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Papercut posted:I reverse commute to San Rafael so I see what the 101 is like every day San Francisco politics is hopelessly, hopelessly broken. I don't understand why, but the way the governance is framed (board of Supervisors, mayor) nothing can ever get done. The corruption is legendary. There have been triumphs like passing 3 different bond issues to earthquake-proof the same schools and never getting it done. There are activist groups for everything, and they can't push measures through but they can certainly keep anything from happening (see: the homeless problem). Also, Prop 8 can die in an unfunded fire, but that's true all over the state. It's a lovely city, and I'd still like to live there someday (I'm on the Peninsula), but you basically have to pretend the entire political system applies to somebody other than yourself.
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Jul 21, 2013 23:03
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Geared Hub posted:Is there big differences in political climate between SF city/county vs Marin county? Most of Marin County is limousine liberals who approve of progressive things so long as it doesn't bring any disruption to their upper class lifestyle, like "public assisted housing for the poor is a fine service for our least fortunate, just don't do it here." However, more naked "I'm rich, get your hands off my money" oligarchs conservatism exists in enough form that there was a tea party dinner there somewhere once. I think Sarah Palin was involved. The big differences in SF and Marin will be poverty (SF has it, Marin doesn't want it) and public transportation (a critical thing in SF, less appreciated in Marin. I grew up in Sonoma just north and the overwhelming opinion there was Marin's opposition was why we lacked any good transit to the city for many years.)
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Jul 22, 2013 01:59
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Faker. I worked on Quintin Mecke's mayoral campaign. He got about 5% of the vote I think. He's like thirty times as honest and five times as smart as Newsome. Obdicut fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Jul 22, 2013 |
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Jul 22, 2013 02:11
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Obdicut posted:I worked on Quintin Mecke mayoral campaign. He got about 5% of the vote I think. He's like thirty times as honest and five times as smart as Newsome. But Newsome is a class 4 Nexus model.
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Jul 22, 2013 02:22
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All Californian politics are hopelessly corrupt: fun with the LAPD.
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Jul 22, 2013 03:21
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Grand Prize Winner posted:All Californian politics are hopelessly corrupt: fun with the LAPD. I don't have much experience with the LAPD, but the worst assumption people make when they hear about the LAPD they assume it is isolated somehow. From what I've heard, compared to many of the smaller departments in CA, it is probably better. Which should terrify all of you who live here.
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Jul 22, 2013 03:34
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I doubt small-town departments have their own freaky semi-secret intelligence wing.
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Jul 22, 2013 05:20
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Grand Prize Winner posted:All Californian politics are hopelessly corrupt: fun with the LAPD. LA Confidential wasn't far from reality. LA also had the famous Rampart police station that provided inspiration for The Shield.
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Jul 22, 2013 05:29
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Grand Prize Winner posted:I doubt small-town departments have their own freaky semi-secret intelligence wing.
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Jul 22, 2013 05:38
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SirPablo posted:I've lived near Fresno (not even in it, one of the smaller, even shittier, cities within 50 miles of it) for over a year now. It is pretty loving awful. The redeeming qualities are 1) some of California's cheapest housing, 2) good produce, and 3) there are some truly awesome places within 4 hours driving distance [LA, Bay Area, Sacramento, Yosemite/Sierra]. I don't think I can live here forever though. My agency has a hiring freeze right now (thank you House Republicans) so I'm hoping as soon as that is lifted I'm out of here.
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Jul 22, 2013 06:43
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OneEightHundred posted:I lived in north Fresno for a year and it has a pretty good combination of great weather and cheap housing (the COL is pretty low overall because of how staggeringly cheap the food is), but the job market is completely abysmal. It's a place that nobody should be without either being retired, or fully prepared to leave. Yeah it's really interesting to look at unemployment tables for the whole states, places in Central valley are 14%-20% unemployment: Find you county here http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/countyur-400c.pdf 
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Jul 22, 2013 14:02
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Obdicut posted:I worked on Quintin Mecke's mayoral campaign. He got about 5% of the vote I think. He's like thirty times as honest and five times as smart as Newsome. Care Not Cash was a pretty good idea.
