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Priced out of Paris

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Re: Priced out of Paris

#81

Post by jjsz »

JPKab wrote: post #56

My cousin is a .01%-er. My father's brother, due to a position of political power he held in the late 1970's, met and married a woman who is an heir to an American old-money family. (if i were to name them, you would know. If you listen to NPR for more than an hour, you will hear their name mentioned as a donor) The contrast is insane, since my entire family is Appalachian coal mining stock. She NEVER visits, so the…

The old-money lifestyle is _designed_ to sit back, enjoy, and let the investment bankers handle the rest- exactly what she's doing so they're not parasites, they're living an elite's way of life. If you would get closer to her she would produce a lot of good times and memories. Just because you will travel, stay in the house and read more doesn't mean someone is going to sit down and become an inventor / iterator like you. Her view is that the whole world is working for her, and drugs are her way of coping with what she's missing. What's wrong with that? A decent amount of the elites believe that, what are you going to do- sit there and be proud of your humble life- right? Chill. There's no point of being envious and no point for me being an apologist but if it bothers you so much become one of her investment bankers.

Re: Priced out of Paris

#82

Post by glenra »

ludoo wrote: post #15
kiba wrote: post #3

Why is Paris really expensive? Constricted supply and high demand. Why is the supply constricted? Because Paris refuse to build anything in the center. That's because the center is a historical preservation district writ large. If you build anything modern, it would "ruin" the image of Paris. So, Paris would need to change its policy and start demolishing old buildings, and build higher density buildings. Certainly,…

OMG a Le Corbusier nephew. Right, let's raze all historical cities, and build stell and glass cubes. And while we're at it, let's burn a few books and paintings too...

> Right, let's raze all historical cities, and build stell and glass cubes.

If redevelopment were generally allowed in cities like Paris and New York some of ugliest, least unique buildings would tend to get replaced with something newer and possibly better. And fifty or a hundred years later some of those new buildings would themselves also be prized by preservationists.

People HATED the Eiffel Tower when it was first proposed. Some even hated it after it was built. (de Maupassant: “this tall skinny pyramid of iron ladders, this giant and disgraceful skeleton.”)

Don't be like those people.

> And while we're at it, let's burn a few books and paintings too...

The traditionalist position here makes us burn all the potential new books and paintings, because we already have enough copies of the old ones to fill the library. Better to keep a hundred copies of an old book than 99 copies of the old book and one copy of a new one, right?

Re: Priced out of Paris

#83

Post by gman99 »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #37
andyking wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if my pay was doubled, I wouldn't be able to afford to live in or near London. However, I can afford a comfortable lifestyle in rural Yorkshire (house, car, holidays, internet access, good food, days out etc etc) on a modest pay packet. The rent for my 17th century cottage with garden in a Yorkshire village wouldn't get me a room in a shared house in an undesirable part of London. I don't understand the pull of…

Couldn't agree more, I live in Newcastle (Upon Tyne) and wonder why all my friends headed down south after uni - for "the salary" was their reasoning but none of them have savings and their salary goes into rent, commuting and maintain an expensive social life. I'd much rather be here in Newcastle and be able to afford to live and save - just wish the weather were a little better

As someone who went to Uni in Durham and loves the countryside; (but still loved his two year stay in London), I can give you another reason: The sheer variety in cheap cultural things to do. I'm not saying Newcastle lacks decent culture, just that it's not cheap.

When living in London, I used to make frequent trips to The Globe (£7 tickets), National Theatre (£12), Sadler's Wells (£15), Museums (free) plus other great Opera's, plays, contemporary dance, etc all over the city, all for around £15 (usually a lot less) or free.

I've since moved out of London as I started missing the countryside, but don't be so quick to dismiss everyone who does not make the same choices as you do. The grime, overcrowding, noise & smoke of the city is more than compensated for by the amazing public transport and world class cultural events (again, for I would never have discovered my love for Classical music, Ballet or Opera if the opportunities weren't so numerous and the tickets so cheap.

