In advance of the city council meeting on Monday December 4th in San Mateo, residents mobilized to oppose the Baywood Historic District. During the non-agendized comment portion of the meeting, residents delivered comments to the council, urging them to issue a formal letter opposing the district.  

A refresher: Neighbors in San Mateo’s Baywood neighborhood have submitted an application to become a historic district. Historic districts can impose a number of restrictions on the rights of property owners to renovate their homes or build new housing opportunities. State laws like SB 9 that empower homeowners to build duplexes or ADUs without onerous public approval processes do not apply to historic districts. Furthermore, the city would be enabled to create a local unelected historic commission that could impose arbitrary new rules, ranging from restrictions on the ability to build an accessory dwelling unit for a family member to bans on replacing old single-pane windows with more energy-efficient double-paned ones.

The Baywood neighborhood, which was built in the 1920s and 30s with housing covenants that banned people of color from buying the homes, is today San Mateo’s only Racially Concentrated Area of White Wealth, according to the Bay Area Equity Atlas. A historic district in the area would entrench past and present segregation in perpetuity.

Neighbors opposing the district have created a petition to urge the city council to formally oppose the historic district. They’ve also created a website for interested residents to learn more. All San Mateo residents are welcome to sign to demonstrate that the community supports preserving real history, not segregation.