Rebecca Solnit on San Francisco

[David Morris]

I agree with Robert.  SF needs more density, but the squatters want to keep
their legislated Disney Land North quaint.  I can understand historic
districts being preserved, but NIMBY should not be the general rule.

True Cities need density to expand housing, with a goal of keeping
affordability and diversity.  In hand with density is the need for expanded
public transit for those still unable to afford the City.

DC is another City in need of density, for all the same reasons.

On Sunday, March 3, 2013, Robert Mahnke wrote:

> I want San Francisco like it is, with more housing.  I certainly don't
> want San Francisco to be like San Jose, where I live only because I
> can have a five-minute commute.  I want people to be able to afford to
> live in San Francisco, and since the demand for housing there is so
> high, the way to do that is to make more housing.  Which means
> building up.  If you want to have a city that's friendly for artists,
> that means having cheap housing.  See, e.g., Berlin.
>
> I'm sure the people who zoned San Jose and the Valley thought they
> were doing a good thing, but there are no truly urban spaces, and
> housing is freakishly expensive here, too.
>
> On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 10:51 AM, Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>It has cost way too much to live in SF for a long time now, before
> >>Google.  Fifteen years ago, I wanted to live in SF but moved to
> >>Berkeley instead.  A big part of the problem is that SF won't allow
> >>denser housing.  I wish Solnit had talked about that.  A sentimental
> >>preservationist attitude and basic NIMBYism makes things worse for
> >>everyone.
> >
> > No. It makes things worse for the people who came sooner to the promised
> > land. The problem is not preservationist attitudes, it is reformist
> ones. SF
> > does not need to become a denser SJ. If you want beige malls, live in SJ
> or
> > Sili Valley. If you want what San Francisco is, then leave beige mall
> > thinking behind. Some cities are fine with being unique, and I am
> grateful
> > for those cities. For the others, well, they help to contain somewhat the
> > effects of overpopulation. If you want a new city, go to Portland or
> > Seattle.
> >
> > On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 9:14 AM, Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> I have lived in the Bay Area (Berkeley and San Jose) for most of the
> >> last fifteen years, and used to commute to a job in downtown SF.  Now
> >> I work at a big Silicon Valley company that runs buses for employees
> >> who want to live in SF.  I think Solnit is generally fantastic, but I
> >> had somewhat more fixed feelings about this piece.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Also, to defend the Googles of the world for running private buses
> >> instead of using mass transit, the fundamental problem is with the
> >> urban planning years ago that produced SIlicon Valley.  The density in
> >> the Valley is way too low, which cripples mass transit down here.  The
> >> train system was designed for commuters from the Peninsula to go to
> >> work in SF.  Silicon Valley is zoned like a massive suburb, full of
> >> single-family houses but if you're looking for an apartment, keep
> >> looking.  That's not Google's fault.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 6:32 PM, rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n03/rebecca-solnit/diary
> >> >
> >> > good piece on the effects of Google and its ilk on the culture of San
> >> > Francisco. interesting contrast with Gold Rush in the 19th century and
> >> > the mining rush in Wyoming, North Dakota and other places today. lots
> >> > of Pynchonian echoes
> >> >
> >> > Rich
> >> >
> >> > 'All this is changing the character of what was once a great city of
> >> > refuge for dissidents, queers, pacifists and experimentalists. Like so
> >> > many cities that flourished in the post-industrial era, it has become
> >> > increasingly unaffordable over the past quarter-century, but still has
> >> > a host of writers, artists, activists, environmentalists, eccentrics
> >> > and others who don’t work sixty-hour weeks for corporations– though we
> >> > may be a relic population. Boomtowns also drive out people who perform
> >> > essential services for relatively modest salaries, the teachers,
> >> > firefighters, mechanics and carpenters, along with people who might
> >> > have time for civic engagement. I look in wonder at the store clerks
> >> > and dishwashers, wondering how they hang on or how long their commute
> >> > is. Sometimes the tech workers on their buses seem like bees who
> >> > belong to a great hive, but the hive isn’t civil society or a city;
> >> > it’s a corporation.'
> >> >
> >> > Last summer, I went to look at a house for sale whose listing hadn’t
> >> > mentioned that the house was inhabited. I looked in dismay at the
> >> > pretty old house where a family’s possessions had settled like silt
> >> > over the decades: drum set, Bibles, faded framed portraits, furniture
> >> > grimed with the years, cookware, toys. It was a display of what was
> >> > about to be lost. The estate agent was on the front steps telling
> >> > potential clients that they wouldn’t even h
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