California!! It's Another Country!!

[Giant Communist Robot]

Well who else are we going to blame it on????

Politicians are the usual target.

[jamiebk]

Anyone busy this Saturday? Well if not, come on over to San Francisco and join the "Puke-in"

By Mathew Luschek
NBCBayArea.com NBCBayArea.com
updated 4/21/2011 10:16:09 PM ET 2011-04-22T02:16:09

If the idea of commercializing the parks of San Francisco makes you sick, you may want to stock up on your ipecac, and head to Dolores Park this Saturday.

A group of folks opposed to the idea of required permits to picnic in the park, is staging a "Puke-In" , April 23, at 2:00 p.m. at Dolores, says SF Weekly.

According to the Facebook page, "Privatization makes me sick" is the slogan they're going with.

"I'm gonna puke!!!!! How do you get the attention of the people of SF? The neighbors of Dolores Park have no idea that the trailer issue is even back, so to get the word out and get people talking about it, we are gonna have a protest, sort of. We're all gonna puke in Dolores Park on Saturday the 23rd at 2:00. More details soon. Privatizing our parks makes me sick. How about you?"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42713319/ns ... y_area_ca/

[Shapley]

When I was stationed out that way years ago, seeing people puking in public was not uncommon, so I'm wondering how effective it will be. We usually just walked around them, even though some of them were shipmates...

[jamiebk]

UPDATE!!! In case you were attending:
################
By Mathew Luschek
NBCBayArea.com NBCBayArea.com
updated 1 hour 7 minutes ago 2011-04-22T21:46:42

UPDATE: The scheduled "Puke-In" at Dolores has been rescheduled to next Saturday, April 30th, out of "respect for Earth Day" says their Facebook page.

[Haggis@wk]

“Due to Rent Control, San Francisco Has 31,000 Vacant Housing Units As Frustrated Landlords Give Up.”

[Giant Communist Robot]

“Due to Rent Control, San Francisco Has 31,000 Vacant Housing Units As Frustrated Landlords Give Up.”

I think SF is a very expensive place to live. But a great city.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Every now and then, San Francisco threatens to secede from California.
Every now and then, the rest of California offers to let them.
We'd even let them have the People's Republic of Santa Monica as a satellite territory.

It's hard to believe that one state, even one this large, has so many incompatible cultures without active warfare.

[Giant Communist Robot]

San Diego should consider secession; they have such fine weather.

[piqaboo]

I cant access the link (blocked) - um?? How can one not fill a rent controlled apt?
I be confuzd

[Giant Communist Robot]

Here's the article:

"In San Francisco, one of the toughest places in the country to find a place to live, more than 31,000 housing units — one of every 12 — now sit vacant, according to recently released census data. That’s the highest vacancy rate in the region, and a 70 percent increase from a decade ago."

The reason? The city's pro-tenant, outdated rent control laws that make it difficult to raise rents or evict a tenant.

"Increasingly, small-time landlords are just giving up, like one who has left two large apartments on the second and third floors of her building vacant for more than a decade, after a series of tenant difficulties. It’s just not worth the bother, or the risk, of being legally tied to a tenant for decades.

“Vacancy rates are going up because owners have decided to take their units off the market,” said Ross Mirkarimi, a progressive member of the Board of Supervisors. He attributes that response to “peaking frustrations in dealing with the range of laws that protect tenants in San Francisco that make it difficult for small property owners to thrive.”

[piqaboo]

Bad tenants are indeed a pain, but its hard for me to imagine that an empty unit , producing 0 income, is less of one. Wow.

[Shapley]

Bad tenants are indeed a pain, but its hard for me to imagine that an empty unit , producing 0 income, is less of one. Wow.

If it costs you more to keep the tenants than to keep it empty, I can see the logic behind not renting it out.

[Giant Communist Robot]

If it costs you more to keep the tenants than to keep it empty, I can see the logic behind not renting it out.

What kind of plan is this? It this the best those landlords can do? They should find some other way to make money.

[Giant Communist Robot]

I think in a lot of these cases the landlords might be wealthy anyway, with some other source of income. The point is maintenance is a write-off, and they get to depreciate the building too. It's all about taxes.

[Haggis@wk]

I think in a lot of these cases the landlords might be wealthy anyway,

Oh well, that explains it then, rich landlords gouging the little people.

It's all about taxes.

or it could be all about this

pro-tenant, outdated rent control laws that make it difficult to raise rents

Since cost of business and taxes are probably not controlled in SF you eventually find you can't charge enough rent to make a profit.

Of course one solution would be for SF to just seize the apartments and then they could rent them out. They certainly have enough precedent from the current WH to base their seizure on.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Oh well, that explains it then, rich landlords gouging the little people.

Not really what I meant. It takes a lot of money to buy an apartment building so most owners could be lawyers, doctors or the like. Rental units are attractive as the depreciation helps offset income tax. Without tenants, though, they'll have a negative cash flow. Rents should track market needs by supply and demand. SF is an expensive place to live and if "the little people" can't afford it they could move to Hayward rather than have government start monkeying around with things. Do you see Beverly Hills imposing rent control?

[Haggis@wk]

The fact that 31,000 rental units are vacant points more to the rules of renting than the philosophy of the landlords

[Haggis@wk]

California Dreamin’

California grew at a slower rate from 2000 to 2010 than in any period since statehood in 1850, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this year. Put another way: This is the biggest population slump in California's history.

Many middle class people are leaving the state for Texas, Colorado, Nevada and Arizona, where taxes and the cost of living are lower. In the past decade, 1.5 million more people left California for other states than came to California from another part of the United States, according to analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California.

My cynical mind is churning though, There’s a lot going on, both in the article and in the state, but it’s a rather large oversight not to connect the high price of housing and the largely successful efforts of people like this woman to restrict new construction.

[Shapley]

California just imposed the 'Amazon Tax', to require internet sales companies not located in California, but with affiliates in California, to compute and collect California sales taxes on sales to California residents.

As a result, Amazon has dropped their California affiliates.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-a ... 1978.story

Amazon intends to fight the legality of the tax.

[jamiebk]

It woudl be fair to mention that at least 5 other states already have such laws on the books. Fact is...most people buying off of the internet get a free ride on state sales taxes. Brick and mortar stores don't.