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Opponents of the downtown Eden Housing development have focused on one single-minded goal: Exploit whatever means are available, including filing a succession of bogus lawsuits, to delay the project.
The Appellate Court has hammered what is, hopefully, the final coffin nail into their misguided and outrageously expensive campaign.
A pair of community groups, primarily funded by the wealthy owner of The Independent, have doggedly fought all aspects of the housing project. The first legal challenge, brought by Save Livermore Downtown (SLD) in 2021, centered on whether the design codes and environmental rules were properly followed. The courts ruled they were proper, and fined SLD $500,000 for filing a frivolous lawsuit designed to delay affordable housing.
Following SLD’s failed lawsuit, Move Eden Housing (MEH) was formed to continue opposing the project. It gathered signatures for a referendum seeking to overturn a 2022 Council action to implement the housing project and build Veterans Park.
Lengthy legal battles recently came to an important inflection point with the Appellate Court ruling that the city’s administrative actions to implement the housing cannot be subject to referendum. The court noted that the Veterans Park part of the project was the only portion of the city’s actions that could be legitimately subjected to a referendum. In its ruling in favor of the City and Eden Housing, the Appellate Court called MEH’s legal arguments “absurd”.
Throughout it all, MEH has professed a commitment to affordable housing. If this is the case, then why does MEH persist in subjecting this process to continued legal action?
If MEH really wanted affordable housing they would be cheering the City’s development on a site the city purchased with funds specifically designated for this purpose, not wasting money on legal actions against the project and the community.
Our downtown and business community desperately need housing for the employees that keep our local economy thriving!
Over the years, this same group of many names has also sponsored political action committees to engage in a seemingly endless effort to prevent important progress in our downtown. They’ve fortunately been largely unsuccessful, despite spending millions on elections. Thankfully our local leaders remain committed to a vibrant downtown and a community that is welcoming to all.
The net result is a shameful legacy of harm to those families deserving the housing. Had SLD and MEH not engaged in these actions, the housing would have been built and occupied. Instead, millions of dollars that could have benefited our community have been spent sowing division and preventing the creation of desperately needed workforce housing.
Kudos to the current City Council and Eden Housing for staying the course. We can’t let bullies win.
Editor’s Note: Bob Woerner is a longtime Livermore resident and former mayor. He spent over a decade on the City Council and steadfastly supports the approved downtown vision, including the housing.
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