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Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

kevin.burke.dev

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Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#71

Post by kevinburke »

tailscaler2026 wrote: post #65
kevinburke wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My sense is that parents are pretty tired of driving their kids to and from things and if it was possible for your kids to take a self driving car to school or to activities or to camp that would be a pretty attractive proposition. The schools or daycares or camps could help figure out unloading on the other end.

the world today is banning kids from the internet largely to prevent them from talking to strangers online. i think a scenario where the pedophiles can use waymo to snatch up kids from summer camps might encounter some resistance.

The far bigger danger to kids from an abuse perspective is the adult driver in the front seat and from a safety perspective is the poor average quality of human driving.

And a self driving car is capable of locking all the doors, identifying threats, calling 911 etc.

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#72

Post by kevinburke »

jcranmer wrote: post #59
kevinburke wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

People have been saying that self-driving cars are so imminent that we don't need to bother making any improvements to public transit for... at least 10 years, probably closer to 15 years at this point. It's still too premature to shape your entire land use planning around still largely theoretical predictions of how the technology could evolve.

Sure. One thing we could do is waive requirements about how wide parking stalls need to be, and parking aisles, and how many parking spaces you need, and then let builders make those decisions for themselves.

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#73

Post by dlcarrier »

mikelitoris wrote: post #4

“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…

Also: The lack of three+ bedroom units means that there are going to continue to be few product types available in Walnut Creek for families.

Humanity has manage to make it this far, almost entirely without three+ bedroom units.

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#74

Post by kevinburke »

bluGill wrote: post #68
kevinburke wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

https://www.thepitchia.com/floorplans?Beds=3 . New building.

Yes - this proves my point - both of those 3 bedroom floor plans are for corner units. They have windows on two sides because they are corner units.

In a podium building you only have so many corner units, everything else is 1 or 2 bedroom units. In this particular building that means only 12 units out of 66 https://www.costar.com/article/939748887/lloyd-companies-bra...

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#75

Post by slyall »

trhway wrote: post #46

Adam 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…

Did you read the article. Half the problem is the government regulations ( stairwells, elevators, parking ) that force the developer to build things worse.

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#76

Post by jerlam »

stickfigure wrote: post #42
milkytron wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think Waymo was approved to operate in Walnut Creek and a lot of northern California in November 2025, but hasn't really expanded outside the peninsula.

Since then, Waymo has actually regressed and stopped driving on freeways, which is a big problem for suburbs. Distances are farther and parking is more available, which suggests people would be taking Waymo less than in more dense areas.

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#79

Post by kevinburke »

dlcarrier wrote: post #73
mikelitoris wrote: post #4

“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…

Also: The lack of three+ bedroom units means that there are going to continue to be few product types available in Walnut Creek for families. Humanity has manage to make it this far, almost entirely without three+ bedroom units.

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-som...

Re: Why Can't Walnut Creek Build 3 Bedroom Apartments with a Playground?

#80

Post by fragmede »

fhdkweig wrote: post #36
tobinfricke wrote: post #17

This seems like a specious argument: "Most of the apartments have a window on just one side. The interior facing rooms on the lower floors are going to have a lot of trouble getting light in. With a window on only one side, you can't ventilate your apartment by opening windows on multiple sides. This increases the demand for HVAC, which increases the cost of living." I doubt A/C costs are anything but negligible comp…

Even then, opening two windows require that the wind is blowing and in the right direction. I purchased a box fan just so I can put it in a window to get more ventilation (and it was to blow out allergens, not temperature control). Best $18 I ever spent. This is someone who is just looking for an excuse to not like the apartment.

Are you suggesting that people in Walnut Creek are being dishonest about not liking specific features about housing because they're against housing in general? I'm shocked! Just utterly shocked, I tell you.
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