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[Tripon]

How bout not building in San Francisco? Move to any other city and do it you rich fucks.

They are. BARF just sued a suburb city because they switched a plan that originally allowed for mixed used apartment to single family homes.

 

[jstripes]

Today we will pretend that San Francisco is a city which isn't bounded on 3 sides by bodies of water. The only solution in Hong Kong was to build up, and San Francisco doesn't want to build up. So they're stuck.

The problem is with the suburban sprawl in the surrounding Bay Area. It's the same problem LA has except that LA is a flat desert but the Bay Area is intersected by San Francisco Bay and further bisected by extremely hilly terrain.

In Toronto we have plenty of space, yet downtown dozens of high-rise condos have popped-up in the last 15 years. Our skyline has changed drastically.

I don't understand why they can't do the same in SF.

 

[Ecotic]

The U.S. has a growing problem with having a small west coast and a young population that more and more wants to live and work in the innovative centers of San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Portland.

The U.S. needs to make a strategic move and offer a few trillion dollars to Mexico to buy the Baja peninsula, Sonora, and part of Chihuahua. See if they'll go for it. The development opportunities are boundless there. We're a nation that's weighted towards the Atlantic coast when the 21st century growth opportunities are on the Pacific coast.

 

[iamblades]

You get affordable housing by increasing supply. The problem is that the upper classes don't want that supply to exist.

NIMBYism is a huge problem in Urban development. The cities that escape this issue normally due so because their zoning/development restrictions are codified at the state level, not local, and thus can't be warped.

http://www.vox.com/2014/8/28/6063679/the-biggest-thing-the-blue-states-are-screwing-up

^^

The 1-2 punch of rent control and needlessly strict zoning regulations is a recipe for guaranteed outlandish prices and shitty housing quality. You have a combination of a artificially depressed supply and lack of incentive to invest in maintenance or new development.

If you let the market function, the first development will obviously be the high end luxury stuff, because TBH, those are the only people who can afford to live in SF as it is right now. That market is only so large though, and eventually development will move on to the less profitable market segments.

 

[entremet]

The U.S. has a growing problem with having a small west coast and a young population that more and more wants to live and work in the innovative centers of San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Portland.

The U.S. needs to make a strategic move and offer a few trillion dollars to Mexico to buy the Baja peninsula, Sonora, and part of Chihuahua. See if they'll go for it. The development opportunities are boundless there. We're a nation that's weighted towards the Atlantic coast when the 21st century growth opportunities are on the Pacific coast.

You're right.

The NA west coast needs more cities and smartly planned cities unlike Los Angeles which is a traffic nightmare--luckily they're doing things about that.

However, it's a chicken and egg problem.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

You can have extremely high density with 5 or 6 floors.

Everyone wants to be in a single family home though.

 

[Technosteve]

I wished i had a mcgoogle job to be able to afford a shared studio in san fran

 

[devilhawk]

You're right.

The NA west coast needs more cities and smartly planned cities unlike Los Angeles which is a traffic nightmare--luckily they're doing things about that.

However, it's a chicken and egg problem.

Not having a major city between SF and Portland is pretty crazy when you think about that distance.