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Lucas and Rich Neighbors Agree to Disagree: Part II (2012)

16 points by jaytaylor 8y ago

inferiorhuman 8y ago
Marin is full of the worst kind of NIMBYs (even by Bay Area standards). That said I support the idea of building more low-income housing in San Rafael (even in Lucas Valley) but I doubt Lucas' intentions were an earnest attempt at providing meaningful low income housing to Marin County. One of the biggest problems, IMO, with densifying that area is that there's essentially zero public transit beyond the bus pads (one in each direction) on CA-101. The "SMART" train runs about a mile east of 101, but there's no Lucas Valley / Smith Ranch Rd stop. If there's anything that Marin is worse about than housing it's transit. And if there's anything worse than suburban sprawl it's suburban sprawl without any infrastructure to support it. Marin ought to charge for access to the park and ride lot and use the money to fund both a SMART "station" and a shuttle bus to run down Lucas Valley Road to the station. And then build the spite housing. Oh well, at least he's not freaking James Hetfield.
burlesona 8y ago
Charitable or spiteful? Why not both? This seems like a great outcome considering how sorely affordable housing is needed in the Bay Area.
- inferiorhuman 8y ago
  ¿Porque no los dos? Because it's a terrible area to plop down dense housing in that location and leave it at that. Lucas Valley is just that disconnected. The challenges aren't insurmountable but there are much better places (such as near the Civic Center SMART 'station'), but even those places run into the legendary Marin NIMBYs. Were Lucas to also propose requisite biking and transit improvements it would be another story (and increase the scope of the fight by a hilarious magnitude).
arijdadjira 8y ago
This article is from 2012. Title should be marked accordingly.
- dang 8y ago
  Good catch! Added.
nafey 8y ago
Although it makes me feel a bit petty to say this, I have to admit that I am feeling a lot of schadenfreude. The terror of extremely privileged people on being "assailed" by "low lifes" has a touch of dark humour to it I think.
TaylorAlexander 8y ago
“Carl Fricke, a board member of the Lucas Valley Estates Homeowners Association, which represents houses nearest to the Lucas property, said: ‘We got letters saying, “You guys are going to get what you deserve. You’re going to bring drug dealers, all this crime and lowlife in here.”’” It’s amazing how grotesquely uninformed their ideas are about low income people. Oh, you live in Marin and you think people who live in low income housing are “drug dealers” and “low lifes”? We have to take Carl Fricke at his word about these letters, but if true shows just how ignorant and even racist people can be even in so-called “progressive” areas.
- duado 8y ago
  Obviously, not all low income people are alike. But in nearby San Francisco, they built a low income housing complex near my house, and now there are people outside the entryway smoking marijuana in public at least 1 in 10 times I pass it. I push my kid’s stroller through the smoke. Call me ignorant, call me racist, call me heartless, call me whatever you want. If another one of these housing complexes is proposed here, I will do my part to stop it. These individuals are currently smoking marijuana on the street somewhere, and that’s where they can continue to do it.
  - intothemild 8y ago
    Isn’t cannabis legal?
    - sushid 8y ago
      Well for starters, it's still federally illegal even if it's legal in the State of California. Secondly, even in California, "Recreational use of cannabis in public is still illegal."
      - inferiorhuman 8y ago
        Smoking it has been de facto legalized in San Francisco for a while now (presumably only in areas where smoking/vaping are allowed). I'd have to go look to be certain, but I believe that marijuana citations were formally classed as the lowest priority for SFPD a few years back.

16 points by jaytaylor 8y ago

Marin is full of the worst kind of NIMBYs (even by Bay Area standards). That said I support the idea of building more low-income housing in San Rafael (even in Lucas Valley) but I doubt Lucas' intentions were an earnest attempt at providing meaningful low income housing to Marin County. One of the biggest problems, IMO, with densifying that area is that there's essentially zero public transit beyond the bus pads (one in each direction) on CA-101. The "SMART" train runs about a mile east of 101, but there's no Lucas Valley / Smith Ranch Rd stop. If there's anything that Marin is worse about than housing it's transit. And if there's anything worse than suburban sprawl it's suburban sprawl without any infrastructure to support it. Marin ought to charge for access to the park and ride lot and use the money to fund both a SMART "station" and a shuttle bus to run down Lucas Valley Road to the station. And then build the spite housing. Oh well, at least he's not freaking James Hetfield.

burlesona 8y ago

Charitable or spiteful? Why not both? This seems like a great outcome considering how sorely affordable housing is needed in the Bay Area.

inferiorhuman 8y ago
¿Porque no los dos? Because it's a terrible area to plop down dense housing in that location and leave it at that. Lucas Valley is just that disconnected. The challenges aren't insurmountable but there are much better places (such as near the Civic Center SMART 'station'), but even those places run into the legendary Marin NIMBYs. Were Lucas to also propose requisite biking and transit improvements it would be another story (and increase the scope of the fight by a hilarious magnitude).

arijdadjira 8y ago

This article is from 2012. Title should be marked accordingly.

dang 8y ago
Good catch! Added.

nafey 8y ago

Although it makes me feel a bit petty to say this, I have to admit that I am feeling a lot of schadenfreude. The terror of extremely privileged people on being "assailed" by "low lifes" has a touch of dark humour to it I think.

TaylorAlexander 8y ago

“Carl Fricke, a board member of the Lucas Valley Estates Homeowners Association, which represents houses nearest to the Lucas property, said: ‘We got letters saying, “You guys are going to get what you deserve. You’re going to bring drug dealers, all this crime and lowlife in here.”’” It’s amazing how grotesquely uninformed their ideas are about low income people. Oh, you live in Marin and you think people who live in low income housing are “drug dealers” and “low lifes”? We have to take Carl Fricke at his word about these letters, but if true shows just how ignorant and even racist people can be even in so-called “progressive” areas.

duado 8y ago
Obviously, not all low income people are alike. But in nearby San Francisco, they built a low income housing complex near my house, and now there are people outside the entryway smoking marijuana in public at least 1 in 10 times I pass it. I push my kid’s stroller through the smoke. Call me ignorant, call me racist, call me heartless, call me whatever you want. If another one of these housing complexes is proposed here, I will do my part to stop it. These individuals are currently smoking marijuana on the street somewhere, and that’s where they can continue to do it.
- intothemild 8y ago
  Isn’t cannabis legal?
  - sushid 8y ago
    Well for starters, it's still federally illegal even if it's legal in the State of California. Secondly, even in California, "Recreational use of cannabis in public is still illegal."
    - inferiorhuman 8y ago
      Smoking it has been de facto legalized in San Francisco for a while now (presumably only in areas where smoking/vaping are allowed). I'd have to go look to be certain, but I believe that marijuana citations were formally classed as the lowest priority for SFPD a few years back.