By Brian Maquena
May 24, 2022
LAKEWOOD, CA — Congested housing has arrived to Lakewood thanks to a state housing mandate.
City Council announced Tuesday that a single developer has purchased 11 single family residences in Lakewood with plans to transition them into 33 triplexes. The plans provide for no additional parking to makeup for the inevitable population congestion.
“This is a very significant threat to the city of Lakewood and communities likes ours,” said Councilman Todd Rogers, who took a campaign photo with state Speaker Anthony Rendon who passed the mandate. “They’re not just going to have one car.”
“Impacts on the neighborhoods...they’re going to be permanent.”
So why did Rogers campaign with the very state politician who passed the housing mandates?
The Lakewood Populist has reported on Rogers’ seemingly contradictory stance of being against the housing mandates while playing footsie with the very men who helped pass Senate Bill 9, otherwise known as SB9. The bill eliminates single family parcels in Lakewood by taking away the city’s ability to implement certain zoning laws.
State Speaker Anthony Rendon lives in Lakewood. It would at first appear that city leaders could pressure Rendon to not destroy his own city with housing mandates. But that wasn’t the case when Rogers took a campaign-styled photo with Rendon and state Senator Bob Archuleta, who also helped pass the mandates.
Michelle Hamlin, who is running against Rogers for Council district 1, has specifically called him out on his easy relationships with certain state and regional leaders.
“Any and all people who are making decisions and writing legislation...at odds with the safety and best interest of Lakewood citizens,” said Hamlin, describing whom she would challenge. “Everybody will be put on blast.”
Disclaimer: The Lakewood Populist has endorsed Michelle Hamlin.
“This is only the beginning,” Rogers said of the housing congestion. “We do know we have to fight on behalf of our community...otherwise Lakewood will cease being Lakewood eventually.”
The city has joined a lawsuit against SB9, but why not put Rendon and others on blast? At the very least, campaign-styled photos with Rendon do not help.
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