The Brief

Transportation is the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, and passenger cars, SUVs, and light-duty trucks account for more than half of all transportation emissions.

If you want to reduce your climate impact, this can present a dilemma. Walking, biking, and public transportation are the most climate-friendly ways to get around, but cars rule the roads in most of the nation. So ditching your car might not seem realistic.

“It’s a really entrenched problem that’s really hard to get out of. We built all of these roads and highways and then basically made them the default option,” said Alexa Sledge, the associate director of communications at Transportation Alternatives, a New York City-based nonprofit. “It’s most likely not your fault that you rely on a car and highways to get to work.”

But even if you can’t single-handedly transform the U.S. transportation system, there are many steps you can take to help build a future where walking, biking, and riding mass transit are viable — and popular — options in your own community. Though this change can’t occur overnight, it is possible to make a difference over time.

“When we make it quick, easy, cheap, fun to do these things, people will pick them over cars,” said Sledge.

Learn more about transportation opportunities and challenges in your city

As the executive director of the nonprofit National Organizations for Youth Safety, Jacob Smith works on issues of road safety with marginalized young people — a group that is particularly affected by road crashes. He believes that to make a difference on transportation, you need to start by reflecting on your own mobility patterns — how you get around and what factors influence this — and learning about those of others.

“The first step is just getting to know your community and surroundings. Where’s the nearest grocery store if someone’s walking? Where’s the nearest human services [center] where families go that are taking the bus?” he said.

Talking to people who use different forms of transportation about what works well and what doesn’t is also important, Smith believes. “We have to create a mindset of, what are the alternatives that other people are required to experience?”

These discussions can be eye-opening, according to Meg Fencil, the director of engagement and impact at Sustain Charlotte, a nonprofit focused on Charlotte, North Carolina. Her organization uses a tool called a walkability audit to gauge how pedestrian-friendly different neighborhoods are, often involving local community members in the process — and giving them the chance to learn from one another. “It’s really fascinating for the people that do mostly drive around their own neighborhood to see from the perspective of that person that doesn’t drive,” she said.

Read: American society wasn’t always so car-centric. Our future doesn’t have to be, either.

Experiment with different ways of getting around

If you typically drive to meet your daily needs, experimenting with walking, cycling, and taking public transportation is a good way to learn more about what’s working and what’s not in your local transportation system. It can also serve as a form of advocacy in and of itself, providing an example for others.

If you’re interested in testing out a cycle commute to work, Fencil advised seeking out low-hanging fruit such as trying a promising bike route on days such as Sundays, when traffic is relatively light — ideally bringing a friend who’s a confident cyclist along for support.

The same logic applies to trying out public transportation, she said. Taking a few test runs on the bus before committing to a full commute day can help calm anxieties about how to manage things like buying tickets and making transfers.

Kendra Ramsey, the executive director of CalBike, a statewide bicycle advocacy organization in California, advises the cycling-curious to seek out local groups that help people learn how to safely bike for transportation. “Where I live, the city puts on a course every few months for people that are trying to get into [bike] commuting, to help them with these skills,” she said.

At some schools, parents organize bike buses to promote cycling in their communities and help children learn to bike safely. On designated days, children from certain schools meet at a designated location and bike to school together (with adult supervision). “Making that a fun and great option for kids is a way to be that change, and also just showing people that [biking] is safe,” said Transportation Alternatives’s Sledge.

Online resources such as these urban cycling safety tips from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public can also provide helpful information for getting started on a bike.

Drive with non-drivers in mind

When driving, you can help make the roads more welcoming to non-car traffic by going slowly, choosing a small vehicle, and paying close attention to bikers and pedestrians.

