Marisa Kendall, The Mercury News, March 20, 2019
“Brisbane Mayor Madison Davis is 27 and lives at home with her parents because she can’t afford a place of her own.
“While she’s by no means a typical mayor, she is a typical victim of the Bay Area’s affordable housing shortage. And in that sense, she’s the ideal person to lead her tiny city as it sets out to do something it has resisted for years — build a ton more housing.
“Q. Does Brisbane have an obligation to help fix those Bay Area housing problems?
“A. I think everyone, every city, has a role in providing more housing. But there is something to be said for local control. There is a balance we can strike, with cities taking the initiative to provide local housing and doing it on their terms.
“And the cities that do take the initiative and provide housing should be commended for the work they’re doing. For the size of our town, 1,800 to 2,200 [new] units is a huge number. And I’m still not hearing, ‘you did a good job.’
“The vote for Measure JJ boiled down to local control. Brisbane mobilized and said we do realize there is a housing crisis, we have a vast amount of land, and we can contribute to easing the situation as best as we can, but we want those decisions to be on our terms.”