3 ms·

There is so much wasted/poorly optimized land in SF. I cringe whenever I see the massive surface level Safeway parking lot in Duboce/Church.

kradroy 7y ago
They should tear down the Fed Mint building behind that Safeway and turn it into housing. I don't even believe that branch does anything other than print proofs. A waste of space, but it's not happening during this presidency for sure.
- ip26 7y ago
  Organizations that live on indefinitely- governments, universities, churches- don't give up land almost as a rule. One or two hundred years from now, they might really need this or that plot, and it could be nearly impossible to acquire then. One easy to appreciate example are universities & other schools holding (& sometimes leasing) land adjacent to them. If they didn't, in the distant future if they need to expand, some scalper or holdout could cause large problems.
  - temp99990 7y ago
    Definitely a few post office closures I’m aware of...
  - kradroy 7y ago
    The US Federal government sells land/property all the time. And as a consequence of the old adage "time is money", an indefinitely existing organization has an indefinite amount of money. Those institutions you mentioned have no issue buying whatever they want; holdouts be damned. A government pretty much has infinite money, churches are quite wealthy as a whole, and universities have a substantial pool of donors to tap despite having insanely large endowments that are quite well managed. I don't think your argument holds up.
erentz 7y ago
The whole dogpatch to India Basin and hunters point areas could be upzoned massively to accommodate a few hundred thousand new residents very easily. Lay down a good street grid, have a plan to eventually put the third street light rail underground or overhead to give massive transit capacity and have a complete free for all of new high rise (20+ stories) apartments there. You could do this without touching any zoning anywhere else in the city. Yet we can’t even do this. Similar “win-win” options exist all over the Bay Area that don’t get done, and you begin to realize the real reason is preserving property values. All new housing is bad. Thus there is no negotiation with existing vested interests. They’ll run the city into the ground until the state forces their hand in some way.

kradroy 7y ago

They should tear down the Fed Mint building behind that Safeway and turn it into housing. I don't even believe that branch does anything other than print proofs. A waste of space, but it's not happening during this presidency for sure.

ip26 7y ago
Organizations that live on indefinitely- governments, universities, churches- don't give up land almost as a rule. One or two hundred years from now, they might really need this or that plot, and it could be nearly impossible to acquire then. One easy to appreciate example are universities & other schools holding (& sometimes leasing) land adjacent to them. If they didn't, in the distant future if they need to expand, some scalper or holdout could cause large problems.
- temp99990 7y ago
  Definitely a few post office closures I’m aware of...
- kradroy 7y ago
  The US Federal government sells land/property all the time. And as a consequence of the old adage "time is money", an indefinitely existing organization has an indefinite amount of money. Those institutions you mentioned have no issue buying whatever they want; holdouts be damned. A government pretty much has infinite money, churches are quite wealthy as a whole, and universities have a substantial pool of donors to tap despite having insanely large endowments that are quite well managed. I don't think your argument holds up.

erentz 7y ago

The whole dogpatch to India Basin and hunters point areas could be upzoned massively to accommodate a few hundred thousand new residents very easily. Lay down a good street grid, have a plan to eventually put the third street light rail underground or overhead to give massive transit capacity and have a complete free for all of new high rise (20+ stories) apartments there. You could do this without touching any zoning anywhere else in the city. Yet we can’t even do this. Similar “win-win” options exist all over the Bay Area that don’t get done, and you begin to realize the real reason is preserving property values. All new housing is bad. Thus there is no negotiation with existing vested interests. They’ll run the city into the ground until the state forces their hand in some way.