Fear of cars is a major barrier to getting people out of their cars. For a study published in the journal Transport Reviews in 2022, researchers set out to understand why relatively few people in the United States and similar countries get around by bike, given the substantial health and environmental benefits of cycling. Analyzing 45 reports discussing reasons that people choose not to bike, the authors found that the top barrier to cycling was a reluctance to “[ride] on the road alongside motor vehicles.” Specifically, they cited fear of motorist aggression, perceived risk of injury, and high traffic density

These fears are justified. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, road crashes are the leading cause of death for young people globally, and more than half of the individuals killed are pedestrians, cyclists, or motorcyclists. In the US, cyclist and pedestrian fatalities have risen in recent years. And though bicycle trips make up only 1% of all journeys in the U.S., cyclists account for more than 2% of people killed in crashes.

You can minimize the risk to pedestrians and bikers in your community by considering your own driving habits. Driving slowly is part of the solution. Research has shown that when pedestrians are struck by cars, vehicle speed affects their chances of survival. One report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that at 23 miles per hour, pedestrians face a 10% risk of death, while at 42 miles per hour, this rises to 50%.

Driving a small car can also help, as large, heavy vehicles pose greater risks for walkers and cyclists. A 2021 paper in the journal Economics of Transportation estimated that pedestrian fatalities increased by 1,110 between 2000 and 2019 due to the rising popularity of SUVs.

Find and support others working on these issues locally

Plugging into local networks can provide opportunities to learn from others with deep knowledge of transportation issues and get involved in ongoing projects.

“We’re really encouraging people to figure out who else is working on [walkability] locally and seeing where they can weigh in and help,” said Mike McGinn, the executive director of national nonprofit America Walks and a former mayor of Seattle. “I will bet you there’s somebody in the community doing the work. And if there’s no one, give us a call [at America Walks] — we’ll talk to you about what you can do to get started on your own.”

McGinn noted that since transportation is closely linked to many other issues, groups focusing on topics like urban planning, housing, and equity can also offer valuable ways to contribute.

To search for resources in your area, start with these directories from America Walks, The League of American Bicyclists, and YIMBY Action.

Pay attention to politics

For CalBike’s Ramsey, one of the most important things you can do to improve mobility options is vote. “Understanding what the priorities are for folks running for office, asking questions, and holding them accountable for actually investing in the transportation infrastructure for bicycling, for walking, high-quality transit … that’s a critical, critical step,” she said.

Communicating with current policymakers is also important. McGinn said that his years in the Seattle government taught him that policymakers need to hear directly from people who want to prioritize transportation options other than cars.

“A lot of elected officials seem to believe — because the voices are often quite loud — that people that are driving represent the majority sentiment in the community,” he said. “So when they hear complaints about lower speed limits or a safety redesign of a street or a bus-only lane or a bike lane, those public officials hesitate to make the change they should make. It is just critically important for the supporters to be showing up as well.”

Communicate about sustainable transportation

Not everyone has time to volunteer with local organizations or go to city council meetings — and that’s OK, McGinn said. Simple actions such as talking to neighbors about the importance of walking, biking, and public transportation or speaking up on social media about changes you’d like to see in your community’s transportation system are also important.

Even something as basic as thinking carefully about the language used to discuss different mobility options can help spread important ideas. “I actually don’t like the term ‘alternative transportation,’ because to me that suggests that walking, biking, and using public transportation are somehow outside the norm of the way that folks should get around their community,” said Sustain Charlotte’s Meg Fencil.

Being deliberate about language and messaging is particularly important in a society where people grow up surrounded by cars, making auto-centric transportation seem both natural and inevitable. At the National Organizations for Youth Safety, one of Jacob Smith’s priorities is to help people see beyond this framing.

“We have to actively build the consciousness of young people to understand that they can re-imagine what their transportation system looks like — and they can envision what a future looks like that’s not dependent upon cars,” he said.

This story was originally from Yale Climate Connections, which you can find here.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Americans will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this Saturday.

If you’re looking for a way to join the festivities in Inglewood and South L.A., we’ve got you covered.

Inglewood events

Music fest

Inglewood is hosting its 4th Annual Music Festival on Saturday, July 4 at Darby Park (3400 W. Arbor Vitae St.) from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Doors open at 10 a.m. and KJLH radio personality Adai Lamar will host the show. Performers include Cameo and Klymaxx featuring Cheryl Cooley. Tickets are free.