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Jul 22, 2013 16:00
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etalian posted:This is pretty interesting: etalian posted:Yeah it's really interesting to look at unemployment tables for the whole states, places in Central valley are 14%-20% unemployment: 10.3% unemployment and 42% housing appreciation over the last year  Gotta love those for bedroom communities
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Jul 22, 2013 16:53
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FCKGW posted:10.3% unemployment and 42% housing appreciation over the last year Nothing says recovery like another cycle of real estate speculation.
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Jul 22, 2013 17:55
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etalian posted:Yeah it's really interesting to look at unemployment tables for the whole states, places in Central valley are 14%-20% unemployment: That's almost as ironic as the Baltimore benches. etalian posted:Nothing says recovery like another cycle of real estate speculation. It's going to be a dead cat bubble.
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Jul 22, 2013 18:03
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FCKGW posted:10.3% unemployment and 42% housing appreciation over the last year SF Bay Area/L.A. individual investors and Real Estate Investment Firms buy up all the central valley stuff for rentals.
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Jul 22, 2013 18:21
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Keyser S0ze posted:SF Bay Area/L.A. individual investors and Real Estate Investment Firms buy up all the central valley stuff for rentals. My area has a ton of foreign investors snapping up homes for rental in a good school district. My city is one of the very few in the Inland Empire with an Asian population over 20%
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Jul 22, 2013 18:41
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yeah, that too and for the chinese birthing stations. In suburbs of L.A., a cottage industry of birth tourism Companies operating 'maternity hotels' cater to pregnant women from Chinese-speaking nations who want an American-citizen newborn. http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/03/local/la-me-birthing-centers-20130104
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Jul 22, 2013 19:03
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Keyser S0ze posted:yeah, that too and for the chinese birthing stations. This is not just about US citizenship. It is a way around the single child rule in China.
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Jul 22, 2013 19:42
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Keyser S0ze posted:yeah, that too and for the chinese birthing stations. That story was about the city next to us and we had one maternity hotel shut down in our city last year.
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Jul 22, 2013 19:59
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gret posted:Care Not Cash was a pretty good idea. It was a good idea, the execution of it was freaking awful beyond belief. Because Newsome.
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Jul 22, 2013 20:28
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Is there anywhere in the bay worth living as a young person besides SF/Oakland? As a mid 20s hipster the only options I see: Crazy expensive rent for 10 sq feet in SF, or dodging bullets in Oakland.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:04
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Casual Yogurt posted:Is there anywhere in the bay worth living as a young person besides SF/Oakland? As a mid 20s hipster the only options I see: Crazy expensive rent for 10 sq feet in SF, or dodging bullets in Oakland. Anywhere north of 580 in Oakland is relatively safe. Also Berkeley is fine to live in as well as many areas in the south bay.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:05
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Dusseldorf posted:Anywhere north of 580 in Oakland is relatively safe. Also Berkeley is fine to live in as well as many areas in the south bay. Even Oakland had 48% median price appreciation vs. 2012  Soon no area will be safe from high salary earning yuppies.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:26
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Seems like the only thing that can keep housing affordable is a citywide crime wave. 
