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STATEWIDE RALLIES TO PROTEST SB 79: EXPERTS WARN BILL PUTS PROFITS OVER SAFETY AND HOMEOWNERSHIP August 23, 2025 — San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Marin SAN DIEGO — On Saturday, August 23, Californians in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities will rally against Senate Bill 79, which allows developers to build large-scale housing projects within a half-mile of existing or proposed transit stops. Critics say the bill overrides local safety standards, infrastructure limits, and community input. The San Diego rally begins at 10 a.m. near the North Clairemont Recreation Center, corner of Genesee andBannock Avenue. State Senator Aisha Wahab told a group of California smart housing growth advocates during a recent Zoom call that “tech billionaire and developer money funneled through YIMBY lobbying is misleading younger legislators into thinking this is a simple fix for affordability.” She urged lawmakers to focus on protecting a pathway to homeownership, not locking Californians into high-cost rentals. Molly Mowery, Executive Director of the Community Wildfire Planning Center, told CalMatters in April 2025 that “no other state has as many wildfire requirements in place or direction on what communities have to include in their general plans,” warning those safeguards are often bypassed when statehousing mandates override local planning. Geoffrey Boomhower, wildfire policy researcher at UC San Diego, told CalMatters in May 2024, “We have all these homes that were built in places with pretty high fire risk during a period in which we weren’t thinking as much about the risk… The climate is making this worse.” A UC Berkeley-led study of 28 major California wildfires found that nearly 60 percent of destroyed buildings were rebuilt within six years, with no consistent trend toward making them more fire-resistant. NFABC supports building more homes but calls for smarter planning, community input, and safety first. “We all want more affordable housing,” said Marcella Bothwell, NFABC chair. “But this bill risks creating the next preventable tragedy.”
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