48 Hills

PG&E has also done everything they can to stop San Francisco from providing its own power. But hopefully that's finally coming to an end: San Francisco is taking the biggest steps in history toward creating a full public-power system. In filings with the California Public Utilities Commission, the city has established that PG&E’s local property is worth about $2.3 billion—and if the commission agrees, the city can move to seize those assets under the power of eminent domain. https://48hills.org/2024/03/after-111-years-sf-is-finally-moving-to-ou…

I encourage you to read the local progressive press in San Francisco - for instance, the 48 hills blog[1]. There is a serious and growing sentiment that removing local housing authority and controls is the proper solution to these problems. In fact, there are governmental working bodies that are moving in this direction - Plan Bay Area comes to mind, as well as Governor Newsome's proposed transportation funding mechanism[2]. Or just read the literature from the Yimby party in SF[3] - see part VI, bullet #2 ... [1] https://48hills.org/ [2] https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/01/gavin-newsom-housing-re… [3] https://yimbyaction.org/sf/platform/

I think the caricature of the self-interested rich guy is really the most rational caricature. Preserve the neighborhood in amber, maintain home values; this makes sense, this is the majority of the United States. The activists supposedly fighting for low-income communities are so bizarrely wrong that they’re beyond caricature. Fight oppression by seizing control of the apparatus of oppression instead of by abolishing oppression. A lot of the tenant orthodoxy in San Francisco is based on completely backwards economics. The idea is that building more market-rate housing will increase the demand for market-rate housing even more, so it’s futile to even attempt it. Only housing with guaranteed low prices should be allowed to be built. Completely ignore the hundreds of thousands of homes that used to be naturally affordable, but now are worth an average of over a million each. A major blog for this point of view is 48hills. https://48hills.org/2016/09/debunking-trickle-housing-fallacy/ The self-interested rich people do come through, still. Dillon mentions the rally, but he doesn’t mention the wealthy white landlords standing at the head of the rally. He quotes Shanti, who was active in the SF chapter of the DSA, but now works full-time as an activist because of funding from the wealthy white-ish Dean Preston. He mentions a black tenant activist, but he doesn’t mention the bald-faced lies, nor the funding from wealthy white-ish Michael Weinstein. The San Francisco…

It happens very rarely, and when it does, it's a scandal and a total "man bites dog" story: http://48hills.org/2014/09/08/sf-planners-decide-just-fine-demolish-re… Gabriel Ng & Architechs Inc. wants to build two new structures on the large corner lot at 26th and Clement. Each building would have three units, with three-bedrooms each. The project sponsor argued that there’s a need for family housing in the city, and that six new units, which most likely would be sold as condos, would help the crisis. But to make room for one of the buildings, the project calls for the demolition of an existing apartment building with two smaller rent-controlled units. And that’s something the city isn’t supposed to allow. In fact, when the mayor with great fanfare issued his housing directive in 2013, he made it clear that demolishing existing rental housing should only be allowed in unusual circumstances. [T]he 4-3 vote in favor was directly in defiance of city policy and the mayor’s directive regarding the preservation of existing rent-controlled housing. In the past year, the Planning Department has repeatedly refused to approve projects that involve a loss of rental units [...] The mayor has directed the Department to adopt policies which encourage the preservation of existing housing stock [as] the city’s highest priority.

I don’t know. What I do know is that he shares a similar insane accelerationist / libertarian philosophy that is popular in certain drug-fueled circles within tech. Proof here: https://48hills.org/2024/05/the-alarming-agenda-of-the-big-money-folks…

A few wealthy people try to get involved, but there is a strong segment of the electorate and press who are extremely skeptical of wealth (other than their own house). Ron Conway has been portrayed as a boogeyman for many years for his contributions to candidates (https://48hills.org/tag/ron-conway/). Yelp founder Jeremy Stoppelman has been making donations in favor of relaxing zoning. I think it just takes a long time to convince voters that housing supply is an important issue when they are insulated from the housing market due to rent control, benefit from unaffordability because they own real estate, or have read too much misinformation from the “progressive” press who deny that supply affects rent.

Apple is working on it... kinda? https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/11/apple-commits-two-point-five-bi… I'm not saying that initiative is bad in itself, but Apple has historically fought tax assessments according to https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/24/silicon-valley-companies-like-google-a… and that money could have improved things over time instead of forcing a crisis now. They also expanded their offices and built a new headquarters in a place with little housing. https://48hills.org/2015/11/another-16000-apple-workers-looking-for-ho… So they actively made it difficult for the "the government" to work, e.g. deny office expansion that could not be staffed with available housing, or pay for housing expansion.

