
Can San Francisco be saved? - dsr12
https://fortune.com/longform/can-san-francisco-be-saved
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chmaynard
> London Breed is making the case for tough love. It’s early January, and the
> first woman to be elected mayor of San Francisco is giving an inaugural
> speech ...

Ouch. As I recall, Diane Feinstein was Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to
1988.

~~~
masonic
Feinstein _first became_ mayor via assassination, but she was subsequently
elected to two full mayoral terms of her own.

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arkadiyt
Non paywalled link:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20200217231105/https://fortune.c...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200217231105/https://fortune.com/longform/can-
san-francisco-be-saved/)

------
jelliclesfarm
Interesting timing. Mohammad Nuru was just caught on corruption and kickback
charges in a FBI investigation..Nuru is in charge of homelessness initiatives
in SF and public works. Breed admitted to have dated him years
ago(irrelevant..they are both grown ups) and admitted to a 5.6k ‘gift’ to fix
her 18 year old clunker car. All around weirdness on a voluntary disclosure on
a Friday press release before a long weekend.

[https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/SF-
corrup...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/local-politics/article/SF-corruption-
probe-Mayor-London-Breed-dated-15056830.php)

And yes, Density is a bad word because Ms.Breed’s buddy Nuru has been handing
over permits and contracts to an unnamed Chinese builder for building in the
city. The city is tearing down multi level parking lots to build more housing.
It is one of the most expensive cities in the world and density isn’t going to
make it more affordable. Third world politics..cronyism, nepotism and
corruption.

Sadly, they are ALL rotten. It’s politics as usual in San Francisco.

Chesa Boudin is a whole another can of worms.

~~~
jmpman
Why do you think density isn’t going to reduce prices? Doesn’t density equal
more supply in the supply/demand curve?

~~~
jelliclesfarm
yes, it will increase supply, but it won’t bring down prices.

I literally don’t know one example in any overcrowded high density city that
has affordable housing. Not in the whole world.

The demand spurs more building and there will never be any surplus stock that
will devalue existing housing or bring down prices.

Let’s take tomatoes. Case 1. I grow 10 kilos of tomatoes for market from my
100 sq.ft vegetable plot. I sell it for $1/lb and make $10.

The next year, I grow tomatoes on steroid fertilizers and get 20lbs from same
plot. I sell it for $1/lb but my neighbour is also at the market and same
customers don’t want as much from me. I end up selling at 0.50/lb to get rid
of all my stock. Because. Glut. More supply = lower prices.

Case 2. I take 10lbs of tomatoes to market. I make a deal with t the manager
that only I can sell tomatoes and I don’t want any other competitors.

I promise that I can bring double the amount of tomatoes, but the manager must
advertise for me. If he fulfills the lack of competition and advertises for
me, I will give him 1/4 of my proceeds. He agrees.

He does a great job of advertising. First he lets everyone know that there
will be no more tomatoes. Then he tells the customers that every other market
is selling bad tomatoes and that his tomatoes are the very best. But too
bad..it’s very Rare. There is literally no soil that can grow the kind of
tomatoes that his market can bring. But best to wait..he will try to grab as
many tomatoes as he can..but he can’t promise. The other market manager is
threatening him.

Then other customers come by and take him aside.. pssstt, they say..I hear you
have the best tomatoes and when they come..can you set aside some for us. Shoo
away the old customers..we can pay double.

The market manager isn’t sure, but promises to try. But for his trouble, can
he get a finders’ fee? Sure..the wealthy shoppers agree to the deal.

So I bring 20 kgs of tomatoes to the market. The manager gets his cut. The old
customers are shoo’ed away. New ones pay more to buy all. Manager makes bank.
Only one who profits for nothing.

It behooves him to keep increasing the prices and making my tomatoes more and
more scarce. It profits me to grow mediocre tomatoes but increase volume.
Maybe I can sell the squished ones..maybe I can paint eggplants red and sell
them as tomatoes. Who cares..the crowd will buy 50 kilos if I can provide the
tomatoes and I can even charge $5/kg.

Why on earth would I sell it for less? Even more importantly, why would I sell
for less than the $1/kg that originally got for my tomatoes when there are
suckers waiting to pay five times more because of their branding?

Case 2 isn’t about tomatoes. Here ends the stories.

