Housing versus offices

The two cities have a different mix of Office Foster City has a lot of Class A (most of the vacancy) and a lesser amount of Class B&C office, San Mateo is the opposite mix, but very little vacancy. Foster City is advocating for the housing since it will become owner for some of units. It does not seem fair that commercial property owners refuse to participate in our communities and are later rewarded when the properties are deemed underutilized and are redeveloped. Perhaps both cities might consider passing commercial vacancy ordinances and charging commercial property for keeping their properties empty. Clearly there are many fixed cost associated with government, so the costs are just being divided over fewer people/business. We all had a step sewer rate increase, which probably have been less if the vacant office was using water and therefore paying more in sewer fees. A commercial vacancy ordinance will bring down the valuation of commercial space (commercial property owners engage in exotic schemes to avoid reassessment, so the threat to property taxes is overblown), and make housing more competitive to build. Retail is in a bad space now due to one bankruptcy after the other. Clearance prices are nice, but it means other retailers are not selling, sale taxes are being suppressed, and cities are compelled to raise other taxes. Sales tax is a major funding source of public transportation, so less money means higher fares, which make driving cheaper. TOD developments rely heavily on public transit, so they should have retail to generate sales tax. TOD developments should have an even balance of office and housing to avoid creating ghost towns either during the day or at night. Only serving a lunch or a dinner crowd is not realistic for a restaurant to be successful, it will need both.

Editorial author sitting on a cool $1M equity after buying in 2008 for $1.3M, now $2.3M. Wouldn't want that to be affected by evil horrid home construction.

We hear continual cries about the jobs:housing imbalance. Too many workers can't find housing. So San Mateo is building space for even more jobs? And where do these employees live? Cities expect existing taxpayers to subsidize "affordable housing" for them? There is something going on here that residents are not being told.