4 ms·

Voters don't mean shit if they're mostly poor and can't pay enough in taxes to support the city's infrastructure. You don't have to be part of the HN bubble to

Voters don't mean shit if they're mostly poor and can't pay enough in taxes to support the city's infrastructure. You don't have to be part of the HN bubble to know that money talks and bullshit walks.

cam0 5y ago
Despite the dubious "tech exodus" there are still a lot of insanely wealthy people in this city. One recent example being a house in a not-particularly-desirable neighborhood selling for $1million over asking price: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/San-Francisco-home-sells-for-1-million-over-asking-16695641.php https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/San-Francisco-home...
- isx726552 5y ago
  Wealthy people in SF, particularly “old money” types, don’t really pay significant taxes: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Rich-residents-who-got-SF-street-back-will-pay-12-12402464.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Rich-residents-w... Businesses are what pay it. Hence the payroll tax a few years ago. Hence the relative ease of getting new office space approved vs. new housing. To preserve the tax base, the city govt. will need to keep business around and office space full. Even if the crotchety old money people who pay pennies per year for their semi-private streets don’t like it.
  - cam0 5y ago
    Agreed, and while SF certainly does have a fair amount of old money, I'd argue that most of it is new money. From my point of view, most of the homes selling in my neighborhood over the past year (average sale price of $2.2 million) are young-ish families in their 30s and 40s who have made their money in tech over the past 10 or so years.
  - nradov 5y ago
    Wealthy people in SF, particularly "old money" types, are personal friends with politicians and make significant campaign contributions.
  - SilasX 5y ago
    >Wealthy people in SF, particularly “old money” types, don’t really pay significant taxes: Hold on a sec -- the parent was asserting that wealthy people still want to pay big bucks to live in SF, even despite the huge tax bill. They gave an example of an expensive recent property sale, which would force a huge property-value-up-assessment and thus a big tax bill. You're then citing a story to refute this belief, which talks about a very unusual case where a tax-nonpayment-sale was reversed, treating like it never happened (because corruption), and thus avoiding the up-assessment. That's not responsive to what the parent was talking about. Now, you're right that wealthy, very-long-time SF residents do avoid most of the property tax due to never having sold and the Prop 13 shield. But that isn't relevant to a case of a new buyer picking up a property like that commenter was referring to.
- refurb 5y ago
  Don't believe the hype. That area of SF is highly desirable (near Mount Davidson), prices are about $1,200-1,500/sq ft, which would make the selling price pretty much what you'd expect. Those realtors just did what they all do in SF - underprice a listing by 30%, then when it selling at what they thought it would, hype up their "realtor expertise". These two got free publicity out of it.
pm90 5y ago
The Mayors incentives are not dictated by tax revenues. I don’t understand where you would get that idea. She could bankrupt the city and still get re-elected if she manages to stay popular.
- cbozeman 5y ago
  LOL, yeah I've seen what happens when your city's mayor has that attitude. I've seen it firsthand. It's called Jackson, Mississippi. It's why I live in Fort Worth, Texas.
  - pm90 5y ago
    Please take your racism elsewhere. I’m very glad you don’t live in SF.
    - cbozeman 5y ago
      I really don't know how to respond to a comment this stupid. Actually, yes I do... you think that because Jackson, Mississippi is 92% African American that I left due to the changing demographics, as opposed to the increased crime, the declining infrastructure, a reduction in tech jobs, and the continued mismanagement of the city. To think racism has anything to do with the decline of Jackson, Mississippi from around 1985-current, as opposed to the mismanagement of tax revenues and tax policy that forced business out of the city is not only laughable, but it tells me everything I need to know about you. You're ideologically possessed. You are, literally, mentally ill and need help. You're also so arrogant you're going to tell me that you know more about a city in which I used to live - in which I grew up! I guess my lifelong friend - whom I've literally known since I was 14 - left Jackson, Mississippi to go work in Sacramento, California because he's just a raving racist... OH WAIT, Preston's BLACK! AND he went to Jackson Prep... meanwhile I was stuck in a small town school district so poor that I had literally taken every class by the time I got to 12th grade except for AP English 4, AP Calculus, and AP Biology 4. I was forced to be assigned a study hall because it wasn't even legal for me to leave school before noon. Don't talk to me about racism, you arrogant jackass. Poor white people and poor black people and rich white people and rich black people grow up around each other in Mississippi all the time. We leave because Mississippi is an economic shithole with extremely limited opportunity. That's why I left. It's why Preston left, it's why his brother left. It's why my brother left, it's why my sister left. It's why 40% of the people from my high school graduating class left.
refurb 5y ago
You don’t know SF politics then. The Calle 24 voting block in the Mission has way more sway than all the tech bros combined. It’s not about money, it’s about votes. Look at Rose Pak. She was a gatekeeper to the Chinese community in SF. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Pak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Pak

cam0 5y ago

Despite the dubious "tech exodus" there are still a lot of insanely wealthy people in this city. One recent example being a house in a not-particularly-desirable neighborhood selling for $1million over asking price: https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/San-Francisco-home-sells-for-1-million-over-asking-16695641.php https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/San-Francisco-home...

