Bay Area Land News - April 9, 2019
US / California / Bay Area News
Assemblyman Marc Berman's car campus sleeping bill clears hurdle
The Daily Journal
In proposing a bill allowing community college students to sleep in their cars overnight on campus, Assemblyman Marc Berman was well aware Assembly Bill 302 wouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution to the state’s housing crisis.
Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Ep. 373)
Freakonomics
As cities become ever-more expensive, politicians and housing advocates keep calling for rent control. Economists think that’s a terrible idea. They say it helps a small (albeit noisy) group of renters, but keeps overall rents artificially high by disincentivizing new construction. So what happens next?
California schools struggle to meet homeless students' needs
Mountain View Voice
More than 200,000 students in California have experienced homelessness over the past year, but the state's public school system has lagged in addressing the challenge.
What will be the right price to cut congestion in new york?
WIRED
New Yorkers love to tout their exceptionalism. Late Sunday evening, the state legislature in Albany handed city residents another first-of-its-kind distinction: New York will be the first US city to impose a fee for driving in a busy part of town. The congestion pricing plan is an effort to fight traffic—and to raise billions for the region’s floundering mass transit system.
California coffers to swell when billion-dollar firms premiere on Wall Street
San Francisco Chronicle
California’s boom-and-bust budget could soon get a big boost as companies worth billions of dollars rush onto the public markets, bringing huge tax gains for their home state.
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As Democratic candidates target big tech, ‘the honeymoon is over’ for Silicon Valley
The Mercury News
In a sharp turnaround from past elections, the country’s largest tech firms have emerged as some of the biggest bogeymen of the 2020 Democratic primary, with candidates vowing to crack down on or even break up companies that the party’s past White House hopefuls once pointed to as icons of American ingenuity.
Bills to encourage housing density near transit advance in Senate
Palo Alto Online
Two state bills that would allow more housing density in transit corridors cleared their first legislative hurdles this week, though each proposal will likely see significant changes before it becomes law.
Our View: S.F. supervisors join hands with California's NIMBYs
San Francisco Business Times
Seven of the 11 supervisors signed on to oppose State Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB50, which would require all cities to zone for housing density near transit.
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Opinion: History of the housing crisis
San Francisco Business Times
I recently finished reading a book on the history of California, written by Robert Glass Cleland. It’s titled, “California Pageant; The Story of Four Centuries.” Printed in 1946 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., the book was intended for a young audience. Nevertheless, it was a delight to read and very informative. One of the issues the book relates was California’s housing shortage at intervals during her early history.
San Francisco News
Think SF’s housing crisis is bad? You should have seen it in 1906
San Francisco Chronicle
Homelessness and the price of housing are undeniable problems in 2019 San Francisco. But this isn’t the city’s first such crisis, or its most acute: The earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, destroyed more than 28,000 buildings and left nearly half the population of 450,000 homeless.
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Editorial: Mayor Breed promises to push ahead with homeless shelters despite shout-down
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco is getting a hard look at its angry, ugly self. Mayor London Breed showed up at a seething meeting on a proposed homeless center and was shouted down for her troubles. It was a harsh glimpse of the city’s intolerant side.
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As SF’s economy thrives, gap grows between whites and residents of color
San Francisco Chronicle
In a city with an annual budget of more than $11 billion, small homes selling for $1.5 million and “Help Wanted” signs in every other window, it’s clear that San Francisco’s economy is booming. But it’s also obvious the prosperity is leaving many residents behind.
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SF supervisors oppose Wiener’s new housing-near-transit bill, but there’s wiggle room
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco appears all but certain to oppose a divisive state bill that would allow denser housing to be built around transit hubs and job centers, a measure that has again exposed the volatility of land use politics in a city straining to confront a critical housing shortage.
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Tech boom driving reinvention of historic SF structures for office space
San Francisco Chronicle
I was having a drink with my friend Bradford Whitaker the other afternoon at Sam’s Tavern, a new addition to the venerable Sam’s Grill on Bush Street. Whitaker suggested I try something new: Mount Gay rum and soda. While trying something new, I noticed something old: bricks, blackened and scorched by fire that formed the wall back of the bar.
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Editorial: With anti-housing vote, SF supervisors prepare to join California’s other exclusive enclaves
San Francisco Chronicle
In the long fight to keep California’s wealthy, homogeneous, exclusive suburbs just the way they are, Palo Alto and Beverly Hills have an ally they might not have expected: San Francisco.
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Last major SF Transbay tower, affordable housing at risk of delays
San Francisco Chronicle
A Transbay district tower that would fund more than 300 affordable housing units at no cost to the city could be held up for years, a potential victim of San Francisco’s cap on the approval of new office space and the flood of big South of Market projects lining up for permits.
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How making $300,000 in San Francisco can still mean you're living paycheck-to-paycheck
SF Gate
With the median price of a home in the U.S. at $300,000, you can can achieve homeownership and the idealized middle-class lifestyle in most parts of the country making a salary just under or above six figures.
Doing more than deals: How brokers are reinventing their jobs in a tech-driven economy
San Francisco Business Times
In San Francisco, the used-car-salesman-style broker has vanished. Brokers today strive to do anything and everything to help clients execute their real estate strategy using a range of new data tools.
