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If Silicon Valley were serious about solving its housing crisis (which it's not), there are solutions. Because while you're concern trolling that Brisbane does

If Silicon Valley were serious about solving its housing crisis (which it's not), there are solutions. Because while you're concern trolling that Brisbane doesn't feel any sort of civic duty to create some sort of Gibsonian tech ghetto with their valuable (but really smelly) land, the valley could solve this problem on its own by relaxing zoning laws (which they won't). https://www.citylab.com/equity/2014/02/heres-what-it-would-look-if-all-silicon-valleys-employees-actually-lived-there/8429/ https://www.citylab.com/equity/2014/02/heres-what-it-would-l... Now imagine an alternate reality where the BART had circled the bay and then extended northward, southward, and eastward instead of getting @#$%blocked in 1961 by San Mateo county. But since we can't have nice things like that, Brisbane IMO owes SF and the bay area nothing and they should squeeze out the last drop of profit from this situation. http://www.mercurynews.com/2007/02/05/history-of-bart-to-the-south-bay/ http://www.mercurynews.com/2007/02/05/history-of-bart-to-the...

erentz 9y ago
Gibsonian tech ghetto? That's a bit exaggerated. We are talking about building medium density housing and mixed use around a railway station versus commercial property and office parks. Sounds more like what Brisbane wants with the commercial property is closer to a Gibsonian tech ghetto to me.
- oneshot908 9y ago
  Sounds to me like they want to max out tax revenue and that's their right. Were you jumping up and down and holding your breath when San Jose built office space and very little housing for exactly the same reason during the first dotcom boom? All this developer has to do is make building that housing a no-brainer for Brisbane, but I suspect in doing so the profitability plummets or somebody would have already done this, no?
  - erentz 9y ago
    > Were you jumping up and down and holding your breath when San Jose built office space and very little housing for exactly the same reason during the first dotcom boom? Yes. The sprawling office parks and snakey 8 lane roads of northern San Jose are a fucking miserable mess. But the concentration of offices and condos in downtown San Jose is probably the only thing resembling sensible urban planning in the whole South Bay.
    - oneshot908 9y ago
      OK, but for me, Brisbane is the Brigadoon of the Bay Area. I don't see why we should have any say whatsoever in how they decide to develop what is theirs. Make it a win/win for them or GTFO IMO.
    - DrScump 9y ago
      sensible urban planning Downtown San Jose? Are you serious? Try walking downtown on a typical evening. Say, Market to 6th, Santa Clara St. to, say, Reed. Feel the vibe. Research how many businesses (restaurants, bars, clubs, shops) have failed there even during the "recovery". Then do the same in downtown Santa Clara. Then Willow Glen (Lincoln Ave). Then Mountain View (Castro St.). Then Palo Alto (University Ave). And Menlo Park. Even Redwood City. Even ignoring that modern downtown San Jose is "planned" and the others "unplanned": if San Jose is "sensible" urban planning, then give me unplanned any day. I spent 50+ evenings a year downtown for over a 20-year span. Now, I avoid it except for SOMA First Fridays.
      - oneshot908 9y ago
        It's funny, because you're dead-on about this IMO. Individual cities responding individually to the commuter calamity of the South Bay have done a better job than any high-fallutin' 20-year plan could have. As for downtown San Jose, it looks like it's about to get a lot better if Google follows through on building a campus there. Meanwhile in my hometown of Santa Cruz, it's bums, needles, and out of business signs thanks to our local rabidly anti-growth government. I'm pinning my hopes on Amazon eventually expanding its downtown footprint as the only way possible way out of the trap the place constructed for itself.
        DrScump 9y ago
        if Google follows through on building a campus there I wouldn't count on that. They just bought (final) some $600 million worth of real estate in North Sunnyvale. Those parcels in San Jose were originally acquired for the ballpark that never happened, either. I suspect they offered them to Google at far below their value, as with the A's.

erentz 9y ago

Gibsonian tech ghetto? That's a bit exaggerated. We are talking about building medium density housing and mixed use around a railway station versus commercial property and office parks. Sounds more like what Brisbane wants with the commercial property is closer to a Gibsonian tech ghetto to me.

oneshot908 9y ago
Sounds to me like they want to max out tax revenue and that's their right. Were you jumping up and down and holding your breath when San Jose built office space and very little housing for exactly the same reason during the first dotcom boom? All this developer has to do is make building that housing a no-brainer for Brisbane, but I suspect in doing so the profitability plummets or somebody would have already done this, no?
- erentz 9y ago
  > Were you jumping up and down and holding your breath when San Jose built office space and very little housing for exactly the same reason during the first dotcom boom? Yes. The sprawling office parks and snakey 8 lane roads of northern San Jose are a fucking miserable mess. But the concentration of offices and condos in downtown San Jose is probably the only thing resembling sensible urban planning in the whole South Bay.
  - oneshot908 9y ago
    OK, but for me, Brisbane is the Brigadoon of the Bay Area. I don't see why we should have any say whatsoever in how they decide to develop what is theirs. Make it a win/win for them or GTFO IMO.
  - DrScump 9y ago
    sensible urban planning Downtown San Jose? Are you serious? Try walking downtown on a typical evening. Say, Market to 6th, Santa Clara St. to, say, Reed. Feel the vibe. Research how many businesses (restaurants, bars, clubs, shops) have failed there even during the "recovery". Then do the same in downtown Santa Clara. Then Willow Glen (Lincoln Ave). Then Mountain View (Castro St.). Then Palo Alto (University Ave). And Menlo Park. Even Redwood City. Even ignoring that modern downtown San Jose is "planned" and the others "unplanned": if San Jose is "sensible" urban planning, then give me unplanned any day. I spent 50+ evenings a year downtown for over a 20-year span. Now, I avoid it except for SOMA First Fridays.
    - oneshot908 9y ago
      It's funny, because you're dead-on about this IMO. Individual cities responding individually to the commuter calamity of the South Bay have done a better job than any high-fallutin' 20-year plan could have. As for downtown San Jose, it looks like it's about to get a lot better if Google follows through on building a campus there. Meanwhile in my hometown of Santa Cruz, it's bums, needles, and out of business signs thanks to our local rabidly anti-growth government. I'm pinning my hopes on Amazon eventually expanding its downtown footprint as the only way possible way out of the trap the place constructed for itself.
      - DrScump 9y ago
        if Google follows through on building a campus there I wouldn't count on that. They just bought (final) some $600 million worth of real estate in North Sunnyvale. Those parcels in San Jose were originally acquired for the ballpark that never happened, either. I suspect they offered them to Google at far below their value, as with the A's.