Pool party

DJ Starboy is hosting his annual pool party on Saturday, July 4 at 9321 South Van Ness Ave. in Inglewood from 4 p.m. to midnight. There’ll be food and drinks for sale, games and activities, and multiple DJs bringing the Afrobeats, dancehall and hip-hop vibes. Tickets are $17.85 each. The event is for those age 21 and older.

South L.A. events

Benefit show

America 250 will host a July 4 Benefit Show at the LA Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, July 4. Gates open at 3 p.m. and the show starts at 6 p.m. Queen Latifah is hosting and performers include Chris Stapleton and The Smashing Pumpkins. Legendary singer Chaka Khan will also be a special guest at the show. Tickets are $17.76 and 5,000 complimentary tickets will be donated for first responders, veterans and service members, organizers say.

Fan zone

LA County is hosting free World Cup watch parties on Saturday, July 4 and Sunday, July 5 at Earvin “Magic” Johnson Park (12552 Avalon Blvd.) in South L.A., from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The fan event will feature live music, food trucks, a community marketplace, resources and family fun.

With the start of the new fiscal year in California on Wednesday, dozens of laws took effect, including a zoning overhaul to boost denser housing development near transit, requirements for an all-gender bathroom in every school and streamlined rules for food labeling.

Because of California’s size and its major role in the U.S. economy, some of its laws are likely to have a cascading effect even for people outside the state.

Here are some of the new laws that are now live:

Changes to schools

Several new laws will affect California’s schools and students this year.

SB 760 requires every school district, county office of education and charter school serving any grades from kindergarten to grade 12 to provide and maintain at least one all-gender restroom at each school.

That restroom must include clear signage indicating it’s open to all genders and be unlocked and easily accessible to students. The restrooms are held to the same standards as gendered restrooms, regularly cleaned and stocked with toilet paper, soap and paper towels or hand dryers. Schools can convert an existing restroom to satisfy the requirement.

Across the country, we’ve seen a growing number of states pass laws limiting restroom access for transgender students or requiring students to use facilities based on their sex assigned at birth,” said Jorge Reyes Salinas, the communications director for Equality California, which sponsored the bill. “And California has chosen this different approach, which is expanding options rather than restricting them.”

Schools are facing another deadline ahead of the next academic year. Under AB 3216, every school district, charter school and county office of education must now have a policy limiting or banning the use of smartphones unless in the case of an emergency.

“We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues — but we have the power to intervene,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a press release when he signed the legislation in 2024. “This new law will help students focus on academics, social development, and the world in front of them, not their screens, when they’re in school.”

Additionally, public middle and high schools, along with public colleges and universities, must now print the Trevor Project’s LGBTQ+ suicide hotline number on student ID cards.

Los Angeles Assemblymember Mark González authored AB 727 last year in direct response to President Donald Trump’s termination of the dedicated LGBTQ+ option for youth who contact the 988 crisis intervention hotline.

New privacy protections for transgender Californians

In California, when transgender and nonbinary people change their names, gender and sex identifiers on official documents, those petitions are public records that have, in some cases, led to people being forcibly outed and harassed.

In 2024, a transgender woman in Stanislaus County sued for the right to seal her records after she was outed on social media. A state appeals court ruled she had a right to keep those records confidential to avoid threats and harassment.

While a 2023 law already required courts to keep those records confidential for minors, the Transgender Privacy Act extends that protection to people of all ages this year.

“As the Trump Administration attempts to make transgender and nonbinary people the scapegoats for their fascist takeover, California must stand up to protect them,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a press release.

SB 59 applies to any petition filed on or after July 1, and people with older records can request their records be made confidential as well. It also prohibits anyone other than the petitioner from posting confidential records online.

Food labeling laws

California is now the first state in the nation to standardize confusing food date labels. Manufacturers use more than 50 different phrases, such as “sell by,” “use by,” “best by,” “expires by,” “freeze by” and “freshest before.”