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One housing project in SF’s SoMa finds itself falling in the shadows
San Francisco Chronicle
Developer Paul Iantorno is pretty sure he’s done everything he could to win community support for the 63-unit apartment complex he wants to build at the corner of Folsom and Russ streets in San Francisco’s South of Market.
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North Bay News
From disaster to building boom? Why developers are eyeing Santa Rosa
The Mercury News
A busload of Bay Area developers and investors rolled into downtown Santa Rosa on a recent Friday, combing the streets for opportunity and asking each other a key question — will Santa Rosa be the site of the region’s next building boom?
South Bay News
LinkedIn wheels and deals in Sunnyvale to keep expansion options open
East Bay Times
LinkedIn has bought one Sunnyvale building and sold another, a property trade that the company says helps it to manage the ongoing expansion of its workforce in Silicon Valley.
BART extension: It’s complicated
San Francisco Chronicle
Riders have waited decades for BART to roll into Silicon Valley. Now, an ongoing financial negotiation stands in the way of the opening.
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San Jose: New bill aims to preserve Coyote Valley for future generations
The Mercury News
State Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, on Friday held a gathering with environmental groups and others to outline a new bill that would create a state-recognized Coyote Valley Conservation Program aimed at preserving the region’s open space.
For struggling VTA, an existential crisis: How to woo riders amid budget cuts?
The Mercury News
For Judy Purrington, the latest round of service reductions proposed for the Valley Transportation Authority’s buses and light rail lines feels like death by a thousand cuts.
Residential towers in downtown San Jose encounter loan woes
East Bay Times
A residential towers complex in downtown San Jose has encountered a default on its mortgage, although the project’s developer has resolved the loan woes and believes it has placed the development on improved financial footing.
Downtown San Jose housing tower faces default on city deal
The Mercury News
A downtown San Jose residential and retail tower has defaulted on its development agreement with the city following construction delays for what would be a prominent project.
Peninsula News
Menlo Park: Housing, offices proposed for Koma Sushi site
The Almanac
A flood of emails has arrived in the City Council inbox expressing opposition to a new housing and medical office project proposed at the corner of El Camino Real and Cambridge Avenue, where the Koma Sushi restaurant, a parking lot and an apartment building are now, near the former Oasis Beer Garden.
The wrecking ball swings for another 59 homes
Mountain View Voice
For the third time in recent months, Mountain View City Council members held their noses and made a show of disapproval even as they approved razing a cluster of 59 older, lower-cost apartments.
First glimpse of San Mateo housing, office plan
The Daily Journal
How a proposal to build a five-story, mixed-use development just north of San Mateo’s Borel Plaza could affect traffic and parking for the site’s neighbors as well as the location of small businesses currently operating at the site was top of mind for those who gathered at Tammie Pereira Insurance Services to learn more about the project Wednesday.
Transportation master plan inches forward
The Almanac
Following a lengthy late-stage discussion over what the goals of the Transportation Master Plan should be, the Menlo Park City Council on March 26 unanimously adopted a new goal for the plan: managing traffic congestion.
Menlo Park: Facebook sued for alleged housing discrimination
The Almanac
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is suing Facebook for housing discrimination. It filed charges against the Menlo Park internet giant on March 28 for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act by "encouraging, enabling and causing housing discrimination" through the company's advertising platform, according to a HUD press release.
Redwood City studying new election maps
The Daily Journal
The City Council on Monday will consider four new maps of district boundaries that officials hope will address many of the concerns that have been raised over the past month or so.
Belmont housing goals on track
The Daily Journal
Belmont’s housing stock grew modestly last year and officials are confident that the city will continue to issue enough building permits to surpass its state-mandated requirements for housing production by 2022 — one year before the current RHNA cycle ends.
Millbrae station project design nears finish
The Daily Journal
Millbrae officials inched closer to putting the finishing touches on a sweeping mixed-use development proposed on BART property adjacent to the city’s train station, but more detailed work remains ahead.
Affordable housing stock grows in Redwood City
The Daily Journal
Redwood City has far exceeded its state-issued goals for approving market-rate housing, but is far from achieving its affordable housing goals despite an uptick in below-market-rate development within the last year that is expected to continue, according to the city’s annual housing progress report.
These six projects could transform Redwood City
San Francisco Business Times
An EPA ruling from earlier this year could allow as many as 12,000 new homes to be built in Redwood City.
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$500 million Peninsula express lanes break ground with help from Google, Facebook
San Francisco Business Times
For carpoolers and tech buses alike, an added express lane both north and southbound on Highway 101 will mean faster commutes along the corridor.
Palo Alto balks at buying former city manager's home
Palo Alto Online
The Palo Alto City Council narrowly turned down on Monday night an opportunity to buy the home of former City Manager James Keene, despite arguments from three council members that the Downtown North home is both a good investment and a potential lure for future top managers.
East Bay News
Oakland A's hire Bay Area real estate veteran to shepherd ballpark and Coliseum mega-projects
San Francisco Business Times
The A's tapped an experienced real estate executive to spearhead billions of dollars of mixed-use projects in Oakland that are politically sensitive and logistically complex.
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