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Very few people bother to vote in non-presidential elections. I keep hammering this point to anyone I meet in the startup scene here in SF. If just 1% of you re

Very few people bother to vote in non-presidential elections. I keep hammering this point to anyone I meet in the startup scene here in SF. If just 1% of you reading this right now (who live in SF) bothered to vote on a pro-housing basis, we'd immediately turn into a huge voting bloc that could not be ignored. You should shame your coworkers and remind people in slack channels too. A few thousand NIMBYs currently control SF housing policy. Filling out an online form is all it takes to change that. It's also really easy: register online and they mail the ballot to you. It's called "Permanent vote by mail". It takes almost no effort whatsoever. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/vote-mail/ http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/vote-mail... You don't need a California drivers license. You don't need to have lived here for a year. You just have to have the intention to make California your current home (eg not a tourist). For the lazy, SF Yes In My Backyard puts out voting slates of pro-housing politicians and propositions. Just reference that, draw the lines on the ballot, and drop it in the mail. You don't even have to buy a stamp. http://www.sfyimby.org http://www.sfyimby.org

djcapelis 10y ago
I support the goals of increased density and more housing. I can't possibly vote the YIMBY slate though, and have advised friends not to as well. The YIMBY slate supports candidates who are the opposite of folks I'd like to see in government. The YIMBY slate endorses people who have voted to restrict people's ability to sit and lie in public places, voted against police reform and voted to make it illegal to be naked in the Castro. I'm sorry, but those issues are important and for me, many of the people the YIMBY slate endorses are on the wrong side of it. We don't have to sell out our values to be pro housing. Down with height limits, down with protracted approval processes for construction, down with many of the things that hold back progress in the city. Let SF reach toward the sky. But also, down with the YIMBY slate. It's just a set of candidates who aren't what I want to see in the city. If the YIMBY slate wants to back actual tangible propositions or policy suggestions, I'm all ears. When they ask me to vote for people they selected because they think they might be "pro-housing" (as if anyone in SF is really anti-housing?) then I'm going to tell them the people I select to represent me are my business. I'm happy to advocate for pro-housing policies. But I sure didn't and won't vote that YIMBY slate, and for the sake of the city I live in, I hope it's soundly defeated.
WWKong 10y ago
Why will home owners vote for pro-housing which reduces the ROI on their homes?
- djcapelis 10y ago
  1) The majority of voters in SF aren't homeowners. 2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. 3) Even if you value property values over other values, affordable housing that can support a strong and diverse environment that is vital to maintaining the strength of the region. If you kill that engine, you kill the thing that created the high values to begin with. You can shoot the golden goose if you want, but don't claim it makes good economic sense. It doesn't.
  - some-guy 10y ago
    2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. I agree, though I imagine the people who can actually afford a home in SF in 2016 feel differently. Edit: clarity
    - djcapelis 10y ago
      Doubt it. Some friends of mine have bought homes here and none of them cared that much about ROI as a large factor in their purchasing decisions. They were buying a home. You gotta be at least a little crazy to live in SF. I hope that's still true. It isn't particularly financially responsible, so you have to want to be here. That means the people who live here generally aren't doing it for their ROIs.
      - WWKong 10y ago
        Are you sure finances is not a factor for most people making the biggest investment of their life? Well, if it isn't they are in for massive joy as every single person I know who have invested in a home sometime back have gotten really really good ROI (if they survived the housing crash).
  - WWKong 10y ago
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jedmeyers 10y ago
>You don't need a California drivers license. You don't need to have lived here for a year. You just have to have the intention to make California your current home (eg not a tourist). No, you also have to be a US citizen, which a lot of newcomers to the Bay Area are not. ELECTIONS CODE SECTION 2100-2124 2101. (a) A person entitled to register to vote shall be a United States citizen, a resident of California, not imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony, and at least 18 years of age at the time of the next election.
Hydraulix989 10y ago
Maybe you could make a website with step-by-step pictorial instructions including what to vote for? It could get a lot of traction. I'm not lazy, just insanely busy.

djcapelis 10y ago

I support the goals of increased density and more housing. I can't possibly vote the YIMBY slate though, and have advised friends not to as well. The YIMBY slate supports candidates who are the opposite of folks I'd like to see in government. The YIMBY slate endorses people who have voted to restrict people's ability to sit and lie in public places, voted against police reform and voted to make it illegal to be naked in the Castro. I'm sorry, but those issues are important and for me, many of the people the YIMBY slate endorses are on the wrong side of it. We don't have to sell out our values to be pro housing. Down with height limits, down with protracted approval processes for construction, down with many of the things that hold back progress in the city. Let SF reach toward the sky. But also, down with the YIMBY slate. It's just a set of candidates who aren't what I want to see in the city. If the YIMBY slate wants to back actual tangible propositions or policy suggestions, I'm all ears. When they ask me to vote for people they selected because they think they might be "pro-housing" (as if anyone in SF is really anti-housing?) then I'm going to tell them the people I select to represent me are my business. I'm happy to advocate for pro-housing policies. But I sure didn't and won't vote that YIMBY slate, and for the sake of the city I live in, I hope it's soundly defeated.

WWKong 10y ago

Why will home owners vote for pro-housing which reduces the ROI on their homes?

djcapelis 10y ago
1) The majority of voters in SF aren't homeowners. 2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. 3) Even if you value property values over other values, affordable housing that can support a strong and diverse environment that is vital to maintaining the strength of the region. If you kill that engine, you kill the thing that created the high values to begin with. You can shoot the golden goose if you want, but don't claim it makes good economic sense. It doesn't.
- some-guy 10y ago
  2) ROI isn't the most important thing about a home. I agree, though I imagine the people who can actually afford a home in SF in 2016 feel differently. Edit: clarity
  - djcapelis 10y ago
    Doubt it. Some friends of mine have bought homes here and none of them cared that much about ROI as a large factor in their purchasing decisions. They were buying a home. You gotta be at least a little crazy to live in SF. I hope that's still true. It isn't particularly financially responsible, so you have to want to be here. That means the people who live here generally aren't doing it for their ROIs.
    - WWKong 10y ago
      Are you sure finances is not a factor for most people making the biggest investment of their life? Well, if it isn't they are in for massive joy as every single person I know who have invested in a home sometime back have gotten really really good ROI (if they survived the housing crash).
- WWKong 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jedmeyers 10y ago

>You don't need a California drivers license. You don't need to have lived here for a year. You just have to have the intention to make California your current home (eg not a tourist). No, you also have to be a US citizen, which a lot of newcomers to the Bay Area are not. ELECTIONS CODE SECTION 2100-2124 2101. (a) A person entitled to register to vote shall be a United States citizen, a resident of California, not imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony, and at least 18 years of age at the time of the next election.

Hydraulix989 10y ago

Maybe you could make a website with step-by-step pictorial instructions including what to vote for? It could get a lot of traction. I'm not lazy, just insanely busy.