Regarding your June 29 article “New housing on the Peninsula has plummeted,” The Redwood Life project on Redwood Shores island will bring 10,000 new jobs to a community that is already built out with offices and medium- to high-density housing. And as mitigation, the developer offers funds adequate to build 80 housing units at today’s costs. But building local housing is out of the question because the entire community is a FEMA flood zone. And don’t look to nearby Belmont, San Carlos or San Mateo to house those workers; those cities are already behind in their own housing goals.
Ten-thousand new jobs; 80 new housing units. Can you see where this leads? Tech park by tech park, the Bay Area has incrementally flooded the region with workers, but no housing, creating a generation of workers who have no chance of living near the city where they work. And we all pay the cost with soul-killing commutes, hopeless freeway congestion and toxic greenhouse smog.
Look in the mirror city officials; it’s your own absurdly disingenuous General Plans that have created the housing shortage. Every Bay Area city’s Housing Element pretends to address the jobs:housing imbalance. We then then turn the page to the city Zoning Map to find commercial upzoning designed to entice thousands of new jobs, far outstripping even the most ambitious housing goals. Jobs:Housing is a two-sided ratio; if you increase jobs faster than housing, you will never balance this ratio. How much longer will cities ignore and deny the mathematical fact of the jobs:housing formula?
Thanks for your letter, Ms. Mercer, but as recent articles have shown (and what common sense tells us) is that if so-called “affordable” housing cannot be built affordably, what makes anyone think “regular” housing can be built affordably? As long as city, state, and local governments insist on extorting developers for additional fees and as long as these same government folks insist on mandatory items such as battery chargers in garages (whether you have an EV doesn’t matter), solar panels, low or no-water toilets, etc. then the fates are aligned against housing developers. Housing developers aren’t in the business of losing money. How much longer will cities ignore housing? It depends on who you vote for. So choose wisely. Otherwise, submit your letter next year. Rinse and repeat.
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Thanks for your letter, Ms. Mercer, but as recent articles have shown (and what common sense tells us) is that if so-called “affordable” housing cannot be built affordably, what makes anyone think “regular” housing can be built affordably? As long as city, state, and local governments insist on extorting developers for additional fees and as long as these same government folks insist on mandatory items such as battery chargers in garages (whether you have an EV doesn’t matter), solar panels, low or no-water toilets, etc. then the fates are aligned against housing developers. Housing developers aren’t in the business of losing money. How much longer will cities ignore housing? It depends on who you vote for. So choose wisely. Otherwise, submit your letter next year. Rinse and repeat.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.