Re: Priced out of Paris

#84

Post by [deleted] »

simias wrote: post #66
kiba wrote: post #3

Why is Paris really expensive? Constricted supply and high demand. Why is the supply constricted? Because Paris refuse to build anything in the center. That's because the center is a historical preservation district writ large. If you build anything modern, it would "ruin" the image of Paris. So, Paris would need to change its policy and start demolishing old buildings, and build higher density buildings. Certainly,…

I live in Paris and I don't think that's the solution. All forms of transportation in Paris are saturated. Adding more housing capability would make moving inside (and around) Paris even more terrible than it is today. The boulevard périphérique circling the city is one of the busiest highways in Europe [1]. The RER A train line is also one of the busiest in the world[2]. Trust me, we don't want more people in Paris.…

[deleted]

Re: Priced out of Paris

#85

Post by yardie »

NatW wrote: post #61

I'm an American ruby/python developer living in Paris. The cost of living in Paris is comparable to living in New York City or San Francisco. In some ways it can be cheaper. You can find affordable places to live and work all over Paris, and you can find all kinds of ways to spend or save money in any city.

Another American in Paris here. I would say Paris is cheaper than NYC, SF, and London. Unfortunately my salary isn't appreciating nearly as fast as my rent. And when I say rent I really mean the copropriété charges.

Re: Priced out of Paris

#87

Post by dasil003 »

Thrymr wrote: post #75
dasil003 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this any different from the endless and dehumanizing suburban sprawl pioneered by America? Frankly, you're better off taking a train from the suburbs in London than you will be self-driving cars unless they can solve the congestion problem. The thing is, a lot of people want to live in the city, because they like to, you know, live in a city, not just work there.

I guarantee there a plenty of people living in cities who would be quite happy to live elsewhere if only there were jobs there. Many of those people live in the city to avoid a long commute, not because they enjoy living in a city.

Yes, and I guarantee you there are plenty of people in suburbs that would prefer to live inside the city if it were more affordable. What is your point?

Re: Priced out of Paris

#88

Post by [deleted] »

twic wrote: post #50
salmonellaeater wrote: post #13

The article implies that it's a big problem for commodities to go to the people willing to pay the most for them. Housing is just another commodity; is it surprising that the people who derive the most value from being in a city center (professionals in finance, law, business) end up paying the most for the privilege?

Housing is simply not just another commodity. An utterly fundamental aspect of commodities is that their production is price-elastic, and governed by supply and demand: if demand increases, prices rise, so, supply increases, prices fall again, and the market remains efficient. The housing supply has very little price elasticity, at least in London. This is for the very simple reason that there is hardly any space to…

[deleted]

Re: Priced out of Paris

#89

Post by epsylon »

tomaac wrote: post #86

You should come to Oslo and you will have other meaning of word "expensive". For comparison: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

Salaries in Oslo are much higher than in Paris.

Re: Priced out of Paris

#90

Post by jasonkester »

othello wrote: post #55
kiba wrote: post #3

Why is Paris really expensive? Constricted supply and high demand. Why is the supply constricted? Because Paris refuse to build anything in the center. That's because the center is a historical preservation district writ large. If you build anything modern, it would "ruin" the image of Paris. So, Paris would need to change its policy and start demolishing old buildings, and build higher density buildings. Certainly,…

Actually two of the 20 districts of inner Paris (the "arrondissements"), which you describe as a "historical preservation district writ large", are more densely populated than any districts in any Western city - except for Manhattan Community Board 8 and 2 districts in Spain [1]. The 11th and the 20th arrondissement both house more than 40,000 people per km2 (104,000 per sq mile), which is denser than any district of…

Indeed. I once dated a girl who lived in Montmartre. Were you to sit on the toilet in her apartment, you'd be able to shower, cook dinner, reach over to answer the door, or make the bed, all without having to stand up.

That's actually plenty dense for me.

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