Letters: Too Much Debt

Letters: Too Much Debt

by Susan Kirsch
September 22,2024

Too much debt

Proposition 5 will introduce a tsunami of long-termdebt.

Prop 5 will reduce the approval threshold for localaffordable housing and public infrastructure bonds from the current two-thirdsvoter requirement to 55%, making it easier for cities, counties and specialdistricts to pass these measures.

Comment on: Democrats are going big on housing despite the risks.

Comment on: Democrats are going big on housing despite the risks.

Ernesto A Barrera
August 26, 2024

Why is it necessary to destroy single family neighborhoods in order to build more affordable housing?
There is absolutely no formula of housing development and growth that indicates any significant lowering of housing costs if more housing is developed. The poor will never be able to afford a home or apartment under current policies of private sector development since there is no incentive to lower the price of housing 75-percent below market rates.

California Voice: Proposition 5 a turbo engine for raising property taxes

California Voice: Proposition 5 a turbo engine for raising property taxes

By SUSAN SHELLEY
August 24, 2024

Proposition 5 makes it easier to raise property taxes.
The November ballot measure gets around Proposition 13’s limitations on property tax increases by making it easier for local governments to pass bonds, a method of borrowing money that is then paid back — with interest — by adding extra charges to property tax bills, sometimes for decades.

YIMBYs to California: Drop dead

YIMBYs to California: Drop dead

by Christopher LeGras
August 15, 2024

Legislature considering a bill that would make it easier for developers to build housing in high fire danger zones. Anyone still believe the YIMBYs give a fraction of a flip about housing affordability and struggling working Americans? No — the YIMBYs are about the almighty dollar. They are rapacious capitalists perversely masquerading as crusading social reformers.

YIMBYs to California: Drop dead

The YIMBYs are wrong: Suburbs are better

By Christopher LeGras
August 7, 2024

Some of the most powerful figures and institutions in big finance, big business, big tech, and big philanthropy, who collectively refer to themselves as “YIMBYs,” for “yes in my back yard,” are on a mission to radically transform the United States. The YIMBYs central world view is that this country is a paragon of wickedness, if not evil, and it’s high time we took our collective medicine.

Marin Voice: State housing push still must respect fire hazard maps

Marin Voice: State housing push still must respect fire hazard maps

By Amy Kalish
August 1, 2024

Our state Legislature’s quest to remove any inhibitors to housing, no matter how impactful, has taken a new and dangerous form.
With Senate Bill 610, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) shows he is not content to merely wrest zoning control from cities. He is now targeting fire hazard severity zone maps as “impediments” to housing.