The Urbanist was part of a coalition of organizations that hosted a candidate forum Thursday evening focused on transportation and land use. The six leading mayoral candidates participated as did six of the most prominent contenders to replace retiring Councilmember Tim Burgess, in at-large District 8. The mayoral video is posted below for those interested in watching, while the city council video is partway through this article.
The forum offered an excellent glimpse at how candidates think about mobility and housing. Here are some things that stood out.
Candidates say they want to expand housing options in single family zones.
In both the mayoral and council seat 8 forum, the candidates indicated they support allowing missing middle housing types like triplexes and backyard cottages in single-family zones. They differed on implementation. State Senator Bob Hasegawa, for example, said he’d hand control over to neighborhood councils to decide where density goes in their respective neighborhoods. It’s hard to see that leading to an equitable process or distribution of growth. Making changes happen in single-family zones is going to require backbone, as Mayor Ed Murray backing down on the issue back in 2015 demonstrated.
All candidates talk changes they'd make to HALA. Mosqueda, McGregor & Secrest call for changing SF zoning. Others said yes in questionnaires
— The Urbanist (@UrbanistOrg) June 23, 2017
