Arent Fox Bay Area Land News - October 20, 2015

News You Can 'Dig' covering California/Bay Area News, San Francisco News, South Bay News, Peninsula News, and East Bay News.

California/Bay Area News

San Jose Mercury News
High-speed rail coming sooner than expected

News that high-speed rail might come to the Peninsula much sooner than anticipated prompted the City Council on Tuesday to ask the state rail authority to take a collaborative approach in its environmental review of the project. The council also reiterated that it would like to see a grade separation at major intersections and voted to seek a commitment of 15 percent of the revenue from a proposed county transportation sales tax measure to be spent for that purpose.

To read the full article, click here.

Associated Press
Private firms question California high-speed rail funding

Businesses that might bid to build a high-speed rail network across California are questioning whether there will be enough government funding to complete the complex and ambitious project. That picture emerged from documents the companies submitted to the state rail authority overseeing the project, which solicited ideas for how it should approach building a first segment of 300 miles of track by 2022.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Examiner
Caltrain looks for ways to improve safety as vehicle strikes rise

Caltrain is working on new methods of preventing vehicle crashes on its tracks in response to a sharp uptick this year, particularly in recent months, officials said today. At least eight vehicles have been hit on Caltrain tracks this year, six of them since Aug. 1. Four of the eight crashes have been in Burlingame, and three of those at the same intersection: Broadway.

To read the full article, click here.

Silicon Valley Business Journal
How Far Your Money Goes: Analysis methodology

The Business Journals has conducted a comprehensive review of employment and salary levels in major markets across the country. It began by collecting employment figures and average salaries from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Business Journals then calculated cost-of-living adjustments to reflect purchasing power within each market.

To read the full article, click here.

Contra Costa Times
Race to build wetlands is needed to stave off sea-level rise, scientists say

San Francisco Bay is in a race against time, with billions of dollars of highways, airports, homes and office buildings at risk from rising seas, surging tides and extreme storms driven by climate change. And to knock down the waves and reduce flooding, 54,000 acres of wetlands -- an area twice the size of the city of San Francisco -- need to be restored around the bay in the next 15 years.

To read the full article, click here.

SF Gate
El Ni?o looking like a rainy winner for state’s watersheds

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center, in its monthly long-term weather outlook, boosted the odds of precipitation for California this winter and spring — including, crucially, the areas in the North State and Sierra that supply the bulk of the state’s water supply

To read the full article, click here.


San Francisco News

San Francisco Business Times
S.F. is racing to the high end: High-income residents and the virtuous circle

San Francisco residents may feel like they’re living the good life. They are certainly paying for that privilege. In a city where a Big Mac meal goes for more than ine bucks, virtually everything costs more than the national average. And when it comes to housing, way more, with San Francisco's record median rent of $5,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.

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San Francisco Business Times
Planning Commission to consider raising child care impact fee for developers

San Francisco's Planning Commission will consider expanding child care impact fees for developers in a bid to keep more families with small children in a city with one of the lowest rates of child residents in the country. A plan by Supervisor Norman Yee that would boost the fees will be looked at by the commission on Thursday, which may then recommend it for approval.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Business Times
Mission advocates hatch half-billion-dollar plan if housing moratorium succeeds

Mission District advocacy groups, with the backing of its City Hall representative, want at least a half-billion public dollars and a doubling of market-rate developers’ affordable housing requirements to funnel into the neighborhood.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Examiner
SF Port examining earthquake vulnerability of northern waterfront

It’s no secret San Francisco is due for a major earthquake that will rival the devastating magnitude-7.8 temblor of 1906. There’s a one in three chance the Hayward fault alone will produce a magnitude-6.7 or larger quake in the next three decades. The City is preparing for such an event by requiring at an unprecedented level various seismic upgrades and evaluations of residential, commercial and educational buildings. Rebuilding major infrastructure of the Bay Bridge and Doyle Drive to meet seismic safety standards are other major efforts to prepare San Francisco for “the big one.”

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Examiner
Wharf workers still stranded, tech bus picks up Muni’s slack

Despite all the crowing of tech industry newcomers, tourism is still the beating heart of San Francisco’s economy, as out-of-towners spent more than $9 billion in The City just last year. But the lifeblood of The City’s tourism economy — workers — are increasingly transit stranded. The Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District conducted a survey last year and found businesses there had almost 200 job openings unfilled — mostly due to lack of transit.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Chronicle
Prop. F splits neighbors on whether Airbnb hurts or helps housing

A narrow alley separates Libby Noronha’s West Portal house from that of her neighbor Phil Li, who rents out three suites to travelers via Airbnb.
“He’s running a hotel next door,” said Noronha, 67, a retired federal employee. “People come in the middle of the night, bumping their luggage down the alley. This is not an occasional use when a kid goes to college or someone is away for a week. Along with all the house cleaners, it’s an array of commercial traffic in a residential neighborhood,” she said of the noise, smoking, garbage, parking and liability issues.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Examiner
Airbnb breaking the bank to kill Prop. F

For a firm whose business was illegal for six out of seven years of its existence, Airbnb has matured briskly into the Caligula stage of imperial excess. Now we know how drug kingpins would behave if heroin were legalized. Airbnb has invested $8 million to crush Proposition F this November to achieve two goals: Airbnb is terrified that Prop. F might pass, and Airbnb is spending to deter wimpier cities from contemplating regulations of Airbnb not written by Airbnb.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Examiner
Surplus property could help housing issues

