Bay Area Land News - October 9, 2018
US / California / Bay Area News
Google Toronto development raises privacy concerns
SFGate
Heated streets will melt ice and snow on contact. Sensors will monitor traffic and protect pedestrians. Driverless shuttles will carry people to their doors.
Here's how Facebook plans to more than double its Bay Area footprint by 2020
Silicon Valley Business Journal
The social media networking company increased its Bay Area real estate in less than four years from about 4 million square to 9 million square feet in 2020.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Can Spending Money Create a Neighborhood?
Builder
The cities profiled include Detroit, Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. The questions seeking answers include what does it all that development and progress mean for the people living on the ground in the neighborhoods?
Bay Area migration means high incomes in, low incomes out
Miami Herald
The region had the highest income disparity between newcomers and out-going families of any major city in the country between 2010 and 2016, according to a new study by BuildZoom and UC Berkeley.
The Bay Area Has Growing Disparity. More Housing In The Right Places Would Help
Bisnow
As the high cost of living drives Bay Area residents to relocate out of the area, the region is becoming less inclusive with a wider racial and economic divide, according to data released Thursday.
We're Destroying the Sea—But It Could Save Us From Ourselves
Wired
The oceans have nourished our species for millennia, but we sure have a funny way of showing our appreciation. Overfishing, pollution, climate change, acidification—I could go on. The sea has always been an indispensable tool for transportation and sustenance, and we’re in danger of breaking that tool beyond repair.
San Francisco News
Three SF elected leaders announce opposition to Prop. C — raising business taxes for homeless services
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Assemblyman David Chiu and Sen. Scott Wiener released statements Friday opposing Proposition C, a local ballot measure that would raise taxes on the city’s largest businesses to fund an array of homelessness services.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Opinion: Don’t despair over Transbay Transit Center cracks: Fix how we do megaprojects
San Francisco Chronicle
The Bay Area has an enormous transportation deficit from decades of underinvestment, stretching back to the opening of BART in 1974. Simply put, we need to be capable of building new transportation infrastructure and having it work. We are proposing a possible solution.
Read More [Subscription Required]
SF planners delay decision on proposed Whole Foods 365 in Russian Hill
San Francisco Chronicle
After more than four years of contentious debate about everything from housing to the future of small business in San Francisco, the city’s planning commissioners decided Thursday to give themselves another month to consider converting a former sporting goods store into a Whole Foods 365.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Transbay Transit Center: Breed, Schaaf want new oversight in probe of beams
San Francisco Chronicle
When the Transbay Joint Powers Authority finishes its investigation into what caused a pair of steel beams at the Transbay Transit Center to crack — forcing the closure of the brand-new bus terminal and rooftop park — the mayors of San Francisco and Oakland want someone checking the agency’s work.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Progress San Francisco collects and spends big in two supervisor races
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco voters are beginning to get inundated with mail and TV ads seeking to sway their vote in November. For residents in Districts Four and Six, some of those campaign ads for the supervisor races have been funded by donors that include a Silicon Valley angel investor, the CEO of a San Francisco real estate company and a big contributor to the Democratic and Republican parties.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Editorial: A pair of changes promise progress on SF’s homelessness epidemic
San Francisco Chronicle
A pair of notable changes in homeless policy may ease the chronic and inhumane conditions on San Francisco streets. A newly signed state law will ease conservatorship rules for incapacitated people, and Mayor London Breed intends a 1,000-bed increase in shelter beds.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Demolishing the California Dream: How San Francisco Planned Its Own Housing Crisis
Collectors Weekly
If you want to understand San Francisco’s self-inflicted housing crisis, look no further than the city’s very first zoning law, commonly known as the Cubic Air Ordinance, which set a disturbing standard for the city’s eventual missteps.
South Bay News
Turn schools into teacher housing? Unique idea sparks backlash in Bay Area community
The Mercury News
The San Jose Unified School District has identified nine district-owned properties where it is considering building several hundred new units of affordable housing for teachers and other school employees.
