General Discussion

brooklynite

(96,882 posts)

47. I teach Transportation and Land Use to grad students at NYU...

Wed Dec 16, 2015, 05:55 PM

Dec 2015

..and I'm not trying to offer a treatise, I'm laying out some basic points to a general audience. Cities are dynamic. You can complain about changes as much as you want but there isn't much you can do, policy-wise, to stop it. I live in an upper-class neighborhood in NYC that was a down at the heels working class neighborhood 75 years ago and was a middle class neighborhood 50 years before that. Affordable housing can be encouraged, and it can be built by the municipality, but neither strategy is going to address a significant share of the needs of lower income residents. and no amount of affordable housing is going to stop gentrification is going to save a working class neighborhood if there's enough demand for housing stock from people who can pay more (see: Harlem).

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With Soaring Rents and a Vanishing Middle Class, San Francisco Becomes a City for the Rich [View all] marmar Dec 2015 OP

I am going to San Francisco over the holidays. upaloopa Dec 2015 #1

The Fast Pass is the only way to go if you ride the cable cars regularly. KamaAina Dec 2015 #3

Well if we bump into each other we will never upaloopa Dec 2015 #6

There is the possibility of a DU meetup KamaAina Dec 2015 #7

Do they talk about Hillary and Bernie? upaloopa Dec 2015 #14

Hmmm. The three of us are Bernie folks KamaAina Dec 2015 #15

Really? I wish I could join but I don't eat meat. I regularly go to restaurants that Luminous Animal Dec 2015 #32

Actually, Hell Hath No Fury is veggie as well. KamaAina Dec 2015 #36

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend beach blanket babylon, though tickets might be hard to still_one Dec 2015 #11

Correction - SF Muni has a policy of allowing passengers with passes to board without inspection... brooklynite Dec 2015 #17

Well I am not a regular so thanks for the info upaloopa Dec 2015 #18

You probably know this but Muni has 1-7 day visitor passes. Luminous Animal Dec 2015 #29

I think we are staying near there upaloopa Dec 2015 #33

You probably know this but Muni has 1-7 day visitor passes. Luminous Animal Dec 2015 #30

I'd quibble a bit here Prism Dec 2015 #2

Housing prices are though the roof also. In Santa Clara county it isn't that much better. In still_one Dec 2015 #4

I haven't live there in 13 years Johonny Dec 2015 #40

I didn't come that way so I don't know, but one thing I do know, traffic still_one Dec 2015 #41

It's like a Summer of Love for the one-percenters KamaAina Dec 2015 #5

That isn't exactly true. A lot of people have lived here for decades, and they are not the 1%. The still_one Dec 2015 #8

The ones flooding in are primarily wealthy techies KamaAina Dec 2015 #9

"They have rent control in SF, but landlords are finding ways around that also." KamaAina Dec 2015 #10

I see you are from where I am, so you know exactly what is happening. Not great in Santa Clara still_one Dec 2015 #12

Nope, and we have very few amenities compared to SF KamaAina Dec 2015 #13

That is one nice thing about SF, their mass transit. San Jose has tried with the light rail, but it still_one Dec 2015 #16

And my light rail line runs every half-hour middays and weekends KamaAina Dec 2015 #26

My building is owned by Chinese nationals Prism Dec 2015 #20

They are supposed to be responsible for such repairs, but I understand about keeping a low profile still_one Dec 2015 #21

In theory, they're responsible for tons of shit Prism Dec 2015 #22

My daughter is moving to SF in February. Xithras Dec 2015 #23

Sunset is the only place I'd want to live in 'Frisco. Throd Dec 2015 #24

a) It's a streetcar. b) Frisco is the Dallas suburb where MLS' FC Dallas plays. KamaAina Dec 2015 #25

I call it 'Frisco every chance I get. Throd Dec 2015 #27

Why doesn't Stockton have an NBA team? KamaAina Dec 2015 #28

As an Urban Planner, I have an answer that you won't like.... brooklynite Dec 2015 #19

As an urban planner you must know that inclusionary zoning, construction, financing, and tax Gormy Cuss Dec 2015 #39

Yes they do...but not at a scale to provide affordable housing for everyone who needs it brooklynite Dec 2015 #43

There's a vast gulf between providing for everyone and just shrugging off all change as good Gormy Cuss Dec 2015 #45

your reasoning is simplistic CreekDog Dec 2015 #46

I teach Transportation and Land Use to grad students at NYU... brooklynite Dec 2015 #47

do you have a rent controlled apartment? CreekDog Dec 2015 #49

Yep. I'm feeling the pain every month. AtomicKitten Dec 2015 #31

I'm not sure it's the super rich, it's mostly the young and naive Sen. Walter Sobchak Dec 2015 #34

Happening in Austin, Seattle, NYC melman Dec 2015 #35

Welcome to American capitalism Taitertots Dec 2015 #37

The REAL problem is the rest of the USA Yavin4 Dec 2015 #38

Lots of places are affordable because no one wants to move there. alarimer Dec 2015 #44

It's a trade-off. Comes with the territory of being the technology capital of the world LittleBlue Dec 2015 #42

The biggest reason for this is because the suburban trend has faded and big cities are now popular.. AZ Progressive Dec 2015 #48