Now, only two labels are permitted: “BEST if Used by” will indicate a food’s peak quality, and “USE by” will signal when a food item is no longer safe to eat.

Many of the other labels were meant to help store clerks with inventory management, but they often confuse consumers who may ultimately throw away food out of fear of getting sick, contributing to the state’s 6 million tons of food waste each year.

“AB 660 is a monumental step to keep money in the pockets of consumers while helping the environment and the planet,” said Thousand Oaks Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, who authored the bill, in a 2024 press release.

In another first-in-the-nation food law, California now requires restaurants with 20 or more locations to disclose allergens on their menus, either in physical or digital form. It covers the nine major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, sesame and soybeans.

Denser housing near transit

California passed a wave of blockbuster housing laws in 2025.

In an effort to address the state’s housing crisis, a new law makes it easier to build multi-family housing near transit stops like trains and buses.

SB 79, among the most significant housing bills in decades, overrides local government zoning restrictions to allow for taller, denser housing within a half-mile of major transit hubs.

Wiener, who authored the bill, argues it gets at the heart of the state’s affordability crisis while also boosting revenue for public transit agencies, many of which have faced severe budget crunches since ridership plummeted during the pandemic.

“SB 79 unwinds decades of overly restrictive land use policies that have driven housing costs to astronomical levels, forcing millions of people to move far away from jobs and transit, to face massive commutes, or to leave California entirely,” Wiener said in a statement. “By allowing more homes to be built near public transportation, SB 79 also strengthens our transit systems, increases transit ridership, and reduces traffic congestion and carbon emissions.”

Tighter gun restrictions

California now bans the sale of “Glock-style” handguns, aiming to close a loophole that makes it possible to easily convert certain semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic weapons. The conversion uses a device called a “switch” that can be made at home with a 3D printer and installed with a screwdriver.

“No gun sold in California should be just a screwdriver away from becoming a machine gun,” San Francisco Assemblymember Catherine Stefani, who co-authored AB 1127, said in a statement. “We are closing a deadly loophole that has fueled gun violence in our communities.”

A second law, SB 241, requires firearms dealers to complete an annual training that includes identifying straw purchasers, preventing the theft of firearms and ammunition and recognizing buyers who may use the gun unlawfully or to harm themselves.

A third law, signed in 2023 and effective July 1, adds “ghost gun” parts to the definition of a firearm for the purposes of reporting a lost or stolen firearm.

Existing law required gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm within five days of when they reasonably should have known. Now, AB 725 extends that requirement to firearm frames, receivers and precursor parts, with failure to report punishable as an infraction or misdemeanor.

Retiring Native American mascots

California public schools are now barred from using any derogatory Native American term as a school or athletic team name, mascot or nickname.

The bill, AB 3074, expands a 2015 law that banned only the term “Redskins.” It now includes, but is not limited to, Apaches, Big Reds, Braves, Chiefs, Chieftains, Chippewa, Comanches, Indians, Savages, Squaw and Tribe.

Schools operated by a tribe or tribal organization are exempted from this law.

In 2005, the American Psychological Association called on schools and sports teams to retire the use of all American Indian mascots and symbols, citing research that they have a negative effect on the self-esteem and mental health of Indigenous children.

New rules for tech

No more lunging for the remote when the TV volume spikes at a commercial break. SB 576 stops streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube from playing ads louder than the video content.

The rule builds on a federal law, the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, which already applies to broadcast television stations and cable operators but not streaming services.

Another tech-driven change in California will affect autonomous vehicles like Waymo and robotaxis, which can now be cited for traffic violations. Under AB1777, the companies must also set up 24/7 emergency response telephone lines for passengers and first responders.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

In the days after the Lineage warehouse fire blanketed the Eastside in thick smoke, Althana Ávalos desperately searched for an air purifier for her 9-year-old son with asthma. 

The 33-year-old Los Angeles Unified School District teacher closed the windows and doors of her East L.A. home, and her family wore KN95 masks. But it wasn’t enough. They soon began feeling the effects of the smoke: sore throat, eye and skin irritation, nausea and headaches. 

