About the Author
The author, Steven R. Sanders, has an unusual perspective on things. His well-integrated high school, John Muir in Pasadena, allowed him to witness the importance of inclusivity and equality firsthand. As a football and baseball player, graduating from the same high school as Jackie Robinson, he learned that talent alone was not enough when prejudice stood in the way.
His Political Science degree, Pre-Law minor, from California State LA taught him the perils of governance assumptions. Working on Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign taught him the dangers of divisive rhetoric and unpredictable responses.
His banking career, culminating in his rise to Orange County Vice President of Lending, taught him contracts, financial forensics and skepticism. Don’t assume what you cannot prove, and don’t believe the evidence without verification.
He chaired the housing committee for a chamber of commerce in Orange County, California. Later, he became chair of the Urban Planning and Development Committee for another chamber of commerce. He assisted in writing a voluntary affordable housing density bonus program for the city.
He developed an affordable eighty-three-unit single-family-residence (SFR) community in Las Vegas with no public subsidy. He was a key public employee of the housing department for a city redevelopment agency. As a board member of an apartment trade association, he studied the benefits and shortcomings of government subsidies and rent restrictions. He was one of the owners of a successful architectural firm, where he was central to land-use and development feasibility planning.
He chaired a county affordable housing finance group and was a board member of the county’s homeless non-profit organization. He was also appointed by county supervisors to be a park commissioner.
His diverse background led him to examine many of today’s most difficult issues from perspectives that rarely exist in one résumé—banking, law, politics, government employment, housing, development and land use. The lesson connecting them all is simple:
Question the assumption.
Examine the evidence.
Verify the facts.
Then decide for yourself.