The fight over SB50, the housing density measure, is far from over even though the measure has been shelved by a powerful Senate committee chairman. The controversy continues over whether cities should be forced to allow high rise apartment houses in neighborhoods now limited to single family homes, a battle being fought in the state capital, city halls and countless neighborhoods.

The measure by Sen. Scott Weiner was very much on the agenda last Thursday when Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson spoke downtown at the Palm at a luncheon of the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, organized by public affairs consultant Emma Schafer.

SB 50 would permit multiple dwellings in big swatches of neighborhoods near commuter train and bus lines. Los Angeles has a limited version of this and we Expo line riders already see the impact with apartment houses going up around train stations. But SB50 would cover much more of L.A. and would affect suburban cities now zoned mostly for single-family developments. It was put aside for the year by the suburban chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. But its opponents fear that, like a vampire, it will never die.

I asked Harris-Dawson about something that has bothered me about the new L.A. residential high rises. Although city laws require them to include low cost housing, some of them seem to have gotten away with exemptions and others have just a few units affordable to the working poor. I told him that I notice a building with maybe 250 units would have only 20 low cost apartments, if that. "Why not more?" I asked.

Harris-Dawson will have much to say about the outcome. He is the new chairman of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which determines zoning in the city, and he is close to the powerful City Council President, Herb Wesson.

The city, he said, is torn between neighborhood advocates who want a return to the Los Angeles of the 1970s and those who want to trample over everything. He said he is trying to figure out "what works for all." Neighborhoods from predominantly African American Crenshaw to the Westside and the San Fernando Valley are worried about the demise of the old L.A.

He spoke of "inclusionary zoning across the city." This is when builders are required to include a specific numbers of dwellings renting below market rates in their development before they are granted city zoning. This would differ from SB50 in that it would not target specific areas but would apply to the whole city, and would raise as much controversy. It would be a way of achieving Harris-Dawson's goal of housing for low-income workers near their jobs. Why should a maid, mechanic, schoolteacher, office worker or others have to travel miles to work?

This was Harris-Dawson's first appearance as chairman before the lobbyists, lawyers and transportation bureaucrats who attend Current Affairs Forum events. These tough-minded behind-the-scenes movers and shakers will be watching his every move.

Mayor Eric Garcetti has strongly disagreed with the legislature's dumping SB 50, an extremely controversial bill encouraging developers to build big apartments and condos near train and bus lines in areas zoned for single family homes.

The chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Anthony Portantino, a Democrat representing suburban La Canada Flintridge, put the measure in what amounts to a legislative deep freeze. It appears he will not let the bill out of his committee this year.

“We need bold, statewide solutions to our housing crisis, " Garcetti said Friday in a statement issued through deputy press secretary Ana Bahr. "SB 50 wasn't perfect, but we can’t wait another year to work out our differences. It's past time for the state to break down barriers to creating the affordable housing production that Angelenos and all Californians need and deserve.”

I asked for comment from another key Los Angeles County player in the fight over the measure, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. Rendon had expressed skepticism over the far-reaching provisions of SB 50. "Because the action was taken by a Senate committee, he's not going to have a comment," said Rendon spokesman Kevin Liao.

The appropriations committee action takes Rendon off the hook for the year. If it had passed the Senate, SB 50 would have ended up in the Assembly where the influential speaker would have a big say in deciding the bill's fate.

Portantino's dumping of the bill shows the strong opposition it has provoked in districts like his, an area of single-family homes. Rendon's south Los Angeles County district, while more working class than Portantino's affluent area, also has many owner occupied single- family homes that would be affected by SB 50.

Garcetti, on the other hand, is responsible for Los Angeles, where there are 31,516 homeless, the largest number in Los Angeles County. There are 53,195 in the entire county. More multiple dwelling housing construction is a major part of his strategy to reduce homelessness.

Multi-use development going up next to Expo Sepulveda station in West LA.

Highly controversial legislation encouraging the building of tall multiple dwellings around transit lines in single-family neighborhoods, SB 50, may be in for a rough time as it makes its way through the legislature.

The measure would create new incentives for developers to build apartments and condos near train and bus stations, even in areas zoned strictly for single-family homes. The impact on Los Angeles would be huge as well as in the suburban cities that ring Los Angeles and in other parts of the state.

A key player, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, seems skeptical, which could be bad news for the bill. Rendon appoints the chairs of the committees that will hear the bills and will have a big say in determining a final Assembly vote on the measure by Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat. It has passed a Senate committee. In the end, Gov. Gavin Newsom will have to sign the bill for it to become state law.

Rendon's spokesman, Kevin Liao, emailed me the speaker's view: "Speaker Rendon has not taken a position on SB 50. He agrees that building higher-density housing near public transit is an effective way addressing the housing crisis while minimizing environmental impact. However, one-size does not fit all in housing and land use policy and we need to be mindful of that as we have discussions around what levels of density the state mandates. There's still work to do, but we're hopeful we can keep working with Sen. Wiener on this and other efforts to address the housing crisis."

Mayor Eric Garcetti seems ambivalent, to put it mildly. Weiner needs his support, along with that of other mayors. The Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 for a resolution opposing the Wiener bill. Garcetti returned the resolution to the council without signing it. His letter to the council made it clear Wiener will have to work hard for his support:

"I share the concerns of the City Council and it is critical that any state housing legislation, including SB 50, build on our progress, not undermine it. Key elements of the bill that may address our collective concerns still require clarification and refinement, and the bill’s author continues to incorporate amendments that address outstanding issues. I am hopeful that legislation will emerge that strategically addresses the need for heightened urgency in growing our state’s housing stock, while also protecting renters from displacement, (and)incentivizing maximum affordability."

Garcetti is torn between preserving single-family neighborhoods and ending a shortage of affordable housing that contributes to the city's growing homeless population. Such pressures have resulted in support for the Weiner bill from Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a leading Weiner bill advocate, the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland and other mayors.

But Rendon's insistence that "one size does not fit all in housing and land use policy" is a warning they have a long way to go.