When she called the office of Councilmember Ysabel Jurado to have an air purifier delivered to her home, she was told she didn’t qualify.

“I’m sorry,” the person on the phone told her, according to Ávalos. “Due to the address that you’re providing, you are on the other side so you don’t qualify … You belong to the county.” 

“Really? This is a disaster,” Ávalos remembers thinking. “My son has asthma. What am I going to do?”

The moment captured what many residents say they experienced for days following the fire: For some seeking help, access to emergency resources often depended less on how close they lived to the fire and more on which side of an invisible border they called home. 

A crisis felt across invisible borders

Ávalos lives on the east side of Indiana Street, in unincorporated East Los Angeles, not the city of L.A. Just across the street, on the west side of Indiana, is Boyle Heights, where the Lineage warehouse is located.

Although the warehouse is in Boyle Heights, it sits near the borders of East L.A. and Commerce, separated by short stretches of roads and industrial blocks. Walking a few feet places residents in a different jurisdiction entirely. 

Those geographic boundaries shaped who distributed supplies, where residents went for help, and, in some cases, who qualified for resources such as air purifiers.

While Boyle Heights residents are represented by Los Angeles city officials, including Jurado, and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, residents in unincorporated East L.A. fall under Los Angeles County and are primarily represented by Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Where do you live?

Boyle Heights, highlighted in blue, is within the city of East L.A. and is represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and Mayor Karen Bass.

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Map created within ArcGIS by Andrew Lopez

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The LA Local

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East Los Angeles, highlighted in orange, is an unincorporated community within LA County. It is represented by Supervisor Hilda Solis.

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Map created within ArcGIS by Andrew Lopez

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The LA Local

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Boyle Heights: Highlighted in blue, Boyle Heights is a neighborhood within the city of Los Angeles. Residents are represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and Mayor Karen Bass.

East Los Angeles: Highlighted in orange, East Los Angeles is an unincorporated community in Los Angeles County. Residents are represented by Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Residents search for relief

When the fire broke out on June 17, elected officials responded and posted updates on social media as firefighters battled the blaze.

And when the flames reignited within the building two days later, officials declared local and statewide emergencies while agencies worked to acquire and distribute air purifiers, pass out masks and open up smoke relief shelters across the Eastside. 

Antonio Chapa, left, director of field operations for Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, distributes air purifiers on Indiana Street in Boyle Heights on June 22, 2026.

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Isaac Ceja

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Boyle Heights Beat

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But residents say accessing those resources wasn’t always straightforward. 

Some distribution events required proof of residency. On social media, residents asked whether they qualified for assistance if they lived near the fire. Others were clearing up confusion from commenters about whether their addresses were actually within Los Angeles city limits. 

For Ávalos, it was confusing that strict government rules still applied for the neighboring jurisdictions even during a crisis.

“I knew I belonged to the East L.A. area. It didn’t hit me that in, you know, in this case of emergency, or in this situation, they were going to be asking,” said Ávalos.

Community groups filled the gaps

Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, said his organization repeatedly heard about people running into the same issue of being turned away at distribution sites.

“It’s extremely frustrating and infuriating,” Perez said. “To be told that they couldn’t get the air purifier because of where they lived on the dividing line, that is just heartbreaking.”

Henry Perez, executive director of InnerCity Struggle, speaks at a press conference on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

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Steve Saldivar

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As demand for clean air grew, groups including InnerCity Struggle, Proyecto Pastoral, the East L.A. Walking Club and The Maravilla Community Advisory Committee, as well as individual volunteers, organized their own distributions, regardless of jurisdictions.

Meanwhile, Ávalos’ family continued searching for relief as their conditions worsened.

On Saturday, June 20, they went to the smoke relief shelter at City Terrace Park. During a visit to the shelter, Sen. Durazo stepped inside to talk to families.

After explaining how she was turned away from receiving an air purifier, Durazo, upset by the situation, called on one of her team members to help get one, Ávalos said. A few hours later, the air purifier had been personally delivered to her at the shelter.  

