'Yes In My Backyard' Movement, YIMBY, Grows As Bay Area Housing Tightens

As soon as Alex Sharenko saw the zucchini, he knew it would go viral.

At a Berkeley City Council meeting last year, a developer was trying to get permission to tear down a house in West Berkeley and replace it with two, two-story homes. The project had already been green-lit by Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustment Board, one of several public agencies involved in the approval of new housing. Now it had to get a majority of city council votes before a shovel could touch dirt.

Like any place in the San Francisco Bay Area, Berkeley desperately needs new housing. Sharenko felt this firsthand — he was paying $2,100 a month to split a one-bed, one-bath apartment with no living room. That's why he was at the hearing in the first place. He regularly goes to public hearings to advocate for new construction.

“Berkeley City Council meetings are kind of crazy places,” says Sharenko, 31. “When something happens, it’s going to reverberate. And this was absolutely one of those moments.”