Pod Save America Host Visibly Stunned By Democrat’s Weird Boast About Slowing California Construction
Pod Save America co-host Jon Lovett was left visibly stunned by an LA City Council member and her opposition to a bill that would streamline housing construction.
Lovett, once an aide to former President Barack Obama, was joined this week on Pod Save America by LA City Council Member Imelda Padilla and state Sen. Scott Wiener, both Democrats, to debate the bill SB79, which Wiener authored.
“California has a massive housing crisis. SB79 is a bill that will permit and streamline construction of more housing around transit stops, in some cases overriding local rules and objections,” Lovett wrote on X.
Padilla is one local official who does oppose the bill, arguing that neighborhoods should have more control over what housing is being constructed around them. Padilla left Lovett distraught at one point by bragging about bringing a six story building down to three and requiring more parking and electric vehicle chargers.
“Instead of building something that was potentially six stories, we got it down to three stories,” Padilla told a stunned Lovett.
Lovett argued there is a housing crisis in California, especially after the Palisades fires earlier this year, and quibbling over construction is keeping the state in a standstill.
According to Padilla:
People get elected for the conversations that they have with folks about what they’re going to do to keep their neighborhoods looking and growing the way that they want it to be. So for example, for the state to say, here’s your opportunity to build something that is potentially seven stories high, when nothing around it is seven stories. Because the state allows it, it’s almost an insult to everyone who voted for the individual who they believe is going to help grow and clean and maintain their communities as they would like them to.
“I really want to be fair to your point of view. But what I hear there is what you’re saying is, well, there weren’t seven story buildings here in the past, so there can’t be seven story buildings here in the future. But that freezes California in a moment. When there were far fewer people in this state,” Lovett countered.
He continued by noting that people are fleeing California for red states like Texas and affordable housing availability has reached an “emergency” level.
“The problem is there is nowhere for people who want to come to California to live. It is pushing our entertainment business out. It is pushing young people out. This is an urgency,” Lovett said. “We should all be freaking out about how urgent it is to do anything humanly possible to build housing. And you’re worried about whether or not there’s a place for a few senior citizens to sit outside a building that developers are trying to build.”
Watch above via Pod Save America.