State and local elected officials, including Durazo, Assemblymembers Mark Gonzalez and Jessica Caloza, and U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, also spent time in the affected neighborhoods sharing updates and connecting residents with resources.

Ávalos wasn’t the only resident who described frustration over jurisdictional divides. 

Martin Ramirez, who owns N&M Auto Repair on the corner of Union Pacific Avenue and Indiana Street, said he tried to get an air purifier for his business from Our Lady of Victory Church in East L.A. but was turned away because his business address put him in Commerce.  

Officials emphasize unity as the response evolves

As the fire continued burning, city and county leaders began appearing side by side at press conferences, stressing that government agencies were working collaboratively.

First District Supervisor Hilda Solis speaks at a press conference at the City Terrace Park Smoke Respite Center and is joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Council District 14 Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

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Photo courtesy of First District Supervisor Hilda Solis

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Later in the response, public messaging also appeared to shift. 

At a press event on Thursday, June 25, Bass pushed back when asked by a local reporter about the miscommunication between county and city departments.

“First of all, I know the two of us here, the three of us here, we’re not going to put up with jurisdictional divide,” Bass said. “People can go to the county for help and if the resources…happen to be on the city side, the bottom line is that if the people of this community need help, we’re going to do everything we can to get it there.”

Around the same time, in a social media post promoting purifier distribution on Friday, June 26, Hilda Solis wrote that aid was “open to adjacent communities.” 

A community resource center that opened up in Boyle Heights over the weekend presented a similar shift, stating services were open to “residents and businesses of Boyle Heights and nearby communities.” 

Still, some residents said the changing guidance added to the confusion. 

In written statements to Boyle Heights Beat, both Jurado and Solis acknowledged the challenges residents faced along the Boyle Heights and East L.A. border. 

“Emergency doesn’t recognize jurisdictional boundaries, but government often does,” Jurado said.

A plume of smoke billows out of a Boyle Heights warehouse on Saturday, June 20.

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Isaiah Murtaugh

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The LA Local

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Jurado said city departments and county agencies are now coordinating around air quality monitoring, debris and food waste removal, traffic and hauling plans, water runoff protections, public health resources, and community outreach.

Solis shared a similar sentiment, stating that although the county stayed in close communication with the city on emergency response from day one, it had become streamlined by day seven.

“By the end of the first week, that included broader resource distributions, expanded health services, planning for the Community Resilience Center, and connecting residents, workers, and small businesses with recovery resources,” Solis said.

What residents want to see change

Perez of InnerCity Struggle said officials should use the Lineage fire as a lesson before the next disaster. 

“This isn’t going to be the last environmental crisis or, just, emergency crisis and they need to recognize that there are certain parts of the city and the county that border one another,” Perez said. “What we want our elected leaders to really learn from this experience is that preparedness is critical.”

One of the biggest lessons Councilmember Jurado said she learned through the process was that environmental emergencies “require neighborhood-level preparedness” before disaster strikes.

“In future emergencies, residents should not have to chase government for information. Government needs to show up where people already are: at their doors, at trusted community organizations, at schools, churches, clinics, recreation centers, and neighborhood gathering places,” Jurado said. 

For residents like Ávalos who live along the city-county lines, the fire reinforced how a divide in resources — from health care and law enforcement to services like trash and public works — can shape access to help. 

“If something like this were to happen again … I don’t think that [where you live] should matter,” Ávalos said.

Altadena may get a reprieve from two of California’s marquee housing laws after a bill to temporarily exempt the fire-torn community sailed through back-to-back Assembly hearings on Wednesday.

The two laws being put on hold — Senate Bill 9 from 2021 and Senate Bill 1123 from 2024 — legalize the construction of up to 10 small houses on plots otherwise reserved for single-family homes and make it easier to split land into smaller parcels which can be sold off individually.

Senate Bill 1090 by Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat whose district includes Altadena, would exempt the unincorporated town’s single zip code from the two laws through 2030.

