San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
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Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#2Even I, who makes a decent salary, have seen the great American dream of home ownership recede into the distance.
That's a policy choice. I lived in Tucson for for years, and nice houses there could be bought for $200,000. Sometimes less. SF has made a choice about not allowing people to live there: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/face... , and in this respect it's like many other major cities: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/11/a-tale-o... . The cost-of-living issue is really a political, regulatory, and legal problem.
There are some people in some places that are trying to solve this problem (Smart Growth Seattle is one that I know: http://www.smartgrowthseattle.org/), but so far those efforts are pretty small.
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#3> The recent BART strikes are just a single data point in a larger trend: we’re alienating everyone who isn’t in technology.
I'm not from SF but from an outside perspective: Taxes have increased 33% in the bay area since 2008 [1] and BART is "running at a surplus"...but BART transit workers have not had a pay raise since 2008?
Can someone explain to me why the SF tech community are the bad guys here? ...Besides a few smug tech workers who get sound bites in the news.
Also notably, rent/housing is usually around 25-30% of cost of living and SF regulators are famous for not building affordable high-rise buildings.
[1] http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/07/00/72/1838722/9/628x471.jpg
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#4The wealthy tech people aren't the ones ruining San Francisco. You have to ask yourself: in what universe would constant increases in tax revenues and wealthy consumers be bad for a city?
The answer, sadly, is a universe where said city has an utterly incompetent government.
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#5This blog post sums up why I choose to live in Austin these days... and commute to SF a couple times a month for work. I just find SF overrated, crazy, dirty and unbalanced.
This also reminds me a bit of al3x's post about San Francisco awhile ago... http://al3x.net/2009/10/04/so-youre-moving-to-san-francisco....
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#6Doesn't seem like a great solution. If the tech guys leave SF, it would be like Detroit. SF and tech are now linked in the way Detroit and cars were. If you try pull the tech out, you'll be left with a husk fighting over crumbs.
I don't even live in SF and this is clear to me. Or maybe it's clear to me because I don't live in SF?
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#7Sorry to see you leave San Francisco. I've had a similar introduction to the city and don't intend to leave. One subtext that I'm reading into your article (incorrectly, perhaps), and seeing lots of elsewhere, is a subtle guilt among tech works for the salaries they make in the Bay Area. I understand that as techies we're inclined towards a sort of egalitarianism, but perhaps there's an inherent conflict somewhere between that and the exits and acqui-hires and searches for small fortunes.
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#8The reason for San Francisco's high rent/home price is very simple, despite how others like to complicate it more:
1: Its desirable for most people to live here. Possibly the most desirable place in the USA, depending on your tastes. As a result, people are willing to pay more to live here. There are jobs, culture, food, art and much more all in this great city.
2: Rent Control. I wont get too much into it, but my take as a real estate investor is that it greatly entices residents to stay put once they have rented. As a result, there is significantly higher rent (due to less supply) for new residents. Many apartments are not rented at all because of the owners fear of rent control. SF needs to get over its "you have a right to live at your same address forever" attitude.
3: No new housing/construction. SF is a 7x7 plot of land which through both NIMBY-like behavior and heavy legislation/bureaucracy, has pushed a extremely anti-developer agenda. Every year, thousands and thousands of people move to SF. Unfortunately, there is less than 1 new housing unit built for every 25 new residents. The common thread that is thrown around is "We dont want SF to turn into a mini tokyo with skyscrapers and tiny apartments" so instead we have 3 floor victorians being used to house 10 roommates at $1500/pop.
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#9Even I, who makes a decent salary, have seen the great American dream of home ownership recede into the distance. That's a policy choice. I lived in Tucson for for years, and nice houses there could be bought for $200,000. Sometimes less. SF has made a choice about not allowing people to live there: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/face... , and in this respect it's like many other major cities…
That's pretty reductionist. San Francisco's housing policies are definitely responsible for some of the price difference between here and Tucson, but you can't ignore the geography. SF is a 7x7 mile square surrounded by water on three sides. Tucson is a sprawling mess that go on for dozens of miles.
Dense, desirable, naturally bound cities are always going to be more expensive than endless exurbs. Look at housing prices in Hong Kong if you think that looser zoning is a cure-all for high prices.
Re: San Francisco, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down
#10The reason for San Francisco's high rent/home price is very simple, despite how others like to complicate it more: 1: Its desirable for most people to live here. Possibly the most desirable place in the USA, depending on your tastes. As a result, people are willing to pay more to live here. There are jobs, culture, food, art and much more all in this great city. 2: Rent Control. I wont get too much into it, but my ta…
SF approved "tiny apartments" http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/san-francisco-micro-apar...