Nowhere can build 3 bedroom apartments, except penthouses. It’s not only a national problem, but an international one - almost the entire west can’t build these.
In France it is quite common. Cannot say about other countries though.
Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
41–50 of 93 posts
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#42Definitely a tech entrepreneur's take. It's a juxtaposition of optimistic futurism (in 5-10 years, most people will just rely on robocars and robotaxis) and anti-regulatory sentiment (critical of the requirement that elevators accommodate stretchers). Some of the more difficult problems are hand-waved away as, "We could solve this if we just put our engineering hats on." That said, I don't want to throw the baby out…
Exactly my thought. People have been saying that robotaxis and self driving cars will take over in a couple years for at least a decade. It hasn't happened, and not only that, but if the companies making them want to be profitable, they will price out a huge percent of consumers. My guess is that humans will remain the majority operators of vehicles for at least 20 more years, maybe more. That isn't to say we need pa…
"The future is unevenly distributed"
I just spent a week in Austin and took a half dozen Waymo rides. Robotaxies are definitely here and they are awesome. There's no reason why they won't be coming for Walnut Creek.
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#43“Human driven cars are going to be around for about 5 years” is one of the most out of touch quotes I’ve seen this month. Also, all of this is about NIMBYism, which is about house prices being inflated to make up most of households’ wealth, which is not fixable without triggering a massive wealth redistribution. Most western societies are stuck in a very non-ideal Nash equilibrium and it is not going to be solved any…
The point is the city's parking code assumes that every car has a human driver that needs to park and then exit the car. This informs the choices about how wide the spaces and how wide the aisles are. Even if only some of the cars had the ability to park themselves - onsite or offsite - you could drastically reduce the floor space required for parking. Reducing the floor space reduces the building height, the constru…
25 years from now, if half the cars are then capable of autonomous nav-and-park, we could convert some of the excess parking lots to buildings. (Any lot large enough to have “aisles” will also be large enough to build on.)
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#44“Human driven cars are going to be around for about 5 years” is one of the most out of touch quotes I’ve seen this month. Also, all of this is about NIMBYism, which is about house prices being inflated to make up most of households’ wealth, which is not fixable without triggering a massive wealth redistribution. Most western societies are stuck in a very non-ideal Nash equilibrium and it is not going to be solved any…
It is ridiculous to be building infrastructure with a seventy five year lifespan under an assumption that may never come in its entire life.
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#45“Human driven cars are going to be around for about 5 years” is one of the most out of touch quotes I’ve seen this month. Also, all of this is about NIMBYism, which is about house prices being inflated to make up most of households’ wealth, which is not fixable without triggering a massive wealth redistribution. Most western societies are stuck in a very non-ideal Nash equilibrium and it is not going to be solved any…
> “Human driven cars are going to be around for about 5 years” is one of the most out of touch quotes I’ve seen this month. Where did you see that sentiment expressed? I couldn't find anything along those lines in the article. The closes was about parking, which I think is very different.
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Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#46Adam Sandler's "Click" has a scene explaining it (though it is about hotel there, the "forget all the niceties and maximize the profit" principle is universal) https://youtu.be/BRl2ZM-YguE?t=61
It takes the explicit will of the government (dare i equal it to the will of the people?) to force developers to build at least half decent stuff i a half decent way. Note that the market - "people would vote with their dollar" - doesn't work here due to highly constrained, in many ways by the government, supply.
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#47You should be looking places other than California before asking this question. In my suburb of Iowa we have apartments that are very similar to this one as far as sizes but the rent is much cheaper. There are also a number of three bedroom apartments in those new buildings, for much more reasonable rent. These apartments have the large parking lots required in the U.S. They have the large elevators required in the U…
I'm Googling for "Des Moines apartments" and clicking on any that I find that have double loaded corridors and so far I'm 0 for 4 on finding any that have a three bedroom apartment.
Finally found one on my fifth try. Here is one of the three bedroom floor plans that they offer. None of the bedrooms have a window https://capi.myleasestar.com/v2/dimg/178334024/2000x1333/178...
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#48Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
2 exit stairs makes sense, so long as one of those can be a fire escape. I think a lot of places banned those though because they're "ugly". Elevator laws make sense so long as they apply to general areas and not every single building. It would really suck for the majority of builders to decide to cost-skimp and skip elevators, effectively locking disabled people out of dense living. Parking laws need to be removed a…
Who gets to be the builder who is allowed to be one of the minority to not have to put an elevator into a building where only a majority must have it?
You've got this backwards - big elevators with union labor mean that they're an expensive undertaking that only large multifamily buildings can afford.
Smaller, more affordable elevators mean that they're less of a luxury item. You could put an elevator in your house, or retrofit an older apartment with an elevator, much more easily. This is incredibly common in other countries
Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?
#50I wonder why 4b apartments are so rarely seen in the US. In Asia they are quite common.
I think it's really a simple, cultural bias. Most wanting 3+ bedrooms and having the means are also programmed to be inclined to want detached houses with a yard.
Also, in California, "apartment" means short-term leasing and is usually full of young singles, couples, divorcees, and retirees. It is often a big building with many studio, 1, and 2 bedroom units. A similar multi-dwelling structure with individual unit ownership is referred to here as a condominium (condo). These often have slightly larger units since they are targeting the home-buying family rather than the itinerant renter.
In SF Bay Area suburbs like Walnut Creek, there are also neighborhoods with town-homes. These are like condos in ownership structure, but often only have 2-3 units per building, wrapped with a small private yard maintained by the owners. And these lots are in turn surrounded by larger common grounds, which are maintained jointly by the HOA for the whole neighborhood.