Oct 28, 2007

It isn't easy being green

Editorial

While it's in vogue for local officials to talk about how important it is to go green, it seems a lot harder to back that up when faced with politically perilous high-density housing projects.

Despite their unpopularity, such projects can address the long Bay Area work commutes, which contribute to global warming.

Both the Palo Alto and Menlo Park city councils struggled with this version of the inconvenient truth recently, a reminder that we still face difficult choices if we truly want to protect our environment.

If the numbers being kicked around seem high, it's because they reflect a real need for affordable housing.

Palo Alto officials are struggling with an estimate that they need 2,860 more affordable housing units by 2015 to meet state housing guidelines, according to the Association of Bay Area Governments. Admittedly, the numbers seem fanciful given the current political environment.

City officials argue they have less than .5 percent of vacant land. Furthermore Palo Alto has only grown by about 4.7 percent over the last 30 years while ABAG officials are looking at growth projections of 26.6 percent for our area by 2035.

In Menlo Park, council members were discussing the feasibility of adding 993 housing units by 2014.

Maybe the cities can pull this off but don't bet the farm on it. Even if the cities do manage to hit the targets, the new residents are going to require city services and their children will require new classroom space.

Yet none of this should let local leaders off the hook. Promoting solar energy and hybrid vehicles is not enough when people are commuting from far-flung places to work here. They are not all going to be able to ride Caltrain or drive electric cars.

It's hardly fair to expect other cities to continue to house our workers and it's hard to argue that the community is truly green when we make it next to impossible for many of our workers to live here. The answer is higher density housing near major transit corridors and commercial areas where people shop and work.

For all of the concern ABAG caused with the numbers - and Palo Alto should contest them if it believes they're exaggerated - the agency provided an effort to set real targets for affordable housing rather than lip service.

To that degree, the numbers are helpful and officials shouldn't use them as an excuse to bury their heads in sand. It is imperative that our cities set a standard for new affordable housing and then follow through.