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the “Sue San Francisco Fund,” a fund recently launched by YIMBY Law executive director Sonja Trauss. She's also the founder of YIMBY. This is an organization h

the “Sue San Francisco Fund,” a fund recently launched by YIMBY Law executive director Sonja Trauss. She's also the founder of YIMBY. This is an organization headed by a woman. It's not an individual stockpiling money. The title could stand to be updated.

pessimizer 4y ago
And "stockpiling cash" is code for a few multi-millionaire/billionaire landowners giving her money.
- idealmedtech 4y ago
  Millionaires and billionaires are typically NIMBYs, not YIMBYs (although in SF being a millionaire is common enough that this probably isn't totally true)
  - epistasis 4y ago
    Most of the millionaires in SF are homeowners that bought at a tiny tiny fraction of that price, and they tend to be the NIMBYiest of them all, since their wealth comes from rentierism. The YIMBYs who became millionaires through wages are far less sympathetic to continue the housing displacement that creates SF homeowner-millionaires through capitalist exploitation. (At least, it's capitalist if you take a classic Marxist view of capitalism, which groups landowners in with business-owning capitalists. Smith and Ricardo hate landowner rentiers with the same fury as Marx, but don't seem to think of them in the same capitalist class.)
    - DoreenMichele 4y ago
      Yeah, the property tax structure in California is a very big contributor to the problem, in my estimation. It's certainly not the ONLY factor, but it is absolutely a cancer on the state of California -- a cancer they don't know how to kill, unfortunately.
      - thaumasiotes 4y ago
        One obvious solution would be to eliminate the provision where your property tax is reassessed if you develop the property.
        DoreenMichele 4y ago
        If someone has a giant tumor taking over their heart, one "obvious" answer is to cut their heart out. Problem solved. I mean, patient killed, but ...details. I don't know the answer. I do know that some of the tax incentives related to real property in California are seriously problematic. How to fix them? I don't know. Tax law is not one of my areas of expertise.
        jfim 4y ago
        > I do know that some of the tax incentives related to real property in California are seriously problematic. How to fix them? Repeal prop 13, and replace it with property tax deferral, as done in Texas. If an elderly homeowner living in their house cannot (or does not want to) pay their property taxes, they can elect to defer them for as long as they want to, with some interest accruing. The county puts a lien on the property for the amount of tax due. When the owner passes away, moves out of the property, or sells it, the tax lien needs to be paid, which can be done with the proceeds from selling the property.
        DoreenMichele 4y ago
        Thank you. Have an upvote. I don't know if that actually works, but I do know Prop 13 is a big problem and this is the first I recall seeing some meaningful attempt to suggest an alternative that is actually in use somewhere, so has some hope of being not completely nuts.
        epistasis 4y ago
        That would help to some degree. I think an even better approach is to only assess the land, and reassess the land every single year. Then it doesn't matter at all what you build, and the speculator holding on to a vacant lot, withholding land from productive use, has to pay back to society for what they are taking away from everyone else. Annually assessing property as the combo of structure + land is what most areas do, but assessing just the land is somewhat easier and is less biased. There are enough vacant land sales, in addition to some very simple regression models that come up with straightforward values per square foot of land. Much harder to game, and less sensitive to the extreme and systematic racial bias that pervades real estate valuation, even to this day.
  - flomo 4y ago
    NIMBYs in their own backyard, not necessarily your backyard. Marc Andreessen for example. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andreessens-opposition-housing-project-nimby/671061/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andre...
    - dominotw 4y ago
      YIYBY, Yes in your backyard.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

pessimizer 4y ago

And "stockpiling cash" is code for a few multi-millionaire/billionaire landowners giving her money.

idealmedtech 4y ago
Millionaires and billionaires are typically NIMBYs, not YIMBYs (although in SF being a millionaire is common enough that this probably isn't totally true)
- epistasis 4y ago
  Most of the millionaires in SF are homeowners that bought at a tiny tiny fraction of that price, and they tend to be the NIMBYiest of them all, since their wealth comes from rentierism. The YIMBYs who became millionaires through wages are far less sympathetic to continue the housing displacement that creates SF homeowner-millionaires through capitalist exploitation. (At least, it's capitalist if you take a classic Marxist view of capitalism, which groups landowners in with business-owning capitalists. Smith and Ricardo hate landowner rentiers with the same fury as Marx, but don't seem to think of them in the same capitalist class.)
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    Yeah, the property tax structure in California is a very big contributor to the problem, in my estimation. It's certainly not the ONLY factor, but it is absolutely a cancer on the state of California -- a cancer they don't know how to kill, unfortunately.
    - thaumasiotes 4y ago
      One obvious solution would be to eliminate the provision where your property tax is reassessed if you develop the property.
      - DoreenMichele 4y ago
        If someone has a giant tumor taking over their heart, one "obvious" answer is to cut their heart out. Problem solved. I mean, patient killed, but ...details. I don't know the answer. I do know that some of the tax incentives related to real property in California are seriously problematic. How to fix them? I don't know. Tax law is not one of my areas of expertise.
        jfim 4y ago
        > I do know that some of the tax incentives related to real property in California are seriously problematic. How to fix them? Repeal prop 13, and replace it with property tax deferral, as done in Texas. If an elderly homeowner living in their house cannot (or does not want to) pay their property taxes, they can elect to defer them for as long as they want to, with some interest accruing. The county puts a lien on the property for the amount of tax due. When the owner passes away, moves out of the property, or sells it, the tax lien needs to be paid, which can be done with the proceeds from selling the property.
        DoreenMichele 4y ago
        Thank you. Have an upvote. I don't know if that actually works, but I do know Prop 13 is a big problem and this is the first I recall seeing some meaningful attempt to suggest an alternative that is actually in use somewhere, so has some hope of being not completely nuts.
      - epistasis 4y ago
        That would help to some degree. I think an even better approach is to only assess the land, and reassess the land every single year. Then it doesn't matter at all what you build, and the speculator holding on to a vacant lot, withholding land from productive use, has to pay back to society for what they are taking away from everyone else. Annually assessing property as the combo of structure + land is what most areas do, but assessing just the land is somewhat easier and is less biased. There are enough vacant land sales, in addition to some very simple regression models that come up with straightforward values per square foot of land. Much harder to game, and less sensitive to the extreme and systematic racial bias that pervades real estate valuation, even to this day.
- flomo 4y ago
  NIMBYs in their own backyard, not necessarily your backyard. Marc Andreessen for example. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andreessens-opposition-housing-project-nimby/671061/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andre...
  - dominotw 4y ago
    YIYBY, Yes in your backyard.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]