That’s meant to give Eaton Fire survivors “the time they need to rebuild their community without the overpowering influence of predatory developers looking to take advantage of the devastation and suffering,” Pérez said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.

Altadena “shouldn't be a playground for people who want a return on investment,” added the town’s Assemblymember John Harabedian, a fellow Democrat. The bill is “about protecting Altadena and keeping Altadena Altadena.”

With the rebuilding effort in Altadena progressing slowly, mired by sluggish insurance payouts, pending litigation and escalating construction costs, only a few dozen permits have been filed that make use of these state laws, either by professional property developers or individual homeowners.

Some pro-housing advocates and even some Altadena residents worry that the new bill, which supporters frame as a curb on out-of-town investors, could inadvertently make it harder for some fire survivors to rebuild and remain.

The stated purpose of the legislation is “to stop greedy developers from taking advantage of Altadenans, which, of course, we all agree with,” said Caroline Paules, a town resident and founder of a small home construction company, speaking before the Assembly’s housing committee. “I believe what it actually does is prevent Altadenans from housing themselves — and also Altadenans from helping to house each other.”

Preventing speculators from profiting from the Los Angeles rebuild without also harming homeowners is a tough balance to strike. Lawmakers are also considering a bill to give the California Coastal Commission more authority over reconstruction projects pursued by anyone who purchased a property after a future disaster. That’s meant to check investor-led redevelopment. It could also make it more difficult for survivors to sell their properties should they decide or be forced by necessity not to rebuild.

SB 1090 received unanimous support from both the Assembly housing and local government committees, even if some “Yes In My Backyard”-aligned members expressed some apparent discomfort.

The debate over the legislation pits California’s longstanding efforts to turbocharge housing construction against the interests of many Altadenans who want to rebuild the community as it was. It also raises questions about who and what gets prioritized when a community is rebuilt after a natural disaster in California.

“I don’t think it’s NIMBYism and I don't think it's unreasonable for us to say, ‘We’re still in a state of emergency. Let us recover,’” said Nic Arnzen, chair of Altadena’s Town Council and a supporter of Pérez’s bill.

Arguments like these are a fixture of California housing debates. Locals often object to new, denser development, or to the policies promoting it, on the grounds that while more homes may be needed statewide, the conditions specific to a particular town or neighborhood — whether it’s heightened wildfire risk, historic significance, the physical scale or demographic make-up  — argue that it shouldn’t be built here. But Arnzen and other supporters of SB 1090 say that the temporary nature of the bill and Altadena’s extraordinarily unusual circumstances make this a legitimately special case.

The two housing laws at issue were intended to gradually add density to urban areas as existing homes are periodically sold and as rare vacant parcels are developed, he said. They were “never meant to apply to towns that were two-thirds destroyed.”

Before the fire, 95% of all the houses in parts of Altadena touched by fire were single-family homes, according to a UCLA analysis.

Forcing the state laws upon the burn area would “completely reshape the character of the neighborhood,” said Arnzen.

A lot split as a lifeline

Though Pérez’s bill is written to help Altadenans rebuild on their terms, Andrew Post worries it might prevent his parents from rebuilding at all.

Post’s parents, retired physicists Jonathan and Christine, lost their house on North Marengo Avenue. They were determined to rebuild from the start, over their son’s initial objections. But an as-yet uncertain insurance payout, the couple’s modest fixed incomes and uncertain construction costs make for a tight reconstruction budget.

Unexpected construction delays or a denied insurance claim and “they could be dead broke and have an unfinished house,” said Post. Even if construction goes as planned, the couple will have little left to live off of.

In early June the family filed paperwork with the county to see if they could split the parcel, as allowed under the law.

The typical Altadena homeowner hoping to rebuild is short $550,000 after accounting for past and expected insurance payouts, according to a survey by the nonprofit Department of Angels. Splitting up a lot and selling a chunk to a developer, as SB 9 allows, could help many homeowners close that gap, said Azeen Khanmalek, director of the pro-housing advocacy group Abundant Housing LA.

