“Despite non-stop construction of rental units, between 2010 and 2015, Seattle saw the fastest rents of any place in the US.” Brought to our attention by the new San Jose grassroots neighborhood organization – familieshomessj.org
By Llinda Poon : bloomberg – excerpt A new study quantifies what big buildings are doing to the ground beneath San Francisco and other cities, as sea levels rise. In late 2020, engineers began working on a $100 million project to stop San Francisco’s Millennium Tower from tilting and sinking further into the ground. Tenants … More Cities Are Sinking Under the Weight of Urban Development
via email: Art Laffer, president of Laffer Associates, explains how additional spending related to coronaviruses could hurt the economy. The homemade version of the coronavirus stimulus bill contains more than $ 100 million for a metro project in Silicon Valley for which planning has been underway for several years but has not yet started. Funding … More House COVID Bill Includes Over $ 100 Million For Controversial Silicon Valley Subway Project
By Madeleine Beck : sfexaminer – excerpt Three community groups are filing lawsuits in an attempt to stop the planned expansion of the University of California, San Francisco’s Parnassus campus. San Franciscans for Balanced and Livable Communities, the Parnassus Neighborhood Coalition and The Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium allege that the environmental impacts that will be … More Community groups suing in effort to stop UCSF Parnassus expansion
via email from Livable California Vancouver’s high-profile professor, planner and author, Patrick Condon, told more than 160 California community leaders at the Livable California Teleconference on Feb. 6, 2021 that “upzoning” of neighborhoods drives up housing costs and cannot create affordable housing… Prof. Condon’s latest book is Sick City, which addresses why upzoning doesn’t work, and is free … More Sick City
By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt An investigation by Reuters in 2019 presents horrifying data: To date, the Navy’s $285.1 million Treasure Island cleanup has unearthed concentrations of lead, dioxins, petroleum and more than 1,000 radioactive items. Among other activities, the Navy had used the island to repair ships with deck markers painted with … More Exposing the toxic crisis at Treasure Island
by Seth D. Jaffe, Foley Hoag LLC : mondaq – excerpt Last month, I noted that the Trump administration had suffered “one final judicial defeat” – the rejection of its Affordable Clean Energy Rule. Of course, I spoke to soon. Last week, Judge Brian Morris rejected EPA’s rule “Strengthening Transparency in Pivotal Science Underlying Significant … More United States: The Trump Administration Suffers Yet One More Judicial Defeat; The “Secret Science” Rule Is Vacated
By Richard Halstead : marinij – excerpt Only Mill Valley, Corte Madera built enough during last 8 years to be exempt Marin supervisors said this week they are gravely concerned about a looming state mandate to build over 14,000 new housing units throughout the county between 2022 and 2030. “Marin County recognizes the need for more … More Marin supervisors push back against huge state housing mandate
Opinion by Scott Littlehale : sfexaminer – excerpt In the first half of 2020, investors in Idaho based housing developer Pacific Builders were awarded $200 million in California tax subsidies in exchange for an estimated $179 million in private financing to create new housing units. The company will also get an estimated $46 million in … More Do housing tax credits work as well as they could?
By Kurtis Alexander : sfchronicle – ecerpt As wildfires, heat waves, water scarcity and threats to wildlife intensify in the West, California’s effort to confront these environmental crises now has support in Washington, a stark change from the past four years. Even as former President Donald Trump spent his final days in office on the … More Environmental turnaround — 8 issues that will pivot in California’s favor under Biden
