tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post2043556169381356801..comments2024-03-28T16:54:44.319-07:00Comments on The Emeryville Tattler: Public Interest Not on Display in Market Place Development AgreementUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-79208786942166372142015-07-22T09:29:58.691-07:002015-07-22T09:29:58.691-07:00Yeah, that's the argument the Emeryville City ...Yeah, that's the argument the Emeryville City Council has presented for 25 years (until last night). The argument posits Emeryville is no good, we've got a horrible location. We're not in a position to ask for anything good. We've got to stop planning here and just let developers take over. This thinking is how we've become a giant shopping mall with luxury drive-in drive-out apartments filled with tech workers instead of a real town. You've had it your way for 25 years...it would appear your argument is now a spent force. <br />Oh, and you've got to drop the word "continue" when talking about voting down housing...it's never happened in Emeryville before last night.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-60228174597192662742015-07-22T08:52:16.744-07:002015-07-22T08:52:16.744-07:00If we continue to vote down new housing, the State...If we continue to vote down new housing, the State will soon come behind and overrule local control. it's coming real soon. The state just rediced the parking requirements for low-income units. There are three times as many jobs as there are available housing.manyn jurisdictions are not approving new housing. The state has to meet the need sand soon thdey will take over the approval process.<br />Also, is it really fair to charge a developer an increase in fees, if a project is already approved..? the city was foolish to turn down the marketplace project..<br />the family friendly idea is a failure, if the units aren't affordable. the chools are a mess, how can you attract families. the city is discriminating against single people .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-84949702886903393372015-07-21T11:51:49.656-07:002015-07-21T11:51:49.656-07:00Thank you Mike for this very informative and compe...Thank you Mike for this very informative and compelling comment. You are correct about the disconcerting total lack of ownership housing being built in Emeryville over the years (regardless of the comments from Mr Anonymous above). From what I understand however, municipalities are not permitted to require home ownership provisions from developers. The State gives developers a right to build 100% rental. But still, the City Council can let the developers know how disappointed they are with this problem and barring an extremely arrogant developer, that should have an effect. I hope you can find the time to appear before the City Council tonight and present your case...you're argument is most persuasive.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-54356423847746638052015-07-21T11:35:36.716-07:002015-07-21T11:35:36.716-07:00I think Emeryville has already taken care very nic...I think Emeryville has already taken care very nicely over the last several years of the "swarm" of single people who want to rent. It's every other demographic that's not being represented.<br />Oh, and regarding boosting our property tax revenue with newly built residential units, you're correct we do increase the revenue but you're (conveniently?) leaving out the other side of the ledger: the costs associated with providing services for new residents. Residential development projects are revenue neutral. Emeryville, or other cities for that matter, isn't in the business of making money off residents. It's neutral, and that's the way it ought to be. So the Market Place project doesn't help our coffers at City Hall. That means community benefits negotiated in exchange for this or any approved project proposal needs to be obvious and transparent...something the Market Place project isn't. The Market Place project as presented by the staff tonight is going to make our town worse...that's not my opinion, it's measurably factual.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-78471030815603589322015-07-21T10:17:46.529-07:002015-07-21T10:17:46.529-07:00To your excellent list, I would add one more:
Hom...To your excellent list, I would add one more: <br />Home ownership as a % of housing in the US is 64.9%.<br />Home ownership as a % of housing in California is 55.9%<br />Home ownership as a % of housing in Alameda County is 53.4%<br />Howe ownership as a % of housing in Emeryville at the last census was 35.7%<br />After currently proposed and already-underway projects in Emeryville are completed (100% rentals), our home ownership will fall below 30%.<br /><br />Emeryville is part of an alarming shift in the American housing market, as detailed here:<br /><br />http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-17/rental-builders-go-berserk-multi-family-permits-soar-most-1990<br /><br />The article's conclusion: " a conventional housing recovery in the US is now dead. " This is of course consistent with the widening wealth gap in the U.S.<br /><br />Home ownership was once the key to the American dream: a family stretched to buy that first house, but as prices rose, your monthly payments stayed fixed. And at a 4:1 debt:equity ratio, you soon had enough to equity in your house either to move to a larger one, or if you stayed put, you could retire comfortably in 15 to 30 years with no monthly housing payments.<br /><br />Rental housing turns that on its head: as property values go up, so do rents. 100% of the increase in value accrues to the property owner, not the resident, whose cost of living increases continuously. And retirement? Forget about it.<br /><br />It is the end of the American dream.<br /><br />100% of the new housing units in Emeryville now under construction or proposed for development are rental units. Which makes us leaders in that sorry shift. No amount of minimum wage increases will overcome this hollowing out of our civic life. Our poet laureate being forced to move because of rent increases is just the canary in our coalmine.<br /><br />I understand that the changed environment makes providing incentives for home ownership and dis-incentives for rental development more difficult that before. <br /><br />But no less crucial. Our City's leadership is needed now more than ever on this issue.<br /><br />Mike McConnell<br />1500 Park Ave.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-32959970547025265252015-07-21T09:33:05.867-07:002015-07-21T09:33:05.867-07:00Respectfully DISAGREE ! In your misguided zeal to...Respectfully DISAGREE ! In your misguided zeal to be noticed, and to create arguments that are somewhat bogus, your position is an obstacle to needed progress. What about the swarm of Single People who are not in a position to own,<br />or just don't want to own? Have you ever noticed the gridlock on the freeways because people need to get to, and from, work? They need rental housing, here, and they are willing to pay for it. They represent dollars to our local economy, and the property represents a boost to Property Tax revenue. I just don't get it. What are you thinking? We could use the money. City Council should vote FOR it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com