Bay Meadows: Beginning of Urban Prairification in Bay Area? (Sunnyvale: renting, condo)

[Utahooligan]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

A "new town" just does not fit there. The whole thing has been an immense mistake.

The "new town" was designed to fit-in with Phase I, which was the Jefferson (now Archstone) at Bay Meadows apartment complex, plus the condos and the trendy little commercial strip with Whole Foods Market, etc. I lived right there during much of the 2000s & my goal was to buy a house in that new, mixed-use development that was going to be built where the horse track was.

Phase I was built atop the old Bay Meadows practice track/field.

Anyway, I paid a lot of attention to the original plans, and it did look (on paper...) to be great. But of course, despite it being private property, San Mateo got all involved on exactly how it'd be redeveloped, and required a certain amount of park space, section-8/"Below Market Rate" housing, etc.

I moved-out in 2008 (because my rent for the 2 bedroom, one bathroom apartment was going up from 2400/month to $2700/month, and the quality of the Archstone San Mateo management & tenants were going down) & it doesn't seem like anything has taken place at the Bay Meadows track site since about 2009, despite all the promises from the developers. I hope they're all losing money, but it's too bad that the city of San Mateo, which extorted all sorts of promises from the developers in terms of the design of Phase II/III, is now apparently not doing anything.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Something I had not realized until very recently (and, conveniently, buried by the main stream media back during the critical decision points in the mid 00's) is the fact that San Mateo has a special tax district to "help" out this debacle. Seed money for the infrastructure, and, assuming they are ever built, the buildings for the now scaled back commercial enclave, is courtesy of John and Jane Q. Taxpayer, not the capital markets or private investors. Yeah ... that's the way to do it! NOT!

[Utahooligan]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Something I had not realized until very recently (and, conveniently, buried by the main stream media back during the critical decision points in the mid 00's) is the fact that San Mateo has a special tax district to "help" out this debacle. Seed money for the infrastructure, and, assuming they are ever built, the buildings for the now scaled back commercial enclave, is courtesy of John and Jane Q. Taxpayer, not the capital markets or private investors. Yeah ... that's the way to do it! NOT!

San Mateo (& I assume most other California, or at least Bay Area cities) gets involved with everything, because they want to implore/coerce/force private enterprises creating commercial/residential developments to have a percentage available at 'below market rates' instead of the usual capitalist approach of letting the market decide value & people's own finances deciding where they can afford to live.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Finally some news about this one:

http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_18831571

Translation - they are doing the bare minimum to avoid the site being declared "blighted."

[Ceece]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Finally some news about this one:

http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_18831571

Translation - they are doing the bare minimum to avoid the site being declared "blighted."

Just out of curiosity, what do YOU think should be happening at this site? What is your vision?

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Just out of curiosity, what do YOU think should be happening at this site? What is your vision?

Don't try to rush the end of the racing (water under the bridge at this point), let the market determine it without any artificial meddling by government.

Let developers' plans and zoning determine usage, don't have a specific "TOD" goal in mind.

Don't even think about relocating the location of the Hillsdale station.

Don't give developers a 17 year option on a parcel of land.

Etc, etc, etc.

[bigdumbgod]

Fake out San Mateo and put a pro football stadium in there when nobody's looking.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

Fake out San Mateo and put a pro football stadium in there when nobody's looking.

Now you're onto something here!

[BayAreaHillbilly]

I am not at all surprised about this:

Bay Meadows development facing 2013 deadline | Katie Worth | Local | San Francisco Examiner

The whole TOD / Green thing is so 1990s. So characteristic of decadent boom times.

Now, during hard times, utopian schemes start to tarnish.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Sort of interesting, vis a vis this topic and the S'vale Town Center / Town and Country site debacle:

The Post Sustainability Institute - Our Mission

I find this site to be a bit less Black Helicopterish than others I've seen.