Bay Area Land News - June 25, 2019
US / California / Bay Area News
Opinion: The economic consequences of California’s housing crisis
Los Angeles Daily News
A statewide survey conducted earlier this year by the Public Policy Institute of California made headlines regarding the overwhelmingly high level of public apprehension over skyrocketing housing costs.
Google promises to tackle San Francisco housing crisis with $1bn cash injection
ZDNet
The San Francisco Bay Area is in a state of flux with exorbitant rent hikes and an increase in homelessness potentially caused, in part, by technology companies which have made the area their home.
Google housing plan was a 'concrete step,' says Rep. Khanna
CNBC
CNBC's "Power Lunch" team talks with Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) about Google's housing grant. Google plans to give $1 billion toward affordable housing efforts in the San Francisco Bay Area. $750 million of the funds will go toward rezoning Google-owned property from commercial to residential use.
Sen. Feinstein pens letter to Google after $1 billion housing announcement
East Bay Times
In the wake of Google’s announcement this week that it will spend $1 billion tackling the Bay Area’s housing crisis, one California lawmaker wants more information from the tech giant.
Should California get rid of single-family zoning?
Silicon Valley Business Journal
When you’re dealing with a housing crisis, should a city even have single-family zoning?
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Google and Amazon Attempt to Fix the Housing Crisis They Created
Observer
Big tech wants to atone for the gentrification problem it’s caused on the way to the top.
Amid Bay Area exodus, California governor takes on Texas, Tennessee
San Francisco Business Times
California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged Bay Area business leaders to focus on the advantages of doing business in the Golden State while also promising action on the state's homeless problem that's garnering national headlines.
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Opportunity zones abound in the Bay Area — Here's a closer look
San Francisco Business Times
Alameda County has the most opportunity zones among Bay Area counties, followed by Contra Costa County.
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Bay Area lawmakers push Prop. 13 end-around with big property tax hike for some future homeowners
San Francisco Business Times
State lawmakers from the Peninsula, East Bay and Southern California have hatched a plan to raise property taxes on inherited homes, a major shift away from Prop 13 politics that have kept taxes low on homes passed down through families.
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San Francisco News
Can mayor and SF supervisors make nice to build more affordable housing?
San Francisco Chronicle
In March, San Francisco officials held a lottery to find the lucky tenants who would rent apartments at an affordable housing development on Fell Street in the heart of Hayes Valley.
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Tech IPOs haven’t made a mark on SF housing — yet
San Francisco Chronicle
The recent stock market debuts of San Francisco’s Uber, Lyft, Pinterest and Slack — collectively worth more than $120 billion — sparked fears of even more frenzy in what’s already the country’s most expensive housing market.
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Time for landlord licensing in San Francisco
San Francisco Examiner
Landlord Kip Macy poured ammonia on his tenant’s bed and clothes and directed a contractor to cut the support beams below the tenant’s unit. He later pleaded guilty to criminal charges. After his prison term, he’s free to buy rental property and start harassing tenants again.
SRO resident on hunger strike for rent relief
San Francisco Examiner
Stickers plastered to the door of Jordan Davis’ room in a Tenderloin Single Occupancy Room hotel speak to some of the causes that the formerly homeless activist is willing to risk her health for. “Stop Killing Trans People” and “Housing is a Human Right” are among the slogans to be found there.
Homeless director says thousands pay excessive rents in supportive housing
San Francisco Examiner
Affordable housing is generally defined as paying no more than a third of one’s income on rent, but in San Francisco thousands of the lowest-income residents are paying more than that for city-funded supportive housing.
Mayor Breed’s teacher housing plan lacks key supporters — teachers
San Francisco Examiner
With calendar pages flying and the proverbial clock ticking down, The Mayor’s Office turned in paperwork to the Department of Elections for a major teacher housing ballot initiative precisely 18 minutes before deadline. A stamp on their ballot measure’s cover sheet says exactly so.
As tech takes over city, SF Chamber of Commerce seeks to adapt
San Francisco Examiner
In the Financial District, the chamber is working to establish a community benefit district, which would collect fees from property owners to pay for street cleaning, security, graffiti removal and traffic control officers. The Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to form the group in July.
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Tishman Speyer's 960-unit mixed-use project in Central SoMa earns approval
San Francisco Business Times
S.F. city planners approved a massive, mixed-use project with 960 market-rate units on Thursday, marking another significant step in the Central SoMa development. But litigation against the plan still looms.
SF affordable housing projects kickstarted with $40 million in state funds
San Francisco Chronicle
For more than a half century, the Kahn & Keville tire shop at Turk and Larkin streets has been known for the inspirational sayings spelled out on the letter board sign perched on the corner.
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SF residents vow to keep fighting Navigation Center as supes weigh its fate
San Francisco Chronicle
The fate of the proposed 200-bed Navigation Center on the Embarcadero will fall into the hands of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday, as a group of residents appeal the shelter over worries that it will attract more homeless people, crime and blight to their neighborhoods.
