Bay Area League of Women Voters Board Meeting of November 15, 2021
There was an extended discussion about the Bay Area Monitor, with Project Manager Michael Adamson. The Monitor has existed as an arm of the LWVBA to help document the actions of regional agencies, which aren’t under the purview of a single city or county. He took on the job about six months ago, and with the print edition now discontinued, he is exploring ways to maximize the digital space, and looking for ways to include the perspectives of communities that are not normally covered. Contributions of articles by League members are welcome.
The Bay Area League continues to seek a Communications Director to coordinate the Board’s communications tasks. The Nominations Committee chair, Ann Draper, would welcome suggestions from local Leagues for this position as well as people generally interested in serving on the BAL Board. She can be contacted at adtp@comcast.net.
The first in a series (through 2021-22) of Bay Area Community Conversations presented by the Bay Area League (was) presented November 30. This “brown bag lunch” dialog on Environmental Justice featured a discussion with leaders from APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network), and BARHII (Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative). The Conversation was recorded and can be accessed at https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/jXowija7ny7LOXU_IUF0PijhzLdfJgTqDqISULgQIDpMPCmBr38PlseciHb2mm1Y.UB2KAL8rlgAmY849
Bay Area League Day will be held February 19, fully remotely via Zoom. The theme will be “Solving for Housing”. The event will take a holistic look at land-use planning involved in placing housing. Local League members interested in housing are urged to help plan the event by contacting League Day Chair Danielle Crider at daniellecrider4@gmail.com.
The issue of the shipment of coal by rail through the North Bay was discussed, and the Board explored the idea of recommending to LWVUS, the national League, that this be submitted as a possible topic of study, at the next national Convention. It was acknowledged that it is difficult to add new items to the League’s agenda for study, but several Leagues across the country have worked on this in their local jurisdictions. The best chance for moving this forward would be to have a study committee organized ahead of time and have some of the funding sources identified. All that is needed is a “mini-study” to deal with the gaps in positions. Leslie Stewart and Alex Starr were asked to investigate support from other local Leagues. BAL Board Policies will be reviewed within the next couple of months, and a new policy added that covers diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Kathleen Cha reported on Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA). In a nutshell: State law requires cities, towns, and counties to plan for the housing needs of residents. California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) determines the number of new homes that need to be built in order to meet these needs at all income levels. This process occurs every eight years. The numbers are passed on to the regions, which assign numbers to local jurisdictions, which have until July to appeal. After appeals are considered, the final allocations plan will be adopted in December, and local jurisdictions have until 2023 to submit their Housing Element updates. Kathleen said that “Locally, the Bay Area has been pretty good at meeting its goals”.
The next Bay Area League Board meeting took place on December 13 at 5:00 pm, though ordinarily they will occur on the third Monday of each month. See the the link for all the Board meetings: http://tiny.cc/LWVBAmonthlymeeting
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