“Leaders” want to reduce land use by private vehicles, reclaiming parking lots, garages and roadways, while replacing single-family homes with high-density apartment towers. The goal is to have people live near their jobs, and have them walk to stores or use public transit. It is not about just switching to electric cars. It is about controlling the masses.
California, no parking garages or lots for new apartment buildings.
I live in South SF in San Mateo County. The gov and his buddies changed zoning laws throughout California that override local cities and county laws. Namely, that high-density housing be built near public transportation areas. Since we have BART subway lines going through the county, many neighborhoods have been rezoned from single-family one or two-story residences, to high-density multi-story towers. Just in the last couple years, local one-story businesses have been forced to move, and their buildings torn down and replaced by 6-story towers along the main corridor adjacent to the BART line.
Residents complained in weekly meetings with city and county officials, but were told that their hands were tied by state laws. These 6-story towers do not have adequate parking, as state "officials" want the new residents to use public transit. The result is massive traffic jams, inadequate parking for old-time residents as the tower residents grab local street parking around 1-story single family homes. It's a mess. Now they are building a 10-story tower near us that will make the situation worse; the builders had wanted to build up to 14 stories but backed down to 8 to 10 stories. Thankfully, I live a few blocks west of the BART line and neighborhoods to the west retained their single-family zoning; those to the east were rezoned. The situation is worse a couple miles to the east that border Hwy-101; many dozens of high-rise towers were built in the last few years while old two-story structures were demolished; made the area unrecognizable.