Bay area under construction!

4/11/2017

Below is a transcript from our press conference being held on 4/12/2017.

Noah(Introduction):

“By a show of hands, how many of you are from the bay area?” “ How many of you had a hard time finding a place to live, whether it's in the Bay area or San Francisco specifically?”

We’re starting to see a differentiation of views in the bay area, Pro Development vs. Development. Both of these have different kinds of impacts.

Pro development

More development brings more housing which in theory brings in the ability to have more housing options.
More Jobs come with the development of new buildings, i.e. Salesforce tower that's being built, Twitter, Dropbox, Square, Uber, Lyft.
The tech sector increased 6.9 percent from 2013-2014, where as finance/legal jobs have decreased .7 percent from 2013-2014.
Because of the new found job opportunities bringing in more people working in and around San francisco.
As Tech job industry booms, the housing industry is forced to create higher end homes that can house the highly paid professionals.

Impact of Development

Lower income residents who have lived in the Bay Area/San Francisco for many years are going to get potentially squeezed out of living here.
Housing costs are high, virtually impossible to afford a house unless you make $200,000+ a year and are single.
Class divide between high earning techies vs. other
Traffic is getting worse as tech jobs in San Francisco increase we see more people commuting across the bay bridge and up from south bay/peninsula.
People who can’t afford luxury housing and new apartment complex prices (whether its buying or renting for that matter) are having to squeeze into many times illegal in-law units in the bottom portion of somebodies house. “I myself moved back to the bay area after leaving for about 8 years and was met with the challenge of finding livable housing. Most options were over 1000-1200 for a small room that could barely fit a queen size bed”
This all negatively impacts the homeless population, occasionally putting more people out of their living situation and onto the streets.
We’re now seeing a huge lack of mid-range priced housing for people who just entered the workforce and make too much money to be in the affordable housing bracket but can’t quite afford to pay 5,000 a month rentals that are popping up
“If we want to keep the middle class in San Francisco, we actually have to build housing for the middle class.”.

Keenan ( Benefits of Development)

           Right away I already know it is going to be hard to hear what I have to say, and not somewhat disagree with me. Main reason being is that I am going to be telling all of the many benefits that the extreme development of the BAy area, which only seems to be increasing, is a positive thing.   Yes, I do know that this development is what is leading to the high cost of living, but would the contrary be? We also must take a closer look at why these prices are skyrocketing so fast.

   We are currently located in the technology capital of the world, with every large tech startup that has turned into a major conglomerate, most of them started here in the bay area, not only did the development of these companies such as uber, lyft and twitter bring many jobs to the bay area, more importantly it brought massive innovation. Everyone want to come to Sillicone Valley, because of what it represents, it represents opportunity and the future. “Silicon Valley has always been a Promised Land with almost Biblical aspirations, concerned as much about the search for meaning as for money.”

   Ever since the “tech boom”, as it is now known as, of the early 2000’s aspiring computer engineers and entrepreneurs flooded to the bay area, more specifically the silicon valley, this increase in people moving to the area has resulted in what we now know as the housing crisis and the increased living rates. So are these increased rents and living expenses a bad thing, for most people, yes. WE have to think about what would happen if this wasn't the case, if silicon valley was the center for technological growth and progression. We would not only lose out on being part of the group that design the future, but simply said we would take a huge tole economically.

Silicon Valley is the world's premiere "Business Cluster". Originally this cluster was focused on the chip industry but now is more focused on software and Internet.
In fact Silicon Valley has become the shorthand archetype for all business clusters. With people constantly talking about: How can we produce the Silicon Valley of country X? or How can we produce the Silicon Valley of industry Y?

So let’s consider the contributions of such a cluster:

Contribute to economic growth
Have the industries create in the cluster become a meaningful part of overall GNP.
Increase international competitiveness.
Broaden and deepen the range of goods/services where your country has a competitive advantage.
Development of skills that translate to other industries
As individuals who worked in this cluster migrate to other parts of the economy they should bring with them skills that would not otherwise have existed.
Drive productivity growth both in their own industry and in their customers and suppliers.
The chips/software/internet industries are substantially more productive now than they ever were before. However, even more importantly most of the productivity growth triggered by chips/software/internet has been captured by the users of those technologies rather than those industries themselves. This benefits the economy as a whole.
Create high value well paid jobs: Engineers, product designers, marketers, lawyers, CEOs, etc. etc.
Create specific companies that are global leaders. These global leaders contribute to your global competitiveness. Beyond that they drive dividends from foreign subsidiaries back to the home company/country. Part of those returns are simply a return on capital, however most of those returns are actually payments for exported managerial and design skills.
Create Intellectual Property that is valued globally
The optimal export is IP. You don't ship any tangible resources out of the country but you receive a steady stream of income back from the value of the IP.
Drive capital accumulation
Contributes to productivity and international competitiveness.
Increase entrepreneurial activity and new company creation.These are fundamental drivers of the economy
Be the premiere destination for top talent in that field. Attracting world class talent to come work in your country has clear economic benefits.

Silicon Valley does all of the above.
And it is because of all of this, that we are left with the housing problem that we are currently facing, innovation and progress going hand in hand with the skyrocketing rent. WE can keep one, but lose the other.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF8M_fovMuQ

Rory(Impacts of Development):

Like Noah explained to us earlier, the cost of housing is rapidly increasing. With the expansive development of high density housing and commercial real estate, it has become very difficult for anyone at or below the average salary in the Bay Area to afford housing (the average salary being just over $110,000).

As Keenan discussed the pros of development in San Francisco, I will be discussing the impacts it has on other parts of the Bay Area and will be specifically referencing San Mateo, a city about 20 miles south from here with a census of just over 760,000 people.

Just like San Francisco, San Mateo has also been experiencing an influx of construction sites.
An example of one of these construction sites is the development of Bay Meadows.
This is the former Bay Meadows (show image). A horse racing track with over 75 years of history. Demolition began on 2008 and here is the new development plan that is taking over its site (show image).
This new community will comprise 40,000 sq. ft. of retail, 780,000 sq.ft. of office space, and 1,150 units of housing. It is currently 35% complete.
About ten blocks away from this site, developers are planning another project.
On August 6th, 2016, Walter Schwartz of San Mateo created a petition to downsize the proposed 5-story, 74 unit property.
Walter, worried for how such a large development would impact the immediate area, explains that overnight parking on the streets would become problematic.
This is something that you San Francisco residents are very familiar with.
The petition currently has 504 signatures.
Projects like this may be great for creating more opportunities, but it will drastically increase one of our most dreaded problems in the Bay Area: TRAFFIC (show image)
This is a shot of traffic on Highway 101 in San Mateo going northbound during commute hours.
With more and more people trying to move to the Bay Area, demand for housing has caused the price of homes to skyrocket. Here’s a chart showing how rapidly home
values are increasing.
This is not only pushing long time residents to sell, but it’s also making it more difficult for younger generations to afford housing.
The median home value in San Mateo is currently at $1,155,000.

Conclusion:
So whether you are for or against, the Bay Area is going to keep on growing. For more information on development projects in your area, City Council meetings often discuss current and upcoming projects.