4 ms·

Last Refuge: A Bay Area RV community bands together to fight City Hall

22 points by MilnerRoute 8y ago

sdrothrock 8y ago
This is a link to the slashdot summary; the original article is http://extras.mercurynews.com/lastrefuge/ http://extras.mercurynews.com/lastrefuge/ Could @dang or someone else change it?
- dang 8y ago
  Yes. Changed from https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/22/0418241/two-miles-from-facebooks-headquarters-working-poor-live-in-trailers https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/22/0418241/two-miles-f.... Thanks!
heyjudy 8y ago
Facebook HQ is just across Bayshore (84) and Willow Road from East PA, owned by drug gangs, crushing poverty and classism/racism. It's where people would think to look to buy an NFA Class 3 machine gun or destructive device illegally... I know a homeless RV guy who got a MAC-10 for free from a drug dealer in lieu of repaying a loan. It's an entirely different world from Palo Alto proper just across Highway 101, with $5 million homes, families walking their dogs around the block and kids going to the best universities in the world.
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  > I know a homeless RV guy who got a MAC-10 for free from a drug dealer in lieu of repaying a loan. That doesn't sound like free to me...
newnewpdro 8y ago
These people have already done the hard part of fitting their lives into an RV. Accept the reality that you've been priced out of the market and drive somewhere you can afford.
- twblalock 8y ago
  The article mentioned that many of the RVs are not drivable and the residents cannot afford to repair them.
  - newnewpdro 8y ago
    If you get rid of your 7 dogs, affording RV repairs becomes a lot easier. I didn't get the impression that these people have their priorities in order yet.
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      You’re making a sweeping generalization without backing it up with any evidence.
    - ithinkinstereo 8y ago
      Or even better, attend a coding bootcamp and become a fullstack web developer!
- bognition 8y ago
  I mean, why don’t the underprivileged just accept their lot in life and get out of our hair. /sarcasm
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- sjg007 8y ago
  There's actually an affordable housing crisis all across the country. It's particularly bad in the larger job markets which are where people are moving to get decent jobs.
TomMckenny 8y ago
>his rent in East Palo Alto doubled to $4,000 a month It'd be repetitive to observe how insane that is so I'll say it's going to be hard to beat interests with that much money. Maybe if prop 10 had passed there'd be some glimmer of hope.
- twblalock 8y ago
  Rent control is a terrible policy and it is good for California that Prop 10 failed. The only solution is to allow more housing to be built.
  - TomMckenny 8y ago
    Landlords opposed it and tenants put it on the ballot, it is unlikely all parties were acting against their own interest. Rent-control has been essentially banned since 1995 yet housing costs have exceeded wages during that time. It's also quite extreme to claim that rent-control is so bad for every possible community everywhere that it must be universally outlawed. Towns which now have fewer construction restrictions than in '95, also have raising land costs. Pricing of necessary goods differs from ordinary goods. The expanding and primarily ideologically driven Lezze-Faire approaches have clearly failed in both medicine and housing. And while the US might be growing tired of wasted GDP on mediocre medical outcomes, it is clear the society will tolerate vastly more homelessness and degradation in housing conditions, regrettably.
    - twblalock 8y ago
      If you think we have had laissez-faire housing policies you're completely wrong. Housing policy is probably less free than any other part of the market. We have an enormous number of zoning laws that prevent people from building what they want to build on the land they own. Whenever new housing projects are proposed they get locked up in court for years because the existing homeowners feel entitled to freeze their neighborhoods in stasis so they will never change. Meanwhile the most expensive Bay Area cities are the ones that have rent control, because rent control is a form of price control and all price controls create shortages. Why would any reasonable person want to invest in building housing when the city government gets to tell them how much they can charge for rent?

22 points by MilnerRoute 8y ago

This is a link to the slashdot summary; the original article is http://extras.mercurynews.com/lastrefuge/ http://extras.mercurynews.com/lastrefuge/ Could @dang or someone else change it?

dang 8y ago
Yes. Changed from https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/22/0418241/two-miles-from-facebooks-headquarters-working-poor-live-in-trailers https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/12/22/0418241/two-miles-f.... Thanks!

heyjudy 8y ago

Facebook HQ is just across Bayshore (84) and Willow Road from East PA, owned by drug gangs, crushing poverty and classism/racism. It's where people would think to look to buy an NFA Class 3 machine gun or destructive device illegally... I know a homeless RV guy who got a MAC-10 for free from a drug dealer in lieu of repaying a loan. It's an entirely different world from Palo Alto proper just across Highway 101, with $5 million homes, families walking their dogs around the block and kids going to the best universities in the world.

newnewpdro 8y ago
> I know a homeless RV guy who got a MAC-10 for free from a drug dealer in lieu of repaying a loan. That doesn't sound like free to me...

newnewpdro 8y ago

These people have already done the hard part of fitting their lives into an RV. Accept the reality that you've been priced out of the market and drive somewhere you can afford.

twblalock 8y ago
The article mentioned that many of the RVs are not drivable and the residents cannot afford to repair them.
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  If you get rid of your 7 dogs, affording RV repairs becomes a lot easier. I didn't get the impression that these people have their priorities in order yet.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    You’re making a sweeping generalization without backing it up with any evidence.
  - ithinkinstereo 8y ago
    Or even better, attend a coding bootcamp and become a fullstack web developer!
bognition 8y ago
I mean, why don’t the underprivileged just accept their lot in life and get out of our hair. /sarcasm
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
sjg007 8y ago
There's actually an affordable housing crisis all across the country. It's particularly bad in the larger job markets which are where people are moving to get decent jobs.

TomMckenny 8y ago

>his rent in East Palo Alto doubled to $4,000 a month It'd be repetitive to observe how insane that is so I'll say it's going to be hard to beat interests with that much money. Maybe if prop 10 had passed there'd be some glimmer of hope.

twblalock 8y ago
Rent control is a terrible policy and it is good for California that Prop 10 failed. The only solution is to allow more housing to be built.
- TomMckenny 8y ago
  Landlords opposed it and tenants put it on the ballot, it is unlikely all parties were acting against their own interest. Rent-control has been essentially banned since 1995 yet housing costs have exceeded wages during that time. It's also quite extreme to claim that rent-control is so bad for every possible community everywhere that it must be universally outlawed. Towns which now have fewer construction restrictions than in '95, also have raising land costs. Pricing of necessary goods differs from ordinary goods. The expanding and primarily ideologically driven Lezze-Faire approaches have clearly failed in both medicine and housing. And while the US might be growing tired of wasted GDP on mediocre medical outcomes, it is clear the society will tolerate vastly more homelessness and degradation in housing conditions, regrettably.
  - twblalock 8y ago
    If you think we have had laissez-faire housing policies you're completely wrong. Housing policy is probably less free than any other part of the market. We have an enormous number of zoning laws that prevent people from building what they want to build on the land they own. Whenever new housing projects are proposed they get locked up in court for years because the existing homeowners feel entitled to freeze their neighborhoods in stasis so they will never change. Meanwhile the most expensive Bay Area cities are the ones that have rent control, because rent control is a form of price control and all price controls create shortages. Why would any reasonable person want to invest in building housing when the city government gets to tell them how much they can charge for rent?