
Letter of Resignation from the Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commission - jseliger
https://medium.com/@katevershovdowning/letter-of-resignation-from-the-palo-alto-planning-and-transportation-commission-f7b6facd94f5#.ehfw934kr
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mathattack
It is painful that Palo Alto is getting very expensive. There are definitely
two populations: Tech industry families, and old Palo Alto residents trapped
in their homes. [0] For better or worse, the locals have decided to restrict
supply of new houses to protect the value of their existing inventory. If if
they opened up 5,000 new units in Palo Alto, it still would barely make a
dent.

The scope of the problem, and the Not In My Backyard syndrome highlights that
it's a regional problem, and not a city-wide one. State laws need to make it
easier to build everywhere. (Yes - I buy that environmental impacts need to be
studied, but when they're used solely as an excuse to stop development, the
poorest suffer, and real environment issues get put to the side)

In the end Palo Alto will suffer if all the new building is done in Redwood
City, Mountain View and Sunnyvale. In 30 years, the residents of Palo Alto
will be living in dilapidated old houses while their neighbors have newer ones
to choose from.

[0] This is due to CA tax assessment laws that restrict mobility. I can write
more on this.

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koolba
> We rent our current home with another couple for $6200 a month;

Wow. I can't believe someone would be willing to pay $3100 (assuming they
split it 50/50) to _share_ a home with another couple. I don't care where you
live or how "hot" the market is; that's asinine.

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banku_brougham
the rent is $6200 for _each_ couple.

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sharkmerry
where did you get that rate? the author doesnt use the word ecah in her
sentence

"We rent our current home with another couple for $6200 a month"

~~~
banku_brougham
its implied by the home value of $2.7M. i dont think that $6200 is enough to
rent a home of that value. as the author says, the mortgage would be $12K per
month.

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Overtonwindow
I wanted to move to the Bay Area for years but housing was always the one
thing crushing those dreams. I finally decided on Atlanta, because it had the
cheapest housing prices of the big cities, and a burgeoning tech sector.
Prices have risen steadily since moving here two years ago. It's only a matter
of time until all major cities see high prices.

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jbob2000
I think I understand where the city council is coming from. From their
perspective, the tech boom they're experiencing is exactly that - a boom. They
don't want all this change to their landscape and lifestyle only to have it go
vacant when the boom is over.

