Disqus - Latest Comments for albill

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:04:40 -0000

There is a place for their employees to live. That's why rents have gone up. Those employees can afford to pay more so they do and people that can't leave. There, your problem is already solved.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 20:01:15 -0000

Heh, I live in a three bedroom house in Oakland that I bought a decade ago and my mortgage is less than your rent.

Consider moving.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 19:59:06 -0000

Instead, *you* get to leave because they can afford the rent. Have fun.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 19:56:42 -0000

You're an engineer? Yay! I'm an engineer too *and* I live in an actual city *in* the Bay Area (Oakland).

I'm glad you're rich enough to live with the other rich people who won't crowd your 50 acres. The rest of us have to deal with people though. They're not all rich so they don't buy lakefront property. Instead, they have to deal with this thing called "rent" which has been going up around here quite a bit.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:58:06 -0000

and you think you're qualified to discuss what San Francisco would do or about high density development?

Sorry. Let those of us who actually live in these high density cities or in the Bay Area opine about proper solutions, not people living in some rich lakefront community. You have no idea what SF is like these days.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 13:08:26 -0000

If you're on 50 acres of land, you aren't in a community.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:32:31 -0000

Yes. It is a reversal of the 60's "White Flight."

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:31:10 -0000

SF has rent control, you know?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:30:10 -0000

So, you don't own a house or anything like that, I take it.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:23:18 -0000

Well, the baristas have to live somewhere. They can ride the bus to work in SF, right?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:21:53 -0000

So when another 50,000 people move to SF, what are you going to do as they drive up the price of housing even more? Wish them away?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:18:52 -0000

What was your solution? I missed it in your screed.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:16:16 -0000

Were you born in San Francisco?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:13:12 -0000

Did you read the article, perhaps?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:07:57 -0000

So why would I want to rent my place out then if all pricing is dictated by the government? Why bother?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:06:56 -0000

It sure looks like supply and demand. If it isn't, why is rent so high in SF then?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 02:55:33 -0000

I still want to hear who you think is driving up SF prices since all the tech workers want to live in the South Bay (apparently). Doctors? Lawyers?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 02:54:31 -0000

A completely different kind of housing crisis, yes. This article is about San Francisco.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 02:53:58 -0000

Which has nothing to do with SF's housing crisis or responses to it. You think people mostly want to live in the South Bay? Ok. Well, then why does SF have the most expensive real estate in the country? Well, because people want to live there. They're moving elsewhere because they don't have a choice.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 02:52:05 -0000

I, personally, don't care. SF can go hang on its broken policies. I moved to Oakland a decade ago and bought a house, which I've stayed in. My mortgage is less than a studio in SF. If SF can't fix its policies, then SF can sink into the mire of its own making. We've got enough problems in the East Bay.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 02:50:26 -0000

So your anecdote is evidence but my anecdote is not?

People want to live in SF for a reason. Just because they work for a south bay company doesn't mean they want to live in San Jose. You can believe it or not but the whole reason we have a housing crisis is more people keep moving into San Francisco while the amount of available housing remains static, which drives up rents and house prices.

I wonder who you think is moving to SF that can afford things as they are right now and who are doing the driving of these prices up? Baristas?

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 01:57:48 -0000

and yet I know all of these people (including me in the past) that work down there that have zero desire to leave in Orange County North.

Re: San Francisco's Self-Defeating Housing Activists

Al Billings — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 01:08:16 -0000

But people don't want to live there so building down in the south bay won't help SF.

Re: FAA Drone Registration Becomes Official on Dec 21, Costs $5

Al Billings — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 15:24:21 -0000

You read the linked article before asking, right?

Re: Gaming on a Giant Playable Wooden Game Boy Advance

Al Billings — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 16:55:22 -0000

This is probably a year old. He's discarded it to work on something smaller, from what I remember him telling me on twitter.