This was exactly my thought. I remember people in SF claiming that there are roughly 1million people in San Francisco [1] . And roughly 1million total housing units. Therefore there is no housing crisis. Galaxy brain stuff really. [1] https://48hills.org/2018/04/myth-housing-underproduction/

>> set rules for society and harshly punish people who break them That's the opposite direction of where the SF Bay Area is going. The San Francisco District Attorney, for e.g., has been at loggerheads withe police department because the former has been eager to let even violent criminals go scott free. Of course, you add the rampant social justice warriors in the area and you get accused of racism for arresting 11-time felons (e.g https://stopcrimesf.com/blog/2018/8/10/second-chances-how-about-11-sf-… vs https://48hills.org/2018/08/judge-soft-on-crime/)

Nah it's a myth that SF attracts homeless people. 71% of the homeless here lost housing here. (https://48hills.org/2016/02/five-myths-about-the-homeless-problem-in-s… Per the same link, SF spends very little money on homelessness. A lot of the so called homelessness money is actually subsidized housing money. Most issues with the homeless represent a public health issue much more than a law enforcement issue. Given they lack access to toilet facilities, are you imagining the homeless not pooping through sheer willpower? Addiction is a form of mental illness, and that's not the only mental illness common among the homeless. Many suffer from other illnesses. Nobody wakes up wanting to be addicted, or schizophrenic, or whatever, whether they are homeless or otherwise.

Your primary source appears to be the San Francisco Business Times. Kim actually supported inclusionary housing "up to the maximum feasible amount analyzed by the controller," not beyond it.[1] And none of that supports your exaggerated claim that Kim would prefer 100 units over 1,000 units. She's overseen the construction of the most housing in the city. [1] https://48hills.org/2017/03/real-facts-affordable-housing-debate/

That says a lot about how spending $31,967.10 for every homeless person can amount to, well, no one seems to know. "As Randy Shaw points out (in an article that has other problems, but gets this absolutely right), almost half the money that the Chron identifies as “homeless” spending is actually money spend on people who are in supportive housing. That’s housing money, not homeless money." http://48hills.org/2016/02/16/five-myths-about-the-homeless-problem-in…

This article addresses a lot of the myths of homelessness which get repeated in any discussion about SF homeless (with supporting citation). http://48hills.org/2016/02/16/five-myths-about-the-homeless-problem-in… Key point in my mind when it comes to talking about these tent cities, is that most of SF's homeless -- over 70% -- were living in San Francisco at the time they became homeless. And as much as 50% of the homeless had lived in SF for ten years or more. The people sleeping on the sidewalk are San Franciscans who have been priced out of housing. San Francisco is their home. These people aren't going anywhere just because you take away their tents.

I'd encourage you to look at http://48hills.org/2016/02/16/five-myths-about-the-homeless-problem-in… :)

Here's a concise explanation: SF is close (enough) to East Asia and is a convenient sink for the money laundering / "investment" you can do through real estate. Similarly, Miami in the 80s was close enough to South America to be an easy sink for the money laundering / "investment" you can do through real estate. When ~1/3 of new construction is unoccupied & held as investment it sure seems like the driving force at the margin. http://www.48hills.org/2015/01/27/sf-planners-yawn-vacant-units/

Oh yeah, parking minimums are a disaster for many reasons, as is the endless acquisition of property by private equity firms. I currently need about 2000 square feet of industrial space (plasma cutting, welding, work benches, and a small office) and its very hard to find such a small spot! Literally the space in Oakland I previously would have used, American Steel, was bought by a private equity firm, all the small tenants were kicked out, and now they rent 20,000 square feet at a time to big venture capital funded companies: https://48hills.org/2022/04/american-steel-burning-man-artist-communit… EDIT: Fun fact, I did approach the building, got the manager's number from someone, and called her. When I said I needed 2000 square feet she actually laughed, said "we typically rent out 20,000 square feet or more", said she would "try to find me something" and then never called me back.

I think that's a really condescending response. I'm happy to live here; that doesn't mean that I don't get to take issues with the actions of our government. And you don't get to pretend that SF "isn't for" people who disagree with your specific views, nor do you get to claim that I don't value books, music or art (which is nowhere indicated in my prior posts). I did not say anything about cutting services for the homeless, and I think it's in poor form for you to try to ascribe any belief to me which I have not actually expressed. When I say that the safe sleeping sites cost more per tent than market-rate 1BDs, it's because it's pretty stupid that during the pandemic we didn't actually just put people in apartments -- it's not the services that we've rendered but the cruel and inefficient way we've insisted on delivering them. It's also stupid that we pay cops to do street sweeps, we pay DPW to install boulders on sidewalks to prevent people sleeping there, both of which are only moving symptoms. It's also stupid that Breed prematurely started shutting down the room-key program when there was still plenty of _federal_ funding available for it. If anything, I would say that SF is being simultaneously inefficient and lacking in empathy. What we should cut is anyone in municipal government who has come within a 3 meters of parties involved in the ongoing corruption revelations. We should cut out any future work with the contracting firms involved in the Twin Peaks tunnel…

