What is bad about Redwood City?

Jul 30, 2018
Jul 30, 2018 Updated Apr 13, 2025
7

Editor,

In her July 24 column, Sue Lempert says she supported measures H and P to protect “San Mateo from becoming another Redwood City.” What exactly is so bad about Redwood City?

(7) comments

Judi Aug 4, 2018 8:36am

All the downtown improvements are like putting makeup on a gargoyle. Your school district is abysmal. It’s still run like the good old boys fiefdom from the past. It needs to be dismantled and become part of th San Mateo UNIFIED School District. The current crop of “experts” need not apply. Teachers openly steer families away from this district. Teachers have been admonished for teaching children to think or have high classroom standards. Wake up, people. You need some serious dismantling.

kevinburke Aug 4, 2018 8:55am

It's likely that the new office space and the new apartments paying property taxes at a 2018 tax rate will help fund better schools, and the lower rents from building apartments to keep up with demand will help hire teachers who can afford to live near where they wokr.

RWChuck Jul 30, 2018 8:06pm

Redwood City's Courthouse Square is a great venue for music and other community activities. Except for that, we've mostly replaced old buildings with new apartments and offices. Building high-tech office space attracts high income workers, mostly from outside the area. They have pushed the cost of an apartment far past what most local people can afford. Developers have NOT been made to pay for new infrastructure - so guess what ? Tax increases on the November ballot ! surprise ....

kevinburke Jul 30, 2018 8:52pm

New construction means lots that previously had super-low property tax rate - a parking lot with a 1985 tax basis for example - now have a 2018 basis on a much more productive plot of land, which produces $1m or more per year in taxes. New development also pays impact fees and community benefits.

Since 2010 San Mateo County - with about 750,000 residents - has added about 5,000 new housing units, total. San Francisco added that many in 2016 alone, and saw rents drop. Austin, Houston, Dallas, DC, Minnesota, Seattle, Queens, and Portland have all seen rents drop recently after adding lots of new housing.

If adding new high end housing is causing the rent increases, it is confusing that adding even *more* of it than RWC has added - in the cities above - has caused rent declines. A more likely story is that RWC is adding some housing, but not nearly enough to deal with demand.

RWChuck Jul 31, 2018 5:31pm

Jay Paul Corp has requested a variance for a 1.2MM sq ft. office building on the site of Malibu Grand Prix. Do you think that increases or decreases the demand for housing? Does it drive rents (and other expenses) up or down? If the City is making more money from all of this, why are our taxes going up? Why does the City plan an $8MM (?) deficit?

BenToy Jul 30, 2018 9:13am

Agree on the Redwood City transformation part. Redwood City used to have "DeadWood City" nick name because of all of the closed/for rent/etc store fronts. Little to no people walking about downtown...except for the County Governmental draw

Lost to so many who complain about growth of any city...is that human society is based on growth. That is our nature...unless living in a Cornucopia area...but humans have generally ruined any they have found..

Has anyone refused a raise?

Because most all measures of how any human society is doing has growth metrics

GDP, inflation factor, cost of living, and a big ETC on anything to do with the economy

When the economy turns down, like back in 2007 range...there was a constant complaint to do something about it

OF course many see growth only in terms of the 20th Century metrics...which...is automotive based. Stuck in the Nixon Era they are...

For San Mateo to largely limit growth...neighboring cities will bleed off (parasitically) business and all that brings to a thriving city. To the point that without those revenues that comes with a healthy system...the city will need to address their own growth issues (cost of living, raises, increased pricing for ll goods and services they purchase, etc)...any city is a business with a P&L bottom line...the city will be forced to increase taxes and new taxes/bonds will be needed. This is historically documented throughout the country...the world...

Since it took a century to build/architect/etc our cities around 'cars', it will take a while to move into the 21st Century metrics (away from an LOS...Level of Service for cars...to a VMT metric)

So of course all of this good news growth will have automotive metrics until us boomers start to die off in greater numbers. To be replaced with younger folks who live life very differently. They do NOT have as big a social stigma riding in public transit buses/trains/etc. They also walk and bicycle more often. Many do NOT even own a car these days

Hikertom Jul 30, 2018 8:51am

I agree. I would like to see San Mateo have a thriving downtown too. The way to do that is to build more housing in the downtown area.

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