to solve the state's affordable housing crisis via new legislation? @HACdotorg, @cayimby, @gbeltalliance and @yimbyaction have you covered!

Sign up below, or follow along here! 🧵

actionnetwork.org/events/afforda…
First up is Assemblymember @BuffyWicks: says we need $100B over the next 10 years for affordable housing, which is why she's introduced a new housing bond.

"This issue has metastasized into such a crisis that we have to grapple with that."
Asm. Wicks continues, talking about starting the select committee on social housing! Says we need all ideas on the table.

"We put people on the moon, we can solve homelessness if we want to. We just need the political will."
Read 20 tweets

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