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A comment on The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Francisco's Dot Com Boom 2.0.

Re:The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Franci... by jelkins on Thursday January 16, 2014 @03:36PM (#7072354)
I am mystified by housing/anti-gentrification advocates' refusal to consider building new housing stock as a solution to this problem. And what's with "luxury housing" snub? You can't prevent highly paid tech workers from moving into the city without restricting their freedom of movement.. so why not make some room for them? The "historic character" of neighborhoods doesn't have to be ruined, either.

I'm not opposed to something like her Community Benefits Agreements, as long as it actually does speed the approval process up. Of course, it might be hard to get off the ground, since "While the community coalition might be a representative group, there is no oversight to guarantee appropriate representation", and the rest of the community will always be arguing over who has the right to represent them.

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Re:The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Franci... by temp42564356 on Thursday January 16, 2014 @03:45PM (#7072405)
> I am mystified by housing/anti-gentrification advocates' refusal to consider building new housing stock as a solution to this problem.

Because an anti-gentrification advocate is bascially saying, "you don't have the right to desire to live in my neighborhood, only I should be allowed to desire to live in my neighborhood"

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Re:The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Franci... by JohnTHaller on Thursday January 16, 2014 @04:48PM (#7072772)
"... that I moved to as part of the last round of gentrification."
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Re:The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Franci... by Crito on Thursday January 16, 2014 @05:54PM (#7073077)
That's the real kicker. They are all "forty-niners".
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Re:The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Franci... by rpx on Thursday January 16, 2014 @03:55PM (#7072491)
Bit ironic given that those complaining the loudest likely displaced others in the not-so-distant past.
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Re:The Google Shuttle Effect: Gentrification and San Franci... by lostdog on Thursday January 16, 2014 @07:45PM (#7073549)
"Luxury housing" condos often get bought as an investment by someone outside the city rather than by someone within the city looking to move. They tap into demand from outside the city and fail to increase the housing supply and lower housing costs. New York has had a huge problem with foreign investment driving up housing costs [0], and according to realtors I've talked to, foreign investment is playing a large part in driving up SF prices too.

Increasing the housing stock is definitely the solution to out of control prices, but the type of housing built does need to be managed so real demand is met.

[0] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/nyregion/paying-top-dollar...

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