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Jul 22, 2013 21:31
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Grand Prize Winner posted:Seems like the only thing that can keep housing affordable is a citywide crime wave. Hipsters should go around mugging people, not to get money but just because it would keep the rent affordable in the last bay area pockets of resistance such as Oakland. Remember this old crusader? http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Police-arrest-Mission-s-anti-yuppie-crusader-3303625.php
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Jul 22, 2013 21:32
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dr.gigolo posted:When I first moved to the city I moved to 41st and Geary, happy that I lived near the beach and would go surfing all the time. It is really cold and foggy year round. I went to the beach maybe twice and I always had the longest bus ride if I every wanted to go out. There's more stuff going on further into the Richmond from Arguello to maybe Funston on Clement. Its very much a second Chinatown. The problem is that he has two big vehicles and parking anywhere in the inner/central Richmond is a bitch. We pay $100 a month for lovely tandem parking and it's worth every penny. Outer Richmond you can at least park, it's cheaper, and a less horrendous commute than his north bay options (I think). Of course this is all because it has perpetual bad weather and is Way the gently caress Out There. It's also not just Chinatown. More like southeast Asia town + little Russia + spattering of Irish and Turkish.
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Jul 22, 2013 21:48
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Keyser S0ze posted:Real Estate Investment Firms A friend of mine was complaining about this recently: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/jan/25/big-investment-firm-continues-to-buy-homes-in/?print=1 quote:Invitation Homes, an arm of the international private equity giant the Blackstone Group, has purchased 23 homes in Ventura County through Wednesday, bringing its total number of purchases to 139 since it began snapping up distressed homes and converting them to rentals late last summer.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:12
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Casual Yogurt posted:Is there anywhere in the bay worth living as a young person besides SF/Oakland? As a mid 20s hipster the only options I see: Crazy expensive rent for 10 sq feet in SF, or dodging bullets in Oakland. There are plenty of safe areas in Oakland, and you can end up dodging bullets in SF too. It's not like all of SF is wealthy and nice and all of Oakland is poor and crime-ridden. SF has a bit more high end stuff, while Oakland has a bit more low end stuff, but you can find plenty of wealth/poverty and good/bad in both cities. SF is more expensive though, obviously. As for hipstery places besides SF and Oakland....Try Berkeley, i guess.
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Jul 23, 2013 02:55
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Casual Yogurt posted:Is there anywhere in the bay worth living as a young person besides SF/Oakland? As a mid 20s hipster the only options I see: Crazy expensive rent for 10 sq feet in SF, or dodging bullets in Oakland. Try the Mountain View / Palo Alto / Redwood City area. If you look around enough, you can definitely find a super cheap hipster haven to live in. Not sure if you're into co-ops or anything, but they're definitely pretty popular out here, and Stanford students tend to drag down housing prices if you look hard enough. As Rah! said, Berkeley is definitely a good hipster town to find a place to live in, except I personally feel like it smells a little like urine.
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Jul 23, 2013 03:04
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Rah! posted:There are plenty of safe areas in Oakland
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Jul 23, 2013 03:58
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I lived in JL Square in 2002-2003 and it's made some improvements in terms of hipper dining/bar options but you still have to drive over to Alameda or down to High Street to hit the nearest supermarkets, unless all you shop for is booze, snacks and porn. There is less crime now but it's still out there at night and cars get smashed regularly and walking back from BART late at night will be sometimes sketchy. There is a lot of train noise from Amtrak since they are required to blow their horns because some dumbass gets hit by one every few years......trucks from 880 going to the port will also use your street from early in the morning till late at night and at times it seems like there is black soot everywhere and the smell of burning diesel (some say it's also from the cargo ships idling) when the wind isn't blowing. Weird I know but it happens. Also stay away from the aluminum scrapyard but most likely if you are right by it the freeway is so close you won't hear it anyway. The Green bus is great for going down Broadway to Bart or to stuff around Grand Ave during normal hours. The SF ferry access is particularly useful from JLS. You can get to Pier 23 in SF faster than your friends in many parts of SF, if that means anything. Stay away from the Allegro apts though, they are horrible shitboxes and you will hate it...this also is true for the apts right across from Amtrak by the harbor. Nobody makes it past a year in either of these places. Keyser_Soze fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 04:07
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From JL Square you have practically an entire neighborhood as a supermarket: Chinatown. West Oakland is one of those food deserts that you read about on the internet though.
