Re:Why is San Francisco covered in human feces?
by maym86 on Sunday August 19, 2018 @07:04PM
(#17796706)
I think the city could have done a better job taxing the large tech companies and spending the money on supporting the displaced residents and building more public services.
Taxes would help slow their expansion and in turn the increasing rent. Unfortunately the city has been toothless in this regard for fear of loosing some of the businesses that are causing many of the problems. IMO the threat of of them actually leaving is low given the whole echosytem set up here to support them but they would likely grow a little slower which would actually be for the good of the city.
At least the democrats here aren't monolithic, there are frequent initiatives at the local or state level to increase the supply but they've (sometimes narrowly) lost.
Also some of California's unusual policies (like the special property tax system and very high income tax) are actually due to a political system where ballot initiatives have more influence and weren't top-down planned by the legislature to begin with.
Anyway, yeah it does seem self evident. I think San Francisco is somewhat extreme relative to the national level though.