OK, so, the Fortuna City Council was well into its agenda Monday night, in what would be a four-hour meeting after all was said, ranted and done, when Sean Armstrong, project manager for Danco Communities, stood up to answer some questions about his company’s plans to build low-income housing on land the city had bought and set aside for just that purpose. The land, however, is zoned residential single family, and the Danco project — 35 low- and very low-income “townhome-style” units — would require a rezone to residential multi-family, a General Plan amendment and an easement from a nearby church. This was a public hearing on the proposed rezone.
It’s a sticky issue, rezoning. Fortuna’s in the midst of updating its general plan; meanwhile, would-be developers keep knocking on the city’s propped-open door. But how can the city make decisions about rezones and housing when it doesn’t even know what its new housing element’s going to be, asked Councilman Douglas Strehl. Indeed, every time one of these proposals comes up it reminds the council that the city hasn’t yet answered some pretty key questions. Like, what does Fortuna want to be when it grows up? Who will it associate with? And so on.
But Councilman Dean Glaser is pretty clear about what he doesn’t want. He said he was leery of the rezone, and that he knew of “horror stories … marital disturbances” and such associated with these sorts of high-density low-income developments. He wants homeowners, not lowlifes (OK, he didn’t quite use the term “lowlifes”).
Glaser’s soliloquy on what makes a good neighbor — in the first clip, below — was followed by a severe upbraiding by Armstrong — the second clip.
(The clips are from a disc Access Humboldt, which broadcasts the City of Fortuna’s council meetings on Channel 10, was kind enough to make for us.)
This article appears in Codes, Damned Codes.
Dean Glaser:
Quit making an ass of yourself.
Signed,
Everybody.
Thanks for posting the video. It was worth watching.
Nice to see Sean take that guy to task.
I think Dean said what lots of people think. I’ve run into these incorrect stereotypes all over rural California, and they’re informed by experiences with crummy apartment complexes, which is most of them. These places have few, if any, house rules and no enforcement mechanism. They don’t screen tenants and they don’t remove problem tenants (it only takes one or two to ruin the experience for everyone and create a terrible reputation). They’re not maintained, they have no common lawn or playground, no place to garden, etc. etc. They suck as a place to live.
So, to that extent, I think Dean is accurately speaking a stereotype that many people have, and that stereotype has its origins in reality. But it doesn’t reflect modern affordable housing projects–it comes from low rent market rate complexes with absentee landlords/slumlords.
Sean:
You did a masterful job of making Glaser, and the stereotype he represents, look like a fool without offending him. Your style is quite admirable. I am very impressed.
I too thank Heidi for posting this.
Sean, you managed a flash point like a pro. You delivered persuasive information. It would have been so easy to be insulting or at least condensending.
Fortuna, many miles and decades away from civilized America.
Undoubtedly many people privately think such things. But almost no where else in this country would someone as prejudiced and ignorant as Mr. Glaser be elected to office, and be so smugly confident to say such things in a public forum.