Arent Fox Bay Area Land News - April 17, 2018
US/California/Bay Area News
San Francisco Business Times
Ballot measure to hit commercial landlords with $6 billion more in properties taxes is delayed. Did supporters accidentally kill it?
The potential legal battle is of substantial consequence to the California business community because removing business property from the protection of Prop 13 would raise business taxes between an estimated $6 billion and $10 billion each year.
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San Francisco Business Times
Chinese developer sees light at the end of the tunnel for controversial Wine Country resort
The project has been in the works for more than 15 years. The Beijing-based developer purchased the site — and its plans —in the aftermath of the Great Recession for more than $40 million.
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East Bay Times
Sacramento made us do it: Cities blame lawmakers for unpopular housing decisions
Carefully, like a doctor explaining treatment options to a sick patient, a consultant for a tiny Peninsula city laid out a stark choice: Allow 2,000 homes to be built on a barren 684 acres or risk tangling with state lawmakers who have threatened to jam through a development twice as large.
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East Bay Times
Nearly 1 million signatures filed for initiative to strike Prop. 13’s ‘moving penalty’
Backers of a statewide initiative aimed at expanding Prop. 13 for senior homeowners have submitted almost a million signatures to election officials, more than enough to qualify the measure for next November’s ballot, the California Association of Realtors, the initiative’s principal backer, has announced.
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East Bay Times
5 ways to solve California’s housing crisis
Californians could be spending at least $50 billion more than they do dining out, going to the movies or shopping.
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Lexington Herald Leader
Could granny flats help ease California's housing crisis? Some advocates think so
Several years ago, Patsy Spitta of Altadena, Calif., wanted to help her daughter afford a home – something out of reach for many teachers like her daughter.
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The Real Deal
Elon Musk’s plan for high-speed car tunnel gets initial approvals from LA
The man who put a car in space wants to put them underneath Los Angeles’ streets. Now he’s one step closer.
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San Francisco Business Times
Why the self-driving vehicle industry isn’t slowing down after its worst month ever
Two deadly recent crashes raised new questions for consumers and regulators about the safety of autonomous technology. Those questions might only be answerable by continuing to test the vehicles in the real, complex scenarios that come from driving on public roads, experts say.
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Los Angeles Times
A little-known bill could reshape housing development across California
A Bay Area lawmaker's housing proposal could expand the size and scope of home building efforts in California at an unprecedented scale.
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Silicon Valley Business Journal
50 years after Fair Housing Act, black home ownership rates no better — and it's even worse in Silicon Valley
In Silicon Valley, where all housing statistics tend to skew to extremes, black home buyers are far worse off than nationally with the ability to buy fewer than 1 in 10 homes on the market in the San Jose metro area.
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Mercury News
Urgent solution sought for Bay Area traffic ailments
Innovative — and swift — remedies are required if the Bay Area nad the rest of California can begin to cure a forbidding array of ailments poised to imperil the region's economic health, experts urged during an economic conference Friday.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Urban center rising in Sierra could be bellwether for state
One of California's hottest development projects can be found in one of its coldest towns. In an era of neighbor-bites-neighbor fights against big developments, perhaps it's fitting that an antidote should emerge from Dinner Pass. Tiny Truckee — a snowy municipality of 16,300 — is double the size of its downtown.
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SFGATE
Grocers seek new recipe for success with meal kits
If you want premeasured ingredients and recipes to cook and eat at home, your array of choices is growing.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Willie Brown: Facebook’s Zuckerberg smooth-talked Congress. Only 1 senator got to him
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony tour before Congress was one of the best-staged appearances I’ve seen in years. The only time Zuckerberg got nicked was when Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois asked the tech titan if would be comfortable revealing the name of the hotel where he’d stayed the night before.
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San Francisco News
San Francisco Business Times
A fix for the leaning Millennium Tower is in the works and the issue has gravity
At one time the most expensive condominium development in San Francisco, the sinking and leaning Millennium Tower may get repaired but it's gonna cost time, money and Newtonian physics.
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SFGATE
SF scooter problem: City impounds dozens of the two-wheelers
San Francisco’s skirmish over scooters escalated Friday as the city’s Public Works department seized several dozen of the two-wheelers it said were blocking sidewalks and fined the companies that own them in response to public protests.
