tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post3609786219939045973..comments2024-03-28T16:54:44.319-07:00Comments on The Emeryville Tattler: Emeryville Can Demand More From Developers Than Neighbors Cities CanUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-52311393594711480582015-09-27T09:52:29.590-07:002015-09-27T09:52:29.590-07:00You (eloquently) went into the weeds a little furt...You (eloquently) went into the weeds a little further than I wanted to for purposes of the story but your point is well taken. I do agree with you and the story shows that but from a different angle than you took. Emeryville keeps increasing housing supply and the price keeps going up. The reason is because other cities aren't increasing their supply of housing like Emeryville has done (and because of regional growth as you say). But this is all just academic really. Because the differing cities have different governments run by different people, there will never be 100% compliance for a regional vision, much to ABAG's chagrin. There's no way to control this so as far as Emeryville is concerned, the supply and demand meme is not applicable, hence descriptors like "canard". Every time a developer or an apologist uses 'supply and demand' as an immutable law in Emeryville, they're being disingenuous for purposes of increasing their profits in the case of the developers and for unknown purposes for their apologists. <br />Those furthering this bogus meme always fail to note the negative effects on the quality of life increasing density brings. We've done more than our share of building (market rate) housing in Emeryville and to build more at this point without a major regulatory increase as I've called for, will simply lower the livability of our town. There is no rational reason why we should do this, regardless all the screams of "supply and demand" from these interested parties and their hangers on.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-7230432369400621992015-09-27T02:56:50.231-07:002015-09-27T02:56:50.231-07:00"If we increase the housing supply, the housi..."If we increase the housing supply, the housing demand goes down..." <br /><br />Uh, no, not at all. That's not how supply and demand work. Supply and demand are independent variables. The housing supply can go up and the demand can go down, up, or stay the same. Price depends on both variables not just one, so yes, it's completely possible and common for supply to go up and prices to increase. <br /><br />The way to fix your statement above would be something like this: "If we increase the housing supply and the demand remains constant, costs go down." In the Bay Area, demand actually has increased significantly faster than supply in recent years, so prices go up.<br /><br />Your article actually gives one of the reasons prices continue to go up: surrounding cities have failed to build to meet increasing demand. If everyone had met the RHNA numbers (assuming they accurately predicted job growth), we wouldn't be in the middle of a housing shortage. <br /><br />Supply and demand really is not a canard. In all seriousness, I'd encourage you to consider taking an intro college economics course. You seem very interested in economic policy, and it would give you a lot of insight.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-89616039316770327532015-09-26T16:19:45.465-07:002015-09-26T16:19:45.465-07:00All four of these things should be provided by dev...All four of these things should be provided by developers with specific projects they're proposing. The idea is that there are no more freebies. If a developer wants to build a residential project, he has to keep the existing ratios of these four areas the same as they currently are or improve on the existing ratios. So for instance the ratio of park acreage per resident in Emeryville is currently X, the developer has to provide either money for the city to buy land and build a park or he could provide the land directly. After he brings in Y number of residents (his project), he needs to make the City whole: we need at least X residents per acre of park space after the project gets built. The same or better. No more making the town get worse because of these residential projects.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-25738871582067710682015-09-26T16:10:38.150-07:002015-09-26T16:10:38.150-07:00The RHNA data are a revelation, and Emeryville wou...The RHNA data are a revelation, and Emeryville would be a better place if we added affordable housing, family-friendly housing, parks and open space, and more retail like Arizmendi to the present mix. <br /><br />The first three, at least, would come at a cost--right? <br /><br />These additions may well be worth the price, but, somewhere in the various studies that our city has paid for over the years, is there a credible estimate of what that price would be?Will Lebenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11895627795270965700noreply@blogger.com