These density-boosting state laws should be seen as “potential tools and pathways to help some homeowners come back and rebuild, rather than as threats,” he said.

Post, who grew up in Altadena, said he’s sympathetic to concerns about density, historic preservation, parking and traffic — to a point.

Altadena prides itself as a historic refuge of relative affordability, diversity and tolerance in Los Angeles County. The best way to preserve that legacy is to enable more multiplexes and small starter homes, said Post.

“The character of the neighborhood is, I think, better preserved by keeping it affordable rather than by keeping the white picket fence architecture,” he said.

“I am very focused on the question of whether my parents ever live in Altadena again,” he added. “It’s hard for me to prioritize a preference for the neighborhood character over an ability to be part of that character.”

SB 9 in Altadena

Of the 5,645 parcels with damaged or destroyed homes in Altadena, 52 have active permits that invoke SB 9, according to a data dashboard commissioned by the town council. Of those, 14 are under construction and two are complete.

That relatively low number may partly reflect the typical geometry of Altadena parcels, said Devang Shah, a principal with Genesis Builders, which is building single-family homes for fire survivors.

“They’re narrow and deep,” he said, which makes it hard to pack in additional units or dice them up for sale.

Even so, the handful of submitted plans — and renderings depicting a type of multifamily dwellings largely alien to pre-fire Altadena — have provided ample fodder for some locals eager to protest denser development and the perceived threat posed by investors and developers capitalizing off the community’s tragedy.

John Chan, a Los Angeles architect who has pushed for redeveloping Altadena to be more pedestrian-oriented and who supports the use of density-boosting state laws, said a handful of poorly designed SB 9 projects — “sardine cans for rent extraction,” he said — have soured many locals on the possible upsides of density.

“It’s creating a backlash to SB 9 that I think is really going to hurt Altadena,” he said.

“Altadena not for sale”

In both Altadena and the Palisades that backlash began brewing almost as soon as the flames were extinguished.

In the summer of 2025, long before hinting at any aspirations for higher office, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt began posting on social media assailing SB 9 and “opportunistic developers” hoping to make use of the law to rebuild in the Palisades. Responding to that pressure, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued dueling executive orders to nullify the law in areas that fall within state-designated “very high” wildfire hazard severity zones inside Los Angeles county.

Newsom’s order only covered a small portion of Altadena. Even after the state expanded its fire severity maps, much of the Eaton Fire burn area did not fall into the “very high” category. The order therefore did little to quell anxieties among the residents who saw denser redevelopment not as an opportunity for struggling homeowners, but as a boon to out-of-town developers and speculators.

Pérez was hoping to address those concerns when she introduced an earlier version of SB 1090 this spring which would have banned large residential investors from making unsolicited offers to purchase parcels in the burn area. That hyperlocal focus also tapped into a growing national interest in preventing investors from purchasing single-family homes, a remarkably bipartisan cause championed by both Newsom and President Donald Trump.

The bill sailed through the California Senate on partisan lines.

In mid-June, Perez rewrote the bill to focus on the state density laws. Her office said the bill’s new focus reflects the more pressing concerns of many Altadenans.

“What I am not going to allow is for my community to be treated differently than the Palisades or than Malibu,” Pérez said on Wednesday.

Arnzen, for one, said he’s less concerned about existing homeowners selling to land speculators.

“I don't fault people for selling to the highest bidder,” he said. “If I was selling my property, would I have the wherewithal to make sure it goes into the right hands? I don’t know.”

Instead, he wants to see temporary limits on what those new buyers can do with the property once they have it.

Arnzen said he moved to Altadena two decades ago because he wanted his young kids to grow up “in a small town, not in a cookie cutter subdivision, not in a city.”

After losing their home to the fire, he and his husband are now in the process of relocating to an accessory dwelling unit on their property, which they’ll live in while they rebuild. When construction wraps up, the two plan to move into the new house and rent out the smaller one “to push back on the housing crisis in the state,” he said. “Because I think we should all do our part.”

Jeremia Kimelman contributed the data visualization to this story.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.