A housing question to Californians

[Ted Striker]

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[Ted Striker]

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[Ted Striker]

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[Az]

This is insane!

[Az]

Example of middle-class high-rises.

http://www.b-yair.co.il/rishon_h.html

[Ted Striker]

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[Az]

This isn't in the west bank. It's a southern suburb of Tel Aviv.

[Ted Striker]

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[Az]

I'll be stepping on the brown man's neck as much as I want to.

[Cyclotron]

High rises in my area are a no-no for two reasons. One, more money is made from single houses. Two, most of the cities and unincorporated districts have ordinances against tall buildings, and the homeowner element is extremely strong here (as in many cities).

And by the way, that statistic on the priciest median home prices is incorrect. I know for a fact that the city of Belvedere, in our county, has a median home price of 2.7 million. Terrifying, but true.

[Az]

Two, most of the cities and unincorporated districts have ordinances against tall buildings, and the homeowner element is extremely strong here (as in many cities).

****ing insane.

[Cyclotron]

Yes, but true. The associations can do whatever they want - the people of Novato forced out a Habitat for Humanity project in an empty lot because they felt it would damage their property values. Somewhere, Jimmy Carter is crying.

[Az]

Together with baby Jesus.

[Ted Striker]

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[Cyclotron]

The NIMBY factor is a real heavyweight in Marin politics, because many residents are wealthy enough to care about it and vote accordingly. Not only do most residents not want housing to replace pretty public land or private ranches, but all the traffic in Marin essentially moves through one north-south highway artery, highway 101. Thus, any housing added, theoretically, means more cars on the road - cars that must inevitably travel on the same highway as everyone else, which is already terminally overcrowded. The error in this logic is, of course, that people from other counties already crowd the freeway because they have to commute here but can't live here.

I worked for the Marin County Open Space District for two summers, and I can assure you that much less traffic is generated by a ranger who lives in San Rafael and works there than one who lives in Sonoma county and must drive to San Rafael. The kneejerk reaction to development, however - the "more houses = more cars = more time in traffic" reaction - remains very strong.

I don't like development for development's sake; I love how much open space there is in the county (heck, I worked for the parks service), and I would hate to see it all turn into houses. The current situation, however, pushes the limits of sanity. It's getting hard to find teachers for the public schools because they can't live here. That city of Belvedere I mentioned, with the 2.74 million median home price, is an actual city (though very small). Thus, they have their own police department, fire dept., etcetera. I am willing to wager that none of those public employees, and certainly none of the maids, gardeners, and other important service providers to any city don't live in the city or anywhere near it.

Of course, since that open space can't be touched by developers, and much of the rest of the county is tied up in ranches from the days when we were part of Mexico, finding a place to actually put houses is problematic. I suppose I don't have any answers.