'Looking out for people who don't live there yet'
Development battles are fought hyperlocally, but the issues are resonating everywhere. In late 2018, in America to effectively end single-family zoning. Oregon followed soon after. California and New York have significantly expanded protections for renters. And as more economists give credence to the notion that a housing crisis can materially harm G.D.P., by exacerbating inequality and reducing opportunity, all of the Democratic presidential candidates have put forth .
They run the gamut from tax breaks for renters, to calls for more affordable housing funds, to plans for bringing federal muscle to bear on zoning reform. These ideas share a central conflict: Can city leaders — who in theory know local conditions best — be trusted to build the housing we need? Or will they continue to pursue policies that pump up property values, perpetuate sprawl, and punish low-income renters?
Mr. Falk began his career on the local control side of that debate. But somewhere along the Deer Hill odyssey, he started to sympathize with his insurrectionist opponents. His son lived in San Francisco and paid a fortune to live with a pile of roommates. His daughter was a dancer in New York, where the housing crunch was just as bad. It was hard to watch his kids struggle with rent and not start to think that maybe Ms. Trauss had a point.
"I'm not sure individual cities, left to their own devices, are going to solve this," he told me once. "They don't have the incentive to do so, because local voters are always going to protect their own interests instead of looking out for people who don't live there yet."
So he started to rebel. When California's governor at the time, Jerry Brown, threatened to override local control with a proposal to allow developers to build urban apartments "as of right" — bypassing most of the public process and hearings — Lafayette citizens were apoplectic. Mr. Falk, against his own interest, wrote a memo in favor of the idea.
"Cannot be trusted," "ineptitude," "disingenuously manipulating the City Council," "should be publicly and explicitly reprimanded" — these were some of the things citizens said in response. His future was untenable. The City Council reprimanded him, and when it came time for his contract negotiation, members of Save Lafayette protested a clause that would guarantee him severance of 18 months of pay if he was ever fired; a few months later he forfeited the amount — close to half a million dollars — and resigned.
"A city manager has a choice: You can just sit there and be this kind of neutral policy implementer, or you can insert yourself," Mr. Falk said. "Sitting in your office all day long, you have to ask the question, 'Why am I here, why am I doing this work?' At some point, I just think it's natural that you start making recommendations that you think are in the best interest, not just for the community, but society."
It's hard to look at what happened in Lafayette and see a population that acted rationally. After the 44-home plan was derailed, Mr. O'Brien activated an insurance policy that few people knew about: The terms of his negotiation with Mr. Falk allowed him to return to his original plan for 315 apartments. When residents learned at a City Council meeting that their agitation might have brought them full circle, they got so angry that a sheriff offered to escort one of Mr. O'Brien's employees to her car.
Mr. Falk, on the other hand, seems at peace. At the council meeting marking his departure, he sat, uncharacteristically, up front. The mayor gave him the honor of leading the room in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Falk had a resignation letter in front of him, but told the audience that he was only going to read it in part.
The portion he read was polite. It was about how he loved the city and believed Lafayette was a model of civility and democratic engagement and had a brilliant and professional staff. Afterward, people said nice things and Mr. Falk nodded thank you. The paragraphs he didn't read became public soon enough — and started making the rounds on Twitter.
"All cities — even small ones — have a responsibility to address the most significant challenges of our time: climate change, income inequality, and housing affordability," Mr. Falk had written. "I believe that adding multifamily housing at the BART station is the best way for Lafayette to do its part, and it has therefore become increasingly difficult for me to support, advocate for, or implement policies that would thwart transit density. My conscience won't allow it."
This essay was adapted from GOLDEN GATES: Fighting for Housing in America.
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