Okay, I might believe you if most of what you said weren't either factually incorrect, or misleading. Let's break it down point by point: * Inherited fortune - Questionable. All I was able to find on his family was that they were Holocaust survivors. Let's just say I'll give you that one provisionally, but I'd like to see actual evidence, if you have any. * Bowdoin - Correct. * Is elected official - Obviously. * Blocks housing - Does this sound like "blocking housing" to you: > Preston also introduced two ballot initiatives approved by voters in the election. Proposition I raised the transfer tax rate for property sales valued over $10 million, intended to fund affordable housing. Proposition K authorizes the city of San Francisco to build or acquire up to 10,000 units of affordable housing.[21]" [0] Sorry, does not pass the smell test. Moreover, "acting against" something is not even close to "blocking" that thing. You're redefining terms to fit your preconceived narrative. It's almost as if you have a personal reason to hate him. [1] * Gentrifier - Again, no, you do not get to redefine the term "gentrifier." If you think that's acceptable, then I can just redefine the issue out of existence, too. Sorry. * Never had a job: Incorrect per his LinkedIn profile. [2] As well, "Preston worked for a nonprofit called the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, where he fought evictions and did advocacy for tenant rights." [1] * Is obscenely rich by socialist standards: So,…

^This is mostly incorrect, save the reference to peak harvest times. Psilocybe allenii has been hunted regularly since at least the 1960's in Golden Gate Park, previously under its informal name Psilocybe cyanofriscosa. According to Psychedelic Society of San Francisco lecturer and mycologist Alan Rockefeller, Psilocybe allenii occurs from BC, Canada to Los Angeles, and is common in San Francisco.[1] Allenii is also one of the strongest psychedelic mushrooms known, possibly taking second place to Psilocybe azurescens. Allenii is not alone in the Park either, "Psilocybe cyanescens is also very common in San Francisco. It is almost as potent. If you go to Golden Gate Park in December you will see hundreds of hippies looking at the wood chip landscaping for Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe allenii." says Rockefeller. The average person shouldn't be walking around hunting mushrooms, period, as there are several species that will kill you from ingesting even a small amount. However, there are a number of commercial services and recurring events[2] that offer to take folks on "day trips" through the park and point out where to find these mushrooms. Relatively speaking, however, psychedelic mushroom species have a high concentration in the Pacific Northwest and CA in particular. [3] Appreciate the chance to brush up on my mycology! [1] Golden Gate Park magic mushroom finally classified, just in time for high…

The Rinpoche Fa Zang mentioned in the email is part of the Dorje Chang organization. http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20150418/pasadena-man-dor… His followers spend a lot of time on the internet saying that he is the greatest buddha of all time http://www.dharmadhatu-center.org/ https://medium.com/the-buddhist-tribune/who-is-his-holiness-dorje-chan… Their museum in downtown SF has a special free admission promotion going on for the next 20 years http://48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2012/08/08/worship-long-haired-handsome… They bought the former lutheran church on 23rd St: https://www.reddit.com/r/evilbuildings/comments/4vgp3d/found_the_devil… Being a respected teacher of Buddhism is partly about your lineage, or the path you can trace from your teacher to their teacher to their teacher to all the way back to Buddha. It looks like Dorje Chang just bribed some guys and printed up some certificates.

Some related news: In San Francisco, ESPLER (Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational and Research, http://esplerp.org/, https://twitter.com/esplerp) filed suit yesterday against several Bay Area DAs and the California Attorney General, in an attempt to get the primary CA law against prostitution overturned on constutitional grounds. This is on a similar basis Article about this on VICE: http://www.vice.com/read/a-new-lawsuit-aims-to-decriminalize-prostitut… Another article: http://48hills.org/2015/03/03/lawsuit-seeks-to-throw-out-laws-against-… More details: https://twitter.com/EscortingAdvice/status/573163832505331712 Summary and full text of the brief: http://esplerp.org/here-is-the-brief/ Legal thoughts from the lead lawyer: https://twitter.com/GillSperlein/status/573268807629721600 If you support this effort, you can help fund the legal fees here: http://www.gofundme.com/liberateliberate There's also a follow-up article from Reason that relates the shutdown of MyRedBook to the shutdown of Silk Road, and how both are a continuing war on citizen safety: Reason article: http://reason.com/blog/2015/03/03/governent-war-on-online-vice-purchas… Finally, a related article from VICE on why there's no Uber for sex work. Essentially, at least in the US, decriminalization needs to happen first. VICE article: http://www.vice.com/read/why-theres-no-uber-for-sex-work-304?utm_sourc…