What’s the Deal With…the ‘Affordable Piedmont’ anti-GG campaign

“Neighbors for an Affordable Piedmont,” a PAC funded by the California Association of Realtors, an outside lobbying group, has been targeting Piedmont voters with an online and mail campaign against the city’s Measure GG transfer tax proposal on the November ballot. Residents have received flyers in the mail, robo-texts, and been targeted with ads on Facebook urging them to vote against the measure. The PAC’s online presence shows a single Facebook page with one posting on Oct. 6, 2026 with 0 followers/0 following and a website with opaque information about the campaign behind it.

According to Steve Tavares’ Oct. 15 East Bay Insiders campaign finance report, the California Association of Realtors has spent $10,000 (so far) on its “Neighbors for an Affordable Piedmont, Sponsored by REALTORS – No on GG” campaign. The same group celebrated the defeat of the city’s earlier effort in 2020 to pass a similar tax measure.

Measure GG is supported by a wide range of current and past city leaders, community groups, and residents, including the Piedmont Exedra. The Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee recommended that Measure GG be submitted to the city’s voters, after City Council asked that they explore options for addressing Piedmont’s long-term fiscal needs. No argument opposing the measure was filed with the city.

Here’s what local realtor Julie Gardner wrote in her newsletter this week:

I was disturbed when I learned the National Association of Realtors, along with the California Association of Realtors are endorsing and indeed, underwriting the “No on Measure GG,” campaign here in Piedmont. Worse yet, in fine print, at the bottom of the mailers, they’ve ascribed their negative endorsement to local Realtors®. (Say what?)

Putting aside that no one asked those of us who actually work and make our livings selling residential real estate here in Piedmont, I suspect the NAR is against ANY measure that adds cost to the transaction of buying or selling a home – regardless of the circumstances – and that’s a problem in a small hamlet like Piedmont that relies heavily on the transfer taxes of residential sales to close budgetary gaps. But it also paints ALL communities with one large brush which is ill-informed at best, and misleading at worst.

To be clear, Piedmont is an incredibly unique destination, comprised of less than 4000 private homes with few commercial enterprises to help offset the increasingly expensive load of maintaining its public parks and green spaces, as well as local fire and police departments we all rely upon.

As mentioned last week, transfer fees, which are paid ONLY when a property transfers ownership, are already well below neighboring cities, and even with the increase from $13.00 to $17.50 per $1000, they will still be well below like-kind communities. To suggest that every household will be paying more in taxes as a result of this measure is blatantly false.

A New Perspective, Julie Gardner, Oct. 16, 2026