City at War: Why We Can't All Just Get Along (Los Angeles: 2015, renters)

[ViolentDisasters]

I thought this was a pretty good analysis of the hyper-gentrification SF is facing right now. Thoughts?

A city at war: Why we can't all just get along | 48 hills

[ohhwanderlust]

The article is completely unrealistic about how a free market works. Either that, or s/he wants a stagnant economy.

There really needs to be more housing, that I definitely agree with. But that won't happen on a large enough scale, because the provincial snobby types would whine about it making the city not pretty.

Even so, my partner and I are both in tech, and we think people who would pay $4k/mo to live in a rathole in SF are suckers. We do have a bit of a commute, but it's not that bad, and we actually get to save.

As for greedy landlords...that's called business. It's not a charity. Who wouldn't rent to the highest bidder, all else equal?

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by ohhwanderlust

The article is completely unrealistic about how a free market works. Either that, or s/he wants a stagnant economy.

There really needs to be more housing, that I definitely agree with. But that won't happen on a large enough scale, because the provincial snobby types would whine about it making the city not pretty.

Even so, my partner and I are both in tech, and we think people who would pay $4k/mo to live in a rathole in SF are suckers. We do have a bit of a commute, but it's not that bad, and we actually get to save.

As for greedy landlords...that's called business. It's not a charity. Who wouldn't rent to the highest bidder, all else equal?

I agree with pretty much everything you said. We just moved into the city in January from Walnut Creek, and we have a small, but old place for $2,500. It fits us pretty well, and we lucked out with a landlord who actually cares about maintaining the property. We're saving also, and within walking or a short bus/metro/uber distance of most anything we want socially.

I also said it in another thread - the city's infrastructure can't even supply the current demand. We have the worst local transit system of any major city in the country. BART actually isn't that bad considering, but is very overcrowded during the rush hours. When the majority of people disembark at TWO stops in the system, things tend to bottleneck.

I'm not a planner, so I'm not sure how that, or the overall infrastructure can be fixed. While I believe that more housing is a good idea in the city, the infrastructure has to at least catch up to the current and short/mid-term future demand before we can seriously consider adding significant housing capacity.

Before I moved to the Bay Area I used to think that the idiot conservatives in the south I came in contact with who called SF progressives "socialists" were just blowing hot air, because generally speaking, they were. However, now that I've spent a year in the area, I can certainly see it. Some people are so out of touch in this area with how the rest of the entire country operates. I am realizing that extremists on both sides of the political spectrum bother me, because they're both close-minded and ignorant.

[phantompilot]

I think the article evinces the delusional attitudes of the typical communist. If you rent, you are subject to the market forces - you're not "losing your home". It isn't YOUR home, just because you rent it. If you want something to be yours, then buy it!

And don't complain that rents have gone up - the landlord didn't do that to you. The Federal government and private bankers that they sold our currency to did that. Inflation is a *****, but its not the landlord's fault that your money is worth less by the day. Tell the government to stop printing the stuff.

[likealady]

I'm tired of these renters who think that just because they've lived someplace a long time, they are somehow entitled to it. i always assume my space is temporary until I've bought it. So if a landlord were to kick out a tenant after 15 yrs because they want to move back into their home are the tenants going to flip a table and scream about it being "unfair"?

[bmw335xi]

Really stupid article IMHO

[bigdumbgod]

Looks like a lot of people here don't know what "community" is.

People are not things.
Home is not a thing.
Community is not a thing.
Things are disposable, given to exploitation and soon thrown away. The above should not be viewed as such things.

People that have created the SF vibe over many decades know that. Greedy bastards don't. The shallowness of the present is self-evident.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

I agree with pretty much everything you said. We just moved into the city in January from Walnut Creek, and we have a small, but old place for $2,500. It fits us pretty well, and we lucked out with a landlord who actually cares about maintaining the property. We're saving also, and within walking or a short bus/metro/uber distance of most anything we want socially.

I also said it in another thread - the city's infrastructure can't even supply the current demand. We have the worst local transit system of any major city in the country. BART actually isn't that bad considering, but is very overcrowded during the rush hours. When the majority of people disembark at TWO stops in the system, things tend to bottleneck.

I'm not a planner, so I'm not sure how that, or the overall infrastructure can be fixed. While I believe that more housing is a good idea in the city, the infrastructure has to at least catch up to the current and short/mid-term future demand before we can seriously consider adding significant housing capacity.

Before I moved to the Bay Area I used to think that the idiot conservatives in the south I came in contact with who called SF progressives "socialists" were just blowing hot air, because generally speaking, they were. However, now that I've spent a year in the area, I can certainly see it. Some people are so out of touch in this area with how the rest of the entire country operates. I am realizing that extremists on both sides of the political spectrum bother me, because they're both close-minded and ignorant.

(1) Walnut Creek is a good place to start out.
(2) BART, Caltrain, MUNI...all overcrowded. AC Transit and VTA aren't much better. BART should've been built out full-scale, as originally proposed, in the 1970s. And now Marin/Sonoma have realized the error of their ways and started building their own system...40 years too late. Caltrain is the best run transit system in the Bay Area but overall, it's a freakin' mess.
(3) MUNI needs to improve--modernize, clean up, expand, and improve consistency--in order for SF proper to effectively expand its housing infrastructure. And yeah, I truly believe that with the right planning, SF could expand from 800,000 to 1,000,000+ very easily...and drive down the atrocious housing prices to at least Los Angeles' levels!
(4) Idiot conservatives in Kentucky have basically fought to strip libraries of taxation, and successfully fought to not tighten animal cruelty laws on the premise that animals are property. But at least they believe in the liberty of the individual to use the land as he/she sees fit (sometimes, too loosely so). SF, and the Bay Area overall, have much tighter building restrictions. Sometimes, these are good things, but the cost of developing a residential project has become simply outrageous. Now...more conservative Orange County is almost as expensive as SF these days...but at least OC still has empty land to work with. Obviously, SF does not. The challenge will be in coming decades to not severely compromise views that people in the city might even take for granted, not severely compromise historic character, and yet build up anyway.

Good luck, SF, you're gonna need it.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by phantompilot

I think the article evinces the delusional attitudes of the typical communist. If you rent, you are subject to the market forces - you're not "losing your home". It isn't YOUR home, just because you rent it. If you want something to be yours, then buy it!

And don't complain that rents have gone up - the landlord didn't do that to you. The Federal government and private bankers that they sold our currency to did that. Inflation is a *****, but its not the landlord's fault that your money is worth less by the day. Tell the government to stop printing the stuff.

Yeah, as if inflation is the only thing driving SF rents up.

Unbelievable!

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

I am realizing that extremists on both sides of the political spectrum bother me, because they're both close-minded and ignorant.

I also came to this realization after moving here. I was fortunate to have lived the majority of my life in a place that was neither too far to the left or right.

Extremism for any ideology is dangerous.