Recently, Laura Foote Clark, Executive Director of YIMBY Action gave compelling and hilarious testimony to implore commissioners to ignore the “crazy people like her” who show up to (land use) hearings. This video is a little too real for so many of us.
Many volunteers around the country are working to bring more housing choices to growing cities. The Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) movement is growing.
Some of these organizations are called Abundant _(your city), or _(your city)_ for Everyone, but nothing is quite like SF YIMBY. SF YIMBY is located in San Francisco with member organizations: East Bay Forward, SFBARF, YIMBY Action, CaRLA, Progress Noe Valley. Kim-Mai Cutler (@kimmaicutler), helped start a national movement when she wrote “How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SF’s Housing Crisis Explained). Sonja Trauss’ bad assery (SF BARF // SF Bay Area Renters’ Federation) inspired the first ever YIMBY (un)Conference in 2016.
I am continuously inspired by the Bay Area activists working on housing, especially the intersectional lens of Victoria Fierce of East Bay Forward. Join me, along with many other folks from Seattle, in attending the 2017 YIMBYTOWN Conference. July 13th through 16th in Oakland, CA. SF Yimby has a podcast “The Infill”, and a store, too.
Laura Loe (Bernstein)
Laura Loe (Bernstein) is an educator, musician, and gardener from Colombia/NY/LA/Chicago who has lived in Seattle since 2009. Her writing has appeared in Data for Progress, The Urbanist, The Seattle Globalist, South Seattle Emerald, and International Examiner. She is passionate about womxn urbanist voices, climate justice, community ownership, equitable community development and renters' rights. Laura founded Share the Cities with like-minded folks and performs civic matchmaking that leads to unlikely allyships. She tweets as @sharethecities and @lauraloeseattle and is supported by 90 monthly patrons on Patreon.