4 ms·

i don't think anyone who has been to any of the world's top 100 biggest cities could in good faith say SF has too many people. it's barely got a midwestern subu

i don't think anyone who has been to any of the world's top 100 biggest cities could in good faith say SF has too many people. it's barely got a midwestern suburb's level of density.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago
SF is the second most dense big city in the USA. There is no way that: > it's barely got a midwestern suburb's level of density. Is true.
- api 3y ago
  The dense part is geographically confined. SF really has a perfect storm for real estate hyperinflation: high paying jobs, NIMBY attitudes that can be summarized as “keep everything like it was in 1972,” opposition to transit links to less constrained areas, and geographic constraints.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    > The dense part is geographically confined. I don't see how that is relevant. > SF really has a perfect storm for real estate hyperinflation: high paying jobs, NIMBY attitudes that can be summarized as “keep everything like it was in 1972,” opposition to transit links to less constrained areas, and geographic constraints. It also has nice weather and has been a desirable trainhopping destination since the late 19th century. Given the cost of nearby areas, I'm not sure transit links would help out much, if anything the city and surrounding areas would become even more desirable, pushing prices up further. HK has much of the same problems (in terms of geographic constraints) and has a nice transit system to get around that, but it hasn't moved the needle much on affordability. Things get a little better in the rest of the Bay Area, but no one would call Shenzhen affordable.
    - aworks 3y ago
      I wasn't sure why you were comparing the San Francisco Bay Area to Shenzhen. Then I realized you mean the bay area that's ten times the population of the San Francisco Bay Area. Now that's a bay area...
    - jazzyjackson 3y ago
      HK actually has plenty of land to build, but the government funds itself through land sales so they are incentivized to keep the price of land extremely high

i don't think anyone who has been to any of the world's top 100 biggest cities could in good faith say SF has too many people. it's barely got a midwestern suburb's level of density.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

SF is the second most dense big city in the USA. There is no way that: > it's barely got a midwestern suburb's level of density. Is true.

api 3y ago
The dense part is geographically confined. SF really has a perfect storm for real estate hyperinflation: high paying jobs, NIMBY attitudes that can be summarized as “keep everything like it was in 1972,” opposition to transit links to less constrained areas, and geographic constraints.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  > The dense part is geographically confined. I don't see how that is relevant. > SF really has a perfect storm for real estate hyperinflation: high paying jobs, NIMBY attitudes that can be summarized as “keep everything like it was in 1972,” opposition to transit links to less constrained areas, and geographic constraints. It also has nice weather and has been a desirable trainhopping destination since the late 19th century. Given the cost of nearby areas, I'm not sure transit links would help out much, if anything the city and surrounding areas would become even more desirable, pushing prices up further. HK has much of the same problems (in terms of geographic constraints) and has a nice transit system to get around that, but it hasn't moved the needle much on affordability. Things get a little better in the rest of the Bay Area, but no one would call Shenzhen affordable.
  - aworks 3y ago
    I wasn't sure why you were comparing the San Francisco Bay Area to Shenzhen. Then I realized you mean the bay area that's ten times the population of the San Francisco Bay Area. Now that's a bay area...
  - jazzyjackson 3y ago
    HK actually has plenty of land to build, but the government funds itself through land sales so they are incentivized to keep the price of land extremely high