151–160 of 172 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do we go from waiting to doing?
Convince the people living along the coast to allow the construction of a desalination plant nearby. Which won't happen because it'd devalue their million-dollar property (multi-million in places like Laguna Beach).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right - people don't realize that if people had to actually pay non-subsidized rates for water, and had to pay the same rate no matter whether they were using it for irrigation or household use, then most of these wasteful agricultural applications would end pretty sharpish.
But then you'd be taking away their jobs since they've built empires which rely on such subsidies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If Florida would get better about non-complete clauses it would be ideal. Beach, sales tax base via tourists, no income tax. Alas… it has fairly strong non-complete compliance.
And hurricanes which require occasional abandonment of all your property to save your life. No thanks.
I'm forever torn on this. What can a non homeowner do to help the problem? I feel compelled to not buy into overpriced homes. But I'd also like one and fear they are only going to become more overpriced in the future.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If Florida would get better about non-complete clauses it would be ideal. Beach, sales tax base via tourists, no income tax. Alas… it has fairly strong non-complete compliance.
And hurricanes which require occasional abandonment of all your property to save your life. No thanks.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Somehow we've gotten into a cultural state where everyone expects the place they live to stay exactly as it is for their lifetime. I am trying to find a polite way to indicate that I find this to be a completely absurd reversal of the historical trend. Only within the last few generations, certainly within the last century, has it become so common to relocate far and/or frequently instead of most men living the who…
Then how is it our species has colonized most of the planet. Surely their is an intense, universal, drive to migrate.
A recent conversation with a co-worker really drove this home: what's crazy to me is how comically short-sighted folks are. We've priced our children out of the towns we raised them in but it doesn't seem to bother anyone. And we've slapped a huge amount of college debt on their backs, just to be sure.
>We've priced our children out of the towns we raised them in Alternatively, "our children left behind the sprawling 2nd and 3rd-string metros we raised them in, realized what rent costs in walkable neighborhoods in destination cities, and are finally beginning to appreciate why we raised them in sleepy suburbs in flyover country and why they spent so much time in cars." Obviously some children got priced out of the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So what, its probably less than 10%, which is less than the sales taxes on most other things being purchased. We could just as well complain about the profit the builder is making, which is likely a lot more given how much most sub contractors are making. Its sounds like a big number until you consider the final cost, aka everything is relative, it would be a much bigger deal if the houses were selling for $100k beca…
Yes, but the whole point is that the fees are part of the reason why the house costs that much. If you wanted the final house to cost $100k, then you'd have to actually build it for $50k. Which may not even be possible, or if it was it would be so tiny that nobody would want it. They're basically forced to build a (relatively) big expensive house so that the final cost seems reasonable despite the $50k in fees buried…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Prop. 13 disincentivizes cities from adding housing. disincentivizes cities from adding low-density housing Once you start piling them up into high-rises, the revenue stream doesn't look that bad. But for multi-family high rises different cities have a number of additional requirements. Minimum parking spaces, minimum number of feet from the sidewalk, minimum footage of "green zones" consisting of lawns or trees -…
>Minimum parking spaces Minimum parking requirements are a big deal for low-rises, where the parking area is an appreciable portion of the building's overall square feet. The gleaming 40+ story high-rises in the Civic Center/Van Ness area run from around $3000 to $5500 for a basic studio or 1-bedroom. There are also several parking garages in the area, distinct from the residential buildings, where a monthly reserved…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Once you start piling them up into high-rises, the revenue stream doesn't look that bad. Combine with earthquake regulations essentially limiting buildings to a small number of stories and ScottBurson's comment is pretty spot-on.
There are height limitations in most of Silicon Valley (except maybe downtown San Jose?) -- I think the limit here in Sunnyvale, for example, is eight stories -- but earthquakes are not the reason for them. People just want to preserve the suburban character of the area. How that can be done when a lot more people want to live here is not clear to me.