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Jul 23, 2013 04:17
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That's fine if you want to troll over there on a bike and buy a few items or go for meals but an actual Safeway type place is a ways away when you need to go full bore. Hell, even now I see people stacked up at Smart and Final by the Marriott just to buy milk and stuff at night...there is nowhere else to go. It was worse 10 years ago.
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Jul 23, 2013 04:35
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With the SF/Oakland competition, I actually ran into a bit of a conundrum... it's cheaper to buy a house in San Francisco in the Sunset near decent elementary schools than it is in Oakland. The good schools in Oakland are all surrounded by million dollar houses. UGH. (ps do never buy)Keyser S0ze posted:That's fine if you want to troll over there on a bike and buy a few items or go for meals but an actual Safeway type place is a ways away when you need to go full bore. Hell, even now I see people stacked up at Smart and Final by the Marriott just to buy milk and stuff at night...there is nowhere else to go. It was worse 10 years ago. There's also the Lucky's on E 18th near Kragan Auto Parts and the Parkway theater. Speaking of which, has anyone gone back to the parkway ever since they re-opened? *edit* apparently the new parkway's NOT in the old parkway theater location! CrazyLittle fucked around with this message at 06:53 on Jul 23, 2013 |
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Jul 23, 2013 06:40
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CrazyLittle posted:Speaking of which, has anyone gone back to the parkway ever since they re-opened? New Parkway is nice.
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Jul 23, 2013 07:09
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FRINGE posted:Those vampiric scumbags are making GBS threads on the entire country (again). Well, I mean, if they're buying up homes and renting them out, isn't that going to help the rental market? I'm not gonna go all free market capitalism rah rah on you or anything, but if rent is too high, adding units to the market should help to lower rents. Investors see a financial opportunity to simultaneously buy cheap houses in a market where house prices are rising, and take advantage of an insane rental market where rents are so high that they can provide an attractive return on investment. Combine this with new home building activity rapidly ramping up in the last 18 months and we should see market forces start to normalize the situation. I expect house prices to plateau (but not pop, I don't see this as a bubble), rents to gradually drop (but not plunge), and overall total units available both for purchase and for rent to increase (but not so rapidly as to crash prices). This is broadly speaking, across all the urban and suburban California markets. Local conditions may be different (new home starts within the city of San Francisco are not happening, other than a handful of big apartments under construction, so rents will stay high, home prices will keep rising, and SF will continue to head towards Manhattan Island kind of ridiculous real estate situation for the foreseeable future). Or I could be wrong, I'm speculating (in the non-financial sense). My point though is that while this sucks if you're out there trying to buy a house with a mortgage and you keep getting beat by all-cash offers, I think it's a predictable response to the current situation which could, potentially, in the long term help to relieve some of the major issues still affecting our housing market.
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Jul 23, 2013 07:51
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Leperflesh posted:I'm not gonna go all free market capitalism rah rah on you or anything, but if rent is too high, adding units to the market should help to lower rents. They are removing houses from potential homeowners indefinitely, and taking enough property under their control that they will be able to influence the rental rates on top of limiting the available entry-level houses for some time. There is little entry-level home construction as-is, and rental rates for the no-options crowd are still rising. That is why investment companies are getting involved. Theres poor people to fleece. I mean "investments" to be made.
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Jul 23, 2013 09:11
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etalian posted:Yeah it's really interesting to look at unemployment tables for the whole states, places in Central valley are 14%-20% unemployment: I don't know why the housing prices are spiking either, unless they just never recovered from '08. It's not like there isn't any room to plop down new tracts when the northwest outskirts are flat barren wasteland (and being "wasteland" in this case means no trees to clear or terrain to work around, since the entire area would be a wasteland if the sprinklers turned off for a month).
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Jul 23, 2013 09:15
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etalian posted:Even Oakland had 48% median price appreciation vs. 2012 I love how you make it sound like the problem is caused by people who make a lot of money.
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Jul 23, 2013 10:13
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