Mega jobs hub, huge office complex, hundreds of homes, eyed at San Jose BART site
The Mercury News
Developers have proposed a transit village near the Berryessa BART Station in San Jose that would transform a local flea market into a mega-hub for jobs and high-density housing with millions of square feet of offices and thousands of residential units.
Peninsula News
While raising large sums, council candidates talk of spending limits
Palo Alto Online
With Palo Alto's political races increasingly turning into big-money affairs, several City Council candidates said Wednesday night that they would support campaign reforms to rein in campaign spending.
Seven contend for East Palo Alto council seats
Palo Alto Online
The city of East Palo Alto, now 35 years old, continues to face critical challenges: skyrocketing housing prices, displacement of its renters, a lack of higher-wage jobs, crushing traffic and parking problems and other quality-of-life issues. On Nov. 6, the city's voters will be tasked with choosing two City Council candidates who will make decisions that will shape the city for years to come.
Ramirez, Kamei take lead in council race fundraising
Mountain View Voice
Candidates vying for a seat on the Mountain View City Council cranked up campaign fundraising efforts, with hopefuls Lucas Ramirez and Ellen Kamei leading the pack with more than $25,000 in contributions, according to campaign finance documents released last week.
In Palo Alto, the new normal for office space just got a lot more expensive
Silicon Valley Business Journal
Four new commercial real estate transactions, each bringing in more than $2,000 per square foot, may be a sign of what it takes to buy up real estate in Silicon Valley's priciest city.
Redwood City Council Approves First Development in New Waterfront District
The Registry
A new 131-unit townhome development located at 1548 Maple Street, originally proposed by Watt Communities and to be delivered by San Francisco-based Strada Investment Group, became the first project approved by the Redwood City Council in the spring of 2018. The project will reconnect the City to its waterfront through several public works and infrastructure projects as well as provide much-needed housing for middle-market buyers.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Bullis board skeptical of San Antonio school plans
Mountain View Voice
Bullis Charter School board members weighed in with a hearty dose of skepticism Monday night on whether the Los Altos School District's plan to buy land for a new campus in Mountain View is the right path forward.
Mountain View official chosen to lead Palo Alto Housing
Mountain View Voice
Randy Tsuda, who has served as director of Mountain View's Community Development Department for the past decade, will be the next president and CEO of Palo Alto Housing, the nonprofit announced Wednesday afternoon.
Will South San Francisco's scream for housing be heard over airport noise?
San Francisco Business Times
South San Francisco desperately needs more housing. But does it make sense to build it in an area with potentially dangerously high noise levels from nearby SFO flights?
Read More [Subscription Required]
LASD joins teacher housing partnership
Mountain View Voice
Los Altos School District board members agreed last month to set aside $600,000 for a joint effort to create teacher housing in the North County, making it the latest partner in a county-led affordable housing effort aimed at school employees.
Menlo Park: Neighbors raise concerns about proposed hotel
The Almanac
A proposal to demolish the 28-room Red Cottage Inn & Suites at 1704 El Camino Real and replace it with a 68-room Hampton Inn is scheduled for review by the Menlo Park Planning Commission tonight (Monday, Oct. 8).
Enrollment drops as LASD looks to add a campus
Mountain View Voice
Early enrollment data shows that fewer kids are attending schools in the Los Altos district compared to prior years, shedding 160 students from last year. This marks the fourth year of the district's downward enrollment trend.
East Bay News
Developers Picked for Transformative BART Development in Oakland’s Lake Merritt
The Registry
The BART Board of Directors formally voted to select San Francisco-based Strada Investment Group and Oakland non-profit housing developer East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. to redevelop a 1.4-acre parcel next to the Lake Merritt Bart Station in Oakland.
Read More [Subscription Required]
Is Richmond the new Oakland? New ferry terminal attracts SF homebuyers, stokes gentrification fears
SFGate
During his 16 years selling homes in Richmond, realtor Mark Lederer has always seen buyers from San Francisco looking in the East Bay city.