> If they want to keep it empty or a small 1 family house, let them, and don't let their neighbors or city government bully them into building larger i really

> If they want to keep it empty or a small 1 family house, let them, and don't let their neighbors or city government bully them into building larger i really like this alternate universe where you have to fight govt in order to build smaller -- here in the bay area it's the exact opposite. between zoning [1], height limits, Discretionary Review, CEQA and "environmental impact" reviews, it is unbelievably hard to build density here. projects are delayed in unpredictable ways ranging from weeks to years, often while a developer pays rent and property tax on a vacant lot. the resulting artificial scarcity inflates rents, which is great for incumbent property owners. boomers who have owned property for really long time are often essentially exempt from property tax due to Prop 13. [2] [1] i made a map: https://dcpos.ch/yimby/zoning https://dcpos.ch/yimby/zoning [2] example: https://twitter.com/hanlonbt/status/769662484936429569 https://twitter.com/hanlonbt/status/769662484936429569 -- the city kinda wallows in its own bureaucracy. back in 2004, they won funding to build a rapid transit bus line on Geary St. volunteers knocked on doors, voters voted, a ballot initiative passed. just weeks ago, it passed "Environmental Impact Review". http://sfbamo.com/news/after-13-years-geary-rapid-bus-project-moves-forward/ http://sfbamo.com/news/after-13-years-geary-rapid-bus-projec... it was stuck in EIR for 13 years.