Report: Downtown needs housing

[jonvn]

From: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=82431

This is great. They want to turn downtown in the city center, so what they are going to do to accomplish this is build a giant shopping district where the racetrack is.

Brilliant.

Almost as brilliant as the parking lot plan for the movie theaters, which were not large enough, and did not provide more parking for downtown. There went a wasted opportunity.

And the best part of this article? All the same proposals from 1993. Fifteen years later and they are still talking about the same stuff. In the meantime, the city seems to be doing what it can to turn downtown into a ghost town.

[havebookwillteach]

The idea of putting high density housing into downtown districts has been perking within certain urban planning circles for several years, witness ex-Mayor Jerry Brown's attempt to plant over 10,000 Silicon Valley workers in the middle of downtown Oakland, see also the recent Redwood City plan for its downtown district and Millbrae's consideration of more dense housing near the Bart station there (also the new building surrounding the South City Bart station). And, some nice new condos in downtown San Jose.
The positives include a more "alive" central business district, since all those new people will naturally tend to be on the streets there and even buy their groceries and sundries thereabouts, too. Of course, there can be parking, traffic, and congestion issues impacting the entire community. But, we need to expect more proposals for dense housing in the central core areas, not less. This especially obtains near transit stops like train stations (and an issue there is to make sure the developers actually install sufficient parking as it seems all those projections of residents not needing cars due to the proximity of transit service are, well, often under-fulfilled).
Please also see my posting encouraging folks to sign up for Real Estate Principles and other RE courses at CSM or other community colleges, as any good RE class is going to discuss these matters far more than we can even here on this nice forum board. [Spring term is about to start, check it out now at www.collegeofsanmateo.edu.] We have had a high quality developer come in and explain how many 'exactions' some local cities demand as part of the building permit process, in one instance they added about a full third to the price of a residence -- so there is a "hidden issue" of finding a good, positive balance point between what a community's representatives can, and should,demand from new developers versus the cost (feasibility) of those (real of presumed) benefits. That is, just what WILL benefit our town if we let a new high-density development be built (if we do), and of course the first question, should this type of building be further pursued on the Peninsula, or not. In the long run, this will substantially determine just what kind of place we all will wind up living in. But, every time you go by a train station or other transit facility, think whether it will be better or not if a big condo or apartment is built there. This is the question our city officials have to consider, too. Happy 2008!

[clifton]

For those who wish to see the results of high density housing in downtown districts, check out Hong Kong.

With our ever increasing population, retail spaces on the ground level with housing above ...... very high density housing, is probably inevitable.