A city ordinance that has failed to produce more than a pair of below-market-rate housing sites for the formerly homeless in 13 years could be strengthened in the upcoming election, Supervisor Jane Kim said.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Chronicle
S.F. Tennis Club members form nonprofit to fight demolition bid

Members of San Francisco’s only indoor tennis club have come out swinging against a proposal to demolish the sports center in favor of office space, spinning the plan as the latest example of how tech development is stripping South of Market of its eclectic character and quality of life.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Chronicle
Affordable housing eligibility would be expanded under Prop. K

It was so San Francisco the way Cuihua Liang finally got an apartment — all thanks to an earthquake and a ruined freeway. Eight years ago, the 39-year-old emigrated from China and moved into a single-room-occupancy space. She shared it with her husband and their two sons, now 11 and 6. But it was difficult cooking chicken wings and steamed eggs on the shared stove, and her boys didn’t have room to play.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Business Times
Why do S.F. landlords endorse a politician who wants to expand rent control?

Former Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin has an appealing political cry for the District 3 residents he wants to represent again: Let’s expand rent control to apartment buildings constructed after 1979.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Business Times
Equity Residential pays $28 million to think small at SoMa site

Apartment building behemoth Equity Residential has completed a $28 million purchase of three South of Market land parcels, which will give way to a 13-story tower with some of the latest examples of tiny living.

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Business Times
Pinterest to pay $18.9 million to renovate new S.F. digs

San Francisco-based image sharing company Pinterest will spend $18.9 million renovating its new office space at 651 Brannan St. in the SoMa neighborhood, new federal filings show.

To read the full article, click here.
 

South Bay News

KALW Blog
Competitive South Bay real estate market pits international Chinese buyers against locals

Lin-Lin Tsou-Otani is a real estate agent with DeLeon Realty. It’s Saturday morning, and our housing search starts in Cupertino, in a van filled with about 10 other people. “Raise your hand if you think the housing market is going crazy,” she says. The crowd chuckles. The van seats are full – so Tsou-Otani stands in front, guiding buyers on a tour conducted half in Chinese, and half in English.

To read the full article, click here.


Peninsula News

The Almanac
Menlo Park names new assistant city manager to oversee development project

Charles "Chip" Taylor, former Menlo Park public works director, will return to service in Menlo Park as the city's new assistant city manager after leaving in June 2014 to work as Millbrae's assistant city manager.

To read the full article, click here.

Palo Alto Online
In search of the new commute

In late August, Wendy Silvani met with a group of employees from The Epiphany, an eight-story hotel that in many ways epitomizes Palo Alto's problematic prosperity. The chic, remodeled building on the downtown corner of Hamilton Avenue and Emerson Street — converted two years ago from a convalescent home — was among a recent wave of new hotels that have popped up in Palo Alto.

To read the full article, click here.

Mountain View Online
City on the spot to discuss rental crisis

With no easy answers on the table, the Mountain View City Council will discuss on Monday how to respond to a hot rental market that many fault for displacing scores of tenants. The meeting has huge stakes for a city where 58 percent of residents live in rental units, and new housing can't seem to be built fast enough to meet demand. 

To read the full article, click here.

San Francisco Chronicle
At old racetrack site, dense development is suburbia’s best bet

The buildings and parks that are replacing the Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo show how far suburbs have come in adjusting to 21st century lifestyles — and how far they still have to go. The housing in the middle of the 83-acre site could be several stories taller, providing shelter to hundreds of additional residents, and nobody outside the neighborhood would notice. When the project is complete, no more than 15 percent of the 1,000-plus apartments and town houses will be priced at below-market levels, in a city where the median price for a single-family home tops $1 million.

To read the full article, click here.

Mercury News
Commission crafts preferred bike boulevard

A commission has fleshed out its plan for a complete bike boulevard through the city. The boulevard would connect the east and west sides of the city to El Camino Real, and extend north from Valparaiso Avenue south to Stanford University. The Bicycle Commission’s plan, largely developed by Commissioner Jonathan Weiner and presented Monday, would involve the removal of 57 time-designated parking spaces along Oak Grove Avenue, Crane Street and University Drive, but could impact about 150 spaces overall.

To read the full article, click here.


East Bay News

San Francisco Business Times
These 15 companies are making the move from San Francisco to Oakland

As the exodus from pricey San Francisco office rents has pushed businesses to search for more affordable digs, one city in particular has reaped the benefits: Oakland. Whether it's Uber buying the 400,000 square foot Uptown Station property, formerly the Sears building, or San Francisco bastion the Sierra Club pulling up its 124-year-old stakes, more than a dozen major businesses have fled to Oakland so far this year.

To read the full article, click here.

Contra Costa Times
What to make of controversy surrounding Concord Naval Weapons Station project

Concord's acquisition and development of the former Naval Weapons Station property south of Highway 4 was never going to be simple. Few dealings with government agencies are. The Navy imposed a list of bureaucratic hurdles. The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imposed more. Ditto for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control and the Regional Water Quality Control Board. But those were simple challenges compared with the confluence of events that now have brought the 9-year-old project to a screeching halt.

To read the full article, click here.