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San Francisco Business Times
Viewpoint: Development foe sees value of streamlining — for its own project
Getting beyond irony is a way forward for Mission housing.
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San Francisco Business Times
Scooter startup apps explode in popularity as Bird, LimeBike and Spin riders roll on city sidewalks
But not everyone is thrilled about the new toys whizzing around the streets of San Francisco.
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SFGATE
San Francisco evictions law struck down as violation of Ellis Act
A state appeals court has struck down a San Francisco ordinance that requires landlords who evict their tenants and go out of the rental business under the state’s Ellis Act to wait 10 years before rebuilding or renovating any of the formerly rented units.
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San Francisco Business Times
Huge investors chase San Francisco's $300 million Ferry Building
The 1889 building is drawing interest from some of the country's biggest landlords.
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SFGATE
San Francisco won’t push scooter rentals out of town, despite rumored emergency ban
City supervisors are scoffing at an allegation by Bird, one of three companies that has dropped shared electric scooters on the streets and sidewalks of San Francisco, that San Francisco supervisors were set to ban the motorized devices within days.
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San Francisco Business Times
75 homes proposed near San Francisco's trendy Divisadero corridor
The project wants to use the state density program to exceed the area's 65-foot height limit.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Ranked-choice voting could come into play in SF mayor’s race
If polling trends continue, San Francisco’s June special election may be the first in which a mayoral race is determined by the roll-of-the-dice nature of the city’s ranked-choice voting system.
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San Francisco Chronicle
With S.F. seawall crumbling, $425 million bond for repairs likely to make ballot
A proposed $425 million San Francisco bond measure to kick-start vital repairs to the city’s fragile Embarcadero seawall cleared an important hurdle Monday, pushing it closer to a spot on the November ballot.
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San Francisco Chronicle
SF mayoral hopefuls walk fine line debating tech’s impact
On a cold and drizzly February evening, as the four leading candidates in San Francisco mayor’s race shuffled their notes and sipped water before a debate on the city’s west side, Martin Kazinski sat in the audience studying each of them, his back straight and his arms crossed tightly beneath a black motorcycle jacket.
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San Francisco Chronicle
SF’s scooter conflict: City attorney issues cease-and-desist orders to companies
San Francisco’s battle with companies that rent electric scooters kicked into high gear Monday as City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued cease-and-desist orders to the businesses even as the Board of Supervisors was considering a proposal to regulate the divisive transportation devices.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Viewpoint: Chronicle Recommends: London Breed for San Francisco Mayor
The policy differences among the four leading candidates for San Francisco mayor are not profound.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Pricey retrofit proposed for sinking Millennium Tower in SF
Engineers have proposed an unconventional solution to the Millennium Tower’s tilting troubles: drilling piles down to bedrock to stabilize one side of the 58-story condo high-rise and then letting the other side continue to sink until the building straightens itself.
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San Francisco Chronicle
SF mayoral candidate Angela Alioto comes up short on city matching funds
In what could be a major setback for her mayoral campaign, former Supervisor Angela Alioto has been denied public funds for the June special election, leaving her as the only major candidate out of the loop for what could be up to $975,000 in matching money to help sway voters.
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San Francisco Examiner
Two low-income housing projects net 2015 bond funding
San Francisco is shifting voter- approved housing bond money away from both an affordable housing project in the Excelsior due to delays and a senior housing project in Forest Hill following pushback from neighbors.
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San Francisco Examiner
Mission District school plans to open gym to homeless students, families overnight
A Mission District school hoping to address the severe housing crisis affecting dozens of its students is floating plans to convert its gymnasium into an overnight family shelter.
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San Francisco Examiner
YIMBY-backed Breed intervened to remove bikeshare station on her own block
Mayoral candidate London Breed, the sole endorsee of the Yes in My Backyard group, seems to have gone full NIMBY.
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South Bay News
East Bay Times
Downtown San Jose tech campus edges closer
A tech campus in downtown San Jose at 440 W. Julian St., would contain 1.02 million square feet of offices, in a visualization. Developers who have proposed a big tech campus in downtown San Jose have edged closer to launching the project by requesting construction permits for the project, where thousands of people could someday work TMG Partners, Valley Oak Partners.
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Mercury News
Community groups issue demands to Google over downtown San Jose village
A coalition of community groups issued an array of demands to Google on Thursday regarding the search giant’s plans for a transit-oriented development in downtown San Jose near the Diridon train station.