isx726552 5y ago
Wealthy people in SF, particularly “old money” types, don’t really pay significant taxes: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Rich-residents-who-got-SF-street-back-will-pay-12-12402464.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Rich-residents-w... Businesses are what pay it. Hence the payroll tax a few years ago. Hence the relative ease of getting new office space approved vs. new housing. To preserve the tax base, the city govt. will need to keep business around and office space full. Even if the crotchety old money people who pay pennies per year for their semi-private streets don’t like it.
- cam0 5y ago
  Agreed, and while SF certainly does have a fair amount of old money, I'd argue that most of it is new money. From my point of view, most of the homes selling in my neighborhood over the past year (average sale price of $2.2 million) are young-ish families in their 30s and 40s who have made their money in tech over the past 10 or so years.
- nradov 5y ago
  Wealthy people in SF, particularly "old money" types, are personal friends with politicians and make significant campaign contributions.
- SilasX 5y ago
  >Wealthy people in SF, particularly “old money” types, don’t really pay significant taxes: Hold on a sec -- the parent was asserting that wealthy people still want to pay big bucks to live in SF, even despite the huge tax bill. They gave an example of an expensive recent property sale, which would force a huge property-value-up-assessment and thus a big tax bill. You're then citing a story to refute this belief, which talks about a very unusual case where a tax-nonpayment-sale was reversed, treating like it never happened (because corruption), and thus avoiding the up-assessment. That's not responsive to what the parent was talking about. Now, you're right that wealthy, very-long-time SF residents do avoid most of the property tax due to never having sold and the Prop 13 shield. But that isn't relevant to a case of a new buyer picking up a property like that commenter was referring to.
refurb 5y ago
Don't believe the hype. That area of SF is highly desirable (near Mount Davidson), prices are about $1,200-1,500/sq ft, which would make the selling price pretty much what you'd expect. Those realtors just did what they all do in SF - underprice a listing by 30%, then when it selling at what they thought it would, hype up their "realtor expertise". These two got free publicity out of it.

pm90 5y ago

The Mayors incentives are not dictated by tax revenues. I don’t understand where you would get that idea. She could bankrupt the city and still get re-elected if she manages to stay popular.

cbozeman 5y ago
LOL, yeah I've seen what happens when your city's mayor has that attitude. I've seen it firsthand. It's called Jackson, Mississippi. It's why I live in Fort Worth, Texas.
- pm90 5y ago
  Please take your racism elsewhere. I’m very glad you don’t live in SF.
  - cbozeman 5y ago
    I really don't know how to respond to a comment this stupid. Actually, yes I do... you think that because Jackson, Mississippi is 92% African American that I left due to the changing demographics, as opposed to the increased crime, the declining infrastructure, a reduction in tech jobs, and the continued mismanagement of the city. To think racism has anything to do with the decline of Jackson, Mississippi from around 1985-current, as opposed to the mismanagement of tax revenues and tax policy that forced business out of the city is not only laughable, but it tells me everything I need to know about you. You're ideologically possessed. You are, literally, mentally ill and need help. You're also so arrogant you're going to tell me that you know more about a city in which I used to live - in which I grew up! I guess my lifelong friend - whom I've literally known since I was 14 - left Jackson, Mississippi to go work in Sacramento, California because he's just a raving racist... OH WAIT, Preston's BLACK! AND he went to Jackson Prep... meanwhile I was stuck in a small town school district so poor that I had literally taken every class by the time I got to 12th grade except for AP English 4, AP Calculus, and AP Biology 4. I was forced to be assigned a study hall because it wasn't even legal for me to leave school before noon. Don't talk to me about racism, you arrogant jackass. Poor white people and poor black people and rich white people and rich black people grow up around each other in Mississippi all the time. We leave because Mississippi is an economic shithole with extremely limited opportunity. That's why I left. It's why Preston left, it's why his brother left. It's why my brother left, it's why my sister left. It's why 40% of the people from my high school graduating class left.

refurb 5y ago

You don’t know SF politics then. The Calle 24 voting block in the Mission has way more sway than all the tech bros combined. It’s not about money, it’s about votes. Look at Rose Pak. She was a gatekeeper to the Chinese community in SF. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Pak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Pak