Speaking up

May 22, 2018
May 22, 2018 Updated Apr 13, 2025
9

Editor,

In response to the anti-development voices, I must speak up.

(9) comments

Christopher Conway May 22, 2018 7:49am

sounds like a real nice unit the owner has. It's OK, I love Hillsborough and would like to live there too but I can't afford it. I am waiting for the good people of Hillsborough to see my plight and lend a helping hand and let me live there. I also want to live on a flat lot and behind a large gate for privacy. I want my son to go to their quality public schools. I want all of this at an affordable price, anything less would inhumane and not fair to me. Hillsborough should be available for all who want to live there.

kevinburke May 22, 2018 10:42am

Yes, exactly, Hillborough should allow more dense construction so it’s available to people in a wider range of income levels! Property owners in Hillborough should be free to build more densely on their land, so their family members can live with them, they have more income to deal with e.g health issues and pay for school...

Christopher Conway May 22, 2018 12:51pm

See you at the next Hillsborough city meeting. Let's see if they a) grant me affordable housing in their town and b) alter building codes to support your desire for more densely built housing. I think we got a shot, how about you?

Lloyd Moffett May 22, 2018 11:14am

Conway, show some empathy. Dani Weber's LTE was well written and substantiated. The fact that you don't suffer the same identical way, doesn't mean that you have to degrade her LTR by being callous.

Christopher Conway May 22, 2018 12:57pm

I forgot Lloyd, people wanting less expensive housing for themselves can speak up in the Opinion page of the SNDJ, People who live in reality and know that this is market driven not so much. Everyone is struggling with the cost of housing, not just a few. I hear lots of complaining but not to many solutions.

kevinburke May 22, 2018 2:55pm

Here are some solutions: Let San Mateo's height limits expire and zone for 15 story apartments, allow construction of up to ten condos on lots where we currently permit only one home to be built, implement ministerial ("by-right") approval for new housing projects instead of the current 2+ year application and review process, remove or reduce minimum parking requirements.

Those changes would spur the construction of more BMR housing via inclusionary requirements, and market rate housing at lower price points. https://www.nickmagrino.com/blog/2018/1/30/when-you-dont-have-to-build-so-much-parking

If the housing shortage was really "market driven" then those reforms (which are political in nature) would not actually cause more housing to be built. In reality they'd spur a lot more housing construction, the same way they have in Seattle.

mnboy May 22, 2018 1:25pm

How many "violent home invasions" have occurred in San Mateo since 1996?!

jbennett May 22, 2018 3:22pm

Has any city on the Peninsula kept track of all the "affordable" units that have been lost due to re-development? And...has all the building to date caused rents to drop?? On the contrary rents keep going up. So thinking that build, build, build mentality will create cheaper rents is certainly not a guaranteed solution. If so, show me the proof!

kevinburke May 22, 2018 7:45pm

San Mateo County added just 400 units per year since 2010. That’s not enough to keep up with demand, which is why prices keep rising despite adding supply.

SF saw rent drops and evictions decline after it added 5,000 units in 2016. We should probably target that many units countywide every year to prevent rent increases.

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