Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
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Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#2Ha, the first SFBARF meeting was actually held in my apartment, when Sonja was still not sure if it was something people were interested in. Crazy to see how much it grew.
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#3Love this quote:
“Most people would be very uncomfortable tearing down 315 houses. But they don’t have a similar objection to never building them in the first place, even though I feel they’re morally equivalent. Those people show up anyway. They get born anyway. They get a job in the area anyway. What do they do? They live in an overcrowded situation, they pay too much rent, they have a commute that’s too long. Or maybe they outbid someone else, and someone else is displaced.”
“It’s easy to see the problem when you’re tearing down someone’s home. But when you’re not building, it’s hard to see whose home it is.”
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#4Here's Scott Wiener's post about meeting 2040 housing growth plans: https://medium.com/@Scott_Wiener/want-to-know-why-the-bay-ar...
Looks like East bay is falling behind schedule.
Here's housing prices since crash peek:http://west.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/hugolefebvre-ch...
I live several doors down from the old KFC. I miss the old Sugoi Sushi that was there - but am fine with the new construction. Am lucky to have rent control. Right now, if I move away, I wouldn't be able to afford moving back.
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#5Love this quote: “Most people would be very uncomfortable tearing down 315 houses. But they don’t have a similar objection to never building them in the first place, even though I feel they’re morally equivalent. Those people show up anyway. They get born anyway. They get a job in the area anyway. What do they do? They live in an overcrowded situation, they pay too much rent, they have a commute that’s too long. Or m…
I was coming to say the same thing. I think this is a good question to ask of the folks who object to building homes, "What if the people who lived in this town before you moved here had blocked the building of the home you are living in?" You wouldn't have had that wonderful experience you are trying to preserve because you would never have lived here."
It is very sobering.
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#6I hope she wins. I hope other people see her insight. I have not seen this kind of attitude against development in other countries. Sure, some speculators will make out on some locations near transit,and some will lose out a bit. Who cares, what we need are more units, in SF, down the Camino corridor from SF to san Jose.
Build up, have BART go all the way down the el cam, and have local Surface-bahns.
I'm tired of the homeowning middle class as well as the poor (or more accurately, those advocating in the name of the poor) for being so utterly against development.
It's time for change. I'd welcome a housing glut, it'll benefit most, but those who see real estate as investment for retirement.
In the end, I think people will discover that mid density isn't so bad after all. You get convenience, but you lose some of your feeling of living in an enclave.
From communist china to capitalist Korea, when housing is in short supply, buildings go up.
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#7Ha, the first SFBARF meeting was actually held in my apartment, when Sonja was still not sure if it was something people were interested in. Crazy to see how much it grew.
Cool! When was that?
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#8Here's Scott Wiener's post about meeting 2040 housing growth plans: https://medium.com/@Scott_Wiener/want-to-know-why-the-bay-ar... Looks like East bay is falling behind schedule. Here's housing prices since crash peek: http://west.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/hugolefebvre-ch... I live several doors down from the old KFC. I miss the old Sugoi Sushi that was there - but am fine with the new construction. Am lucky…
> Am lucky to have rent control. Right now, if I move away, I wouldn't be able to afford moving back.
SF-style widepsread rent control seems like part of the problem to me, in the sense that it hides the true extent of market distortions from many people living in the area (especially the demographics most likely to vote), while incentivizing weird and unethical behavior to circumvent it by developers who could probably be nudged into tenant-friendly density increases under more sane conditions.
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#9Love this quote: “Most people would be very uncomfortable tearing down 315 houses. But they don’t have a similar objection to never building them in the first place, even though I feel they’re morally equivalent. Those people show up anyway. They get born anyway. They get a job in the area anyway. What do they do? They live in an overcrowded situation, they pay too much rent, they have a commute that’s too long. Or m…
That's a rather odd perspective. Does this person also view murder as morally equivalent to contraception?
Re: Urban activists set out to sue San Francisco’s suburbs
#10Love this quote: “Most people would be very uncomfortable tearing down 315 houses. But they don’t have a similar objection to never building them in the first place, even though I feel they’re morally equivalent. Those people show up anyway. They get born anyway. They get a job in the area anyway. What do they do? They live in an overcrowded situation, they pay too much rent, they have a commute that’s too long. Or m…
I was coming to say the same thing. I think this is a good question to ask of the folks who object to building homes, "What if the people who lived in this town before you moved here had blocked the building of the home you are living in?" You wouldn't have had that wonderful experience you are trying to preserve because you would never have lived here." It is very sobering.
I live in an sf suburb. I talk to local homeowners in the dog park at night and they're all wildly opposed to density, often with a nice core of racism too (I'm white so white people say some wild shit to me; you hear references to "those people" and it's not that deeply coded.) The only thing that cheers me about all the nimbys where I live is all their kids are getting kicked out. Seriously. In 20 years when their kids want a house, it will cost $2.5mm on the low end to own a home here. There will be a tiny handful of careers that pay the necessary wages.