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A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

nytimes.com

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Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#271

Post by mahyarm »

scriptkiddy wrote: post #169
ericd wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the full story. Commercial property is much more profitable for a city than housing, so every city in the peninsula is trying to build office space, and trying to offload the cost of actually housing those new workers onto other cities. The tax code needs to be fixed to realign incentives. One proposal I heard was to make it so that the state shares the income tax of the employees that live in the city wit…

This is why I've always been in favor of Hybrid zoning. Hybrid structures are even better in my opinion. You can have a building where the bottom floors are commercial space and the upper floors are residential space. Or you can zone an area where both commercial and residential development are permitted. Sure, living right next to a metal shop or something isn't the most pleasant thing, but it's really nice if you w…

For CA, those housing units are negatives on the budget because of prop 13. It doesn't really matter where they are built.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#272

Post by falsedan »

mvid wrote: post #41
KekDemaga wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California building codes are pretty extreme from what I've seen, they go as far as measuring the pull force required to open a door for example. This seems like a place where a little deregulation would go a long way.

That's a nice idea, but this is a region where the ground you build on is your enemy.

Counterpoint: Tokyo.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#273

Post by dmode »

curun1r wrote: post #137
andrewjl wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't an issue of tech companies forcing anyone out. Bay area municipalities and NIMBY property owners have created a hostile regulatory environment for property developers, leading to a lack of new housing coming onto the market and driving rents upward.

Keep going up the chain of causality. Property Owners are so NIMBY because there's an economic incentive to behave that way. This is only the case because Prop 13 caps their property taxes. If California had property taxes that, like other states, could increase as the assessed value of your home increases, the incentive to oppose new building would be significantly lessened and it would then be in everyone's best in…

I wonder if a deal that removes Prop 13 but reduces state income taxes can be put on the ballot. That way you keep overall revenues same, but just change how it is collected.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#274

Post by xvedejas »

nshelly wrote: post #159
jdavis703 wrote: post #20

One way to make this better is to support the plan to inline the Capitol Corridor and ACE trains with Caltrain via the unused and abandoned Dumbarton rail bridge [0]. Make sure to tell your elected officials you support this. [0]: http://www.greencaltrain.com/2017/08/dumbarton-corridor-stud...

Also, as our nation's metro areas become more dense, we need to make sure we have train connections that are co-located. For example, Pleasanton ACE and Pleasanton BART, or in San Francisco Caltrain and Muni/BART, which they are doing with the multi-year Downtown Extension project. These little things make a huge difference. Commuters eliminate an additional connection and get a small walk in. Diesel trains will even…

Same with Fremont. A terrible missed opportunity.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#275

Post by lisper »

pc86 wrote: post #251
lisper wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, not sarcastic at all. I live in a house that is much too big for me. I bought it during the crash when prices were low. I would like to move to a smaller house, but I don't because it's too expensive. I can't just trade my house for one of equal value and come out even. It would be very expensive for me to move to a house of equal value, and the higher prices go the more expensive it gets. I have no objections…

> I have no objections to paying taxes. First you're complaining about "huge" capital gains, which is literally a tax on profit you made for doing nothing. A tax, might I add, that is much less than income tax. Second, you're complaining about Prop. 13, which just means you're upset about the prospect of paying the property taxes you actually owe , as opposed to the wildly deflated ones from when you purchased. I don…

I'm not complaining about having to pay taxes per se. I'm mainly just pointing out that rising house prices are not an unalloyed good even if you own. In fact, appreciating house prices ONLY help you if you sell and don't buy another house in the same market. In all other situations, rising house prices actually hurt you, at least in California.

Specifically: the house I own is too big for me. I'd like to downsize. If housing prices were flat I could sell my house, buy a smaller house for less, reduce my property taxes, and only pay the transaction costs. But because my house and all the others around have appreciated, I can't do that. The smaller house I want to move in to costs more than the house I'm in when I bought it, so if I downsize my property taxes go up. Also, I have to pay transaction costs on a much bigger transaction plus pay the capital gains tax on a gain which I don't get to realize. The only way I win is if I move out of the area. But I don't want to do that. I like it here.

None of this would be a problem if prices were flat. It costs me more (a LOT more!) to downsize because the market is up. Hence an appreciating market is not necessarily good for you even if you own.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#276

Post by greggman »

ucaetano wrote: post #234
jacinda wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a choice. The San Francisco Bay Area is already denser than the entire country of Switzerland and has a similar GDP. However, the Swiss have incomparably better public transit. And their taxes are lower than the US. There's no need to become Manhattan or Hong Kong. Just invest in infrastructure.

> There's no need to become Manhattan or Hong Kong. Just invest in infrastructure. You're not getting the basic point with transit infrastructure: it requires density. Transit systems are only viable with enough people living and working at walking distance from the stations. Increasing density decreases traffic, increases transit effectiveness, and reduces environmental impact. It's simple geometry.

I don't know the details but Antwerp seems comparible. It seems to have amazing public transportation with a density only 1/6th of SF. Why they can do it an SF can't I don't know.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#277

Post by madcaptenor »

sageabilly wrote: post #258
QML wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take the time to commute (8hrs) into consideration. Is that extra $12000 worth it?

In the article she can work from home some days a week (I know for feds in DC, it's mandatory 5 days out of 10, so maybe at least that many for her) and she has a government job which (for many in the non-tech, non-startup world) is the Holy Grail of jobs- incredibly stable, great benefits, pension, etc. She's 61, so in her mind the trade-off might be worth it if she plans on retiring at 65 (and perhaps even earlier…

People are required to work from home 5 days out of 10? I'm for encouraging working from home, but that policy assumes that everyone can spare the space in their home to have some sort of home office. (And since it's not a fully remote job, you still have to live near DC.)

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#278

Post by yahna »

nerdshoe wrote: post #105
lex_luthor wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True. But a non-political solution to affordable housing could be coming soon in the form of rapid transit via Hyperloop. Hyperloop could put deflationary pressure on housing prices. If Hyperloop actually materializes, and their route transit times are anywhere near what they say they will be, then real estate prices should decline in the bay area, or at the worst level out. I doubt people will continue to pay crazy…

The Elon Musk Reality Distortion Field is proving to be as effective as the one surrounding Steve Jobs (praise be unto him.)

I wonder how much he spends on PR and other upkeep.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#279

Post by scriptkiddy »

anarazel wrote: post #246
scriptkiddy wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mission bay San Diego? Why do you think that is?

San Francisco, sorry, should have mentioned that. I've really no clue, I'm kinda curious. They're still building new buildings with commercial ground level floors. Besides being empty and presumably not making money that way, they're also not particularly pretty...

I wonder if they're trying to predict the future. Perhaps they foresee business moving in in the future.

Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M

#280

Post by scriptkiddy »

mahyarm wrote: post #271
scriptkiddy wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I've always been in favor of Hybrid zoning. Hybrid structures are even better in my opinion. You can have a building where the bottom floors are commercial space and the upper floors are residential space. Or you can zone an area where both commercial and residential development are permitted. Sure, living right next to a metal shop or something isn't the most pleasant thing, but it's really nice if you w…

For CA, those housing units are negatives on the budget because of prop 13. It doesn't really matter where they are built.

I would be strongly in favor of reforming that law then. I have not seen anything regarding it come up on any of the recent ballots.
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