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South Bay News
Adobe’s big expansion ends downtown San Jose office tower drought
East Bay Times
Adobe, a cloud services giant and dominant tech player, is poised to banish a nearly decade-long drought in downtown San Jose: construction of a new office tower in the city’s urban heart.
Offices, homes at downtown San Jose project charge ahead
The Mercury News
A buyer has emerged for the Rail Yard Place project that’s been proposed for downtown San Jose, a mixed-use complex of offices and homes that will serve as a key gateway to the city’s urban core.
Verizon eyes north San Jose move, wheels and deals with Google in Sunnyvale
The Mercury News
Verizon is engaged in discussions to lease a big chunk of office space in San Jose near the airport, in a move that could unleash spillover effects in both San Jose and Sunnyvale.
Adobe’s iconic office tower in downtown San Jose officially breaks ground
The Mercury News
Adobe officially broke ground Monday on a gleaming new office tower in downtown San Jose that is expected to be large enough to accommodate 4,000 employees and to become a dramatic addition to the skyline of the Bay Area’s largest city.
San Jose to review its moderate-income housing strategy
Silicon Valley Business Journal
"We see much of San Jose's middle-class emigrating from Silicon Valley into less expensive regions of California or to entire states altogether," one City Council member noted.
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Peninsula News
After razing rent-controlled apartments, Mountain View adopts new affordable housing rules
The Mercury News
After approving the demolition of more than 100 rent-controlled apartment units this year, Mountain View is putting more pressure on developers to build affordable units into their project plans.
Private school founded by Mark Zuckerburg’s wife OK’d in East Palo Alto despite concerns
The Mercury News
Despite concerns that increasing competition is drawing valuable resources away from one of the lowest performing school district’s in the state, East Palo Alto has given the green light to a private school founded by Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician and the wife of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Redwood City’s home size rules moving forward
The Daily Journal
After a lengthy meeting Tuesday, the Redwood City Planning Commission is recommending the City Council adopt a series of new regulations that would limit the size of single-family homes and accessory dwelling units.
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San Mateo weighing worker center future
The Daily Journal
In approving another agreement with Samaritan House to operate the Worker Resource Center Monday, San Mateo officials weighed concerns about the type of activity the facility may attract and whether temporarily closing it could shed light on its effectiveness.
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City hits pause on gatekeeper process
Mountain View Voice
Out of fears that city staff are getting burned out from overwork, Mountain View leaders are pulling up the drawbridge on the city's gatekeeper process, delaying most projects for at least a year. But shutting off the development pipeline is no easy task, as demonstrated at the City Council's June 18 meeting.
105-Unit 111 Independence Drive in Menlo Park Enters the EIR Process
The Registry
On June 14, City staff released a notice of preparation and initial study for the proposed project...
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South City passes short-term rental rules
The Daily Journal
South San Francisco officials have established policies regulating short-term rentals in an attempt to track and manage business on Airbnb and other popular rental websites.
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Senior center impact scoped
The Daily Journal
The joint Veterans Memorial Senior Center and YMCA development in Redwood City will generate 468 daily car trips, the proposed parking will meet demand and one nearby intersection may require a new traffic signal, according to a draft of the environmental impact report.
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Belmont's Firehouse Square delayed again
The Daily Journal
The mixed-used development proposal known as Firehouse Square in Belmont is facing yet another delay, this time because of additional soil testing.
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Stanford offers $4.7 billion package as part of its proposed expansion
The Mercury News
In a bid to get Santa Clara County back to the negotiating table, Stanford University on Monday offered to pony up $4.7 billion worth of new housing and community benefits as part of its massive campus expansion proposal.
Stanford commits to $4.7 billion for housing, transit, public education
San Francisco Chronicle
Stanford University is offering $3.4 billion in housing and $1.3 billion for transit and public education benefits as it faces pushback over a proposed 2.3 million-square-foot academic expansion over the next two decades.
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Stanford pitches $4.7B deal to county for campus expansion
Palo Alto Online
With the Santa Clara County Planning Commission just days away from making its recommendation on Stanford University's ambitious expansion proposal, the university offered the county a deal on Monday that would commit $4.7 billion toward housing, transportation projects and public schools.
Menlo Park to consider 320-unit housing, office development in the city’s Bayfront area
The Mercury News
Two weeks after Menlo Park rejected a moratorium that would have put a hold on most development projects throughout the city, a plan to build a seven-story apartment building and a three-story office building is up for initial consideration.
Half Moon Bay establishes architectural advisory committee
The Daily Journal
After a 30-year run that ended in 2011, the architectural advisory committee has been re-established in Half Moon Bay.
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San Bruno: 425 apartments move ahead
The Daily Journal
In the face of staunch community opposition from neighbors fearing a lessened quality of life, officials blessed plans for one of the largest ever developments proposed in San Bruno.
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East Bay News
Condos, low-income housing planned in Lafayette
East Bay Times
Plans are in the works to demolish 81,000 square feet of professional and medical office space for more than 160 condos and affordable rental units.