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Mercury News
Changes come with BART extensions
With BART's plans for its four-station extension into San Jose and Santa Clara expected to be approved later this month, all eyes are turned to how the extension will catalyze development.
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Silicon Valley Business Journal
Hudson Pacific gives former Cisco campus in Milpitas big makeover to draw top-tier tenants
A set of onetime Cisco Systems buildings in Milpitas, owned by prolific real estate investor Hudson Pacific Properties, are almost done getting a massive makeover meant to attract one or more of Silicon Valley’s “top tier” companies.
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Peninsula News
Palo Alto Online
Survey shows scant enthusiasm for infrastructure tax
Palo Alto voters might be willing to support a funding measure in November to improve public safety and roads, but most would likely oppose a sales-tax increase, a new survey commissioned by the city indicates.
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Palo Alto Online
Church may get a reprieve in neighborhood dispute
A heated dispute between an Old Palo Alto church and some of its neighbors moved toward a shaky resolution Wednesday night, when the city's Planning and Transportation Commission debated, criticized and ultimately supported granting the church a permit to retain its tenants.
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Mountain View Voice
Silicon Valley Rising holds rally at Google HQ
The community group Silicon Valley Rising held a rally at Google's headquarters in Mountain View Thursday morning to list demands for the search giant's proposed San Jose mega-campus.
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The Almanac
Porta Blu opens in Menlo Park hotel
Porta Blu, a restaurant combining Mediterranean and California cuisines, is now open inside the new Hotel Nia in Menlo Park.
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Silicon Valley Business Journal
FivePoint exec and former Oakland planning director joins Google real estate team
Rachel Flynn, a vice president of megaproject developer Five Point Holdings, is leaving to join Google as the tech giant embarks on several massive Bay Area real estate projects.
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The Almanac
Ravenswood district to appoint new principals
The superintendent of the Ravenswood City School District has proposed an internal shuffling of school leadership that will result in new principals at three schools next year.
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San Francisco Business Times
Busy Bay Area hotel developer picked for high-end project on South San Francisco waterfront
The 263-room hotel would be part of an 82-acre development that would include retail, about 2.25 million square feet of commercial space, walking trails and marina improvements.
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Mercury News
Redwood City allows cannabis business in east end of town
Redwood City is open for cannabis business, but marijuana operators aren't particularly high about the terms. As far as they're concerned, the city is banishing them to the industrial side of town and imposing overly restrictive rules.
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San Francisco Business Times
Ronnie Lott has no interest in developing the Coliseum, but he's a big fan of whoever does
The former 49ers and Raiders great just last year was involved in a plan that could have built a new stadium for the Raiders, Now he just wants to see a redevelopment project get done for the community.
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Mercury News
Parent fight removal of school principal
In response to what they consider the unfair removal of Belle Haven Elementary School Principal Todd Gaviglio, parents, students, and teachers are planning a series of protests this month and urging a districtwide boycott of classes on April 25.
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Mercury News
City OKs tool to attract affordable housing
In an effort to attract more affordable housing, the City Council has approved a new ordinance that gives developers more leeway on what they can build.
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East Bay News
East Bay Times
Judge upholds Richmond’s rejection of casino
An eight-year legal battle between the city of Richmond and developers who wanted to build a casino on the Point Molate peninsula ended today when a federal judge upheld the city’s rejection of the proposed casino.
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San Francisco Business Times
With casino fight settled, East Bay city seeks developer for at least 670 waterfront housing units
The settlement opens up a public process for a master developer to step in and build a project that's consistent with a reuse plan for Point Molate adopted in 1997.
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East Bay Times
Faction Brewing granted long-term lease at Alameda Point
Beer lovers look set to continue hoisting ales, stouts and other varieties produced by Faction Brewing at Alameda Point for at least another 10 years.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Mapping Oakland's past helps see future
Oakland’s propensity for transforming its landscape, skyline and demographics with confounding speed has always made the history of the city an intriguing subject to study and share.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Oakland Mayor Schaaf slams Councilwoman Brooks as ‘unethical’ and ‘toxic’
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf excoriated City Councilwoman Desley Brooks on Friday, casting her as an abusive figure whose antics have hurt the reputation of city government and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
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