Bay Area Plan for Social Equity in Marinwood-Lucas Valley

Here is the the Bay Area Plan for Social Equity.  It is a plan to reform property rights and entitlements under the guise of "lowering our carbon footprint".  Among the goals are providing for 100% of all low -moderate income housing through government assistance.  See page 5 for  additional details.

Bay Area Plan for Social Equity

Reminder: Marinwood Plaza meeting Saturday Oct 27th at 10 AM

 

Meet with the Planners and Developers of Marinwood Plaza

Saturday, October 27th

10:00 AM

Mary Silvera School

375 Blackstone Rd.

Marinwood, CA

Silvestri: The Best Laid Plans - Part IV: Public Policy, Community Voice & Social Equity

Bedford Styvesant Housing Project NYC 1949

 

 

The Best Laid Plans - Part IV: Public Policy, Community Voice & Social Equity

By Bob Silvestri

“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” ~ The Wizard of Oz
Since the market crash of 2008, real estate developers, financiers and politicians have been in panic mode. Though it’s clear that the debt fueled hyper-growth of the past decades is gone forever, they remain in deep denial. Like some neurotic gambler who's lost it all but who’s still hitting the tables believing he can get it all back, these powerful interests continue to roll the dice, regardless of the social and community costs (quality of life, infrastructure, traffic, schools, etc.), regardless of the environmental costs, and regardless of the destabilizing economic impacts in the long run. The tragedy is how much damage could be done trying to bring back the “good old days.”
The concentration of wealth and power at the top and the influences of special interests are distorting local planning priorities. As I’ve tried to illuminate in this series, we can’t continue to pursue top down central planning practices or social engineering experiments that have repeatedly failed in the past. And since “the market” has not solved all our problems as promised, and left too many needs unmet, what should we be doing?

Full Article:
The Best Laid Plans Part IV: Public policy, Community voice, Social equity

TRULIA: Even After the Housing Bust, Americans still prefer the Suburbs

Americans still prefer Suburbs despite suggestions that they prefer dense cities.

 

By Jed Kolko, Chief Economist of Trulia

 

Despite the recent growth of big city downtowns, there is no widespread shift toward dense, urban living. Instead, the long term suburbanization of America continues.

 

 

For decades, Americans have chosen to live in suburbs rather than in cities. Suburban growth has outpaced urban growth, and many big cities have even lost population. But in recent years, some experts have said it’s time for cities to make a comeback. Why? Urban crime rates have fallen; many baby boomers want to live near restaurants, shops, and all the other good things that cities offer; and the housing bust has caused more people to rent instead of buy – sometimes by choice and sometimes out of necessity. Moreover, cities offer shorter commutes, a big draw given today’s higher gas prices and growing concerns about the environment.

So is there evidence that cities are really making a comeback? Earlier this year, a widely-reported Brookings analysis using 2011 Census estimates suggested that they were, reversing the long-term trend of faster suburban growth. However, it later became clear that those 2011 Census estimates should not be used for areas smaller than counties, which includes most cities and suburbs (see “the fine print” at the end of this post).

Full article Americans still love the suburbs.











Even after the housing bust Americans still prefer the suburbs

Silvestri: The Best Laid Plans Part III: Affordable Housing

Dexter Asylum in 1824 in Providence RI. An early "Poor House"

 

The Best Laid Plans Part III: Affordable Housing

by Bob Silvestri

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~ George Santayana

When I was growing up in New York City, where my family owned a small business, my father told me that the scariest words in the English language were, “We're from the government and we're here to help you." A lot of people feel that way about ABAG housing quotas and affordable housing projects in general. But it’s more complicated than that.
Reasonable people might agree that having a variety of housing opportunities for those most in need, without discrimination, is a worthy societal goal. But there’s a difference between “providing housing opportunities” and “building affordable housing.” And affordable housing means different things to different people in different places. It includes homeless shelters, starter homes, rental apartments and townhouses, live/work lofts, SRO (single room occupancy) housing, elderly housing and assisted living, housing for very low and low income (below 30 percent to 50 percent median) and 80 percent median income “affordable” units like the ones we see being built all over Marin (for a family in Mill Valley earning about $90,000 per year).
So where should we focus our efforts and how do we define and prioritize our needs? Some history of how we got here helps.

Full Article
The Best Laid Plans Part III: Affordable Housing

Marinwood Priority Development Area may permanently and drastically change our community



There will be millions of dollars of incentives to build apartments in the Marinwood Priority Development Area

I have been trying to understand exactly what the Marinwood Priority Development Area (PDA) is going to mean for Marinwood.  Currently, we have the map published and it encompasses all land east of Las Gallinas.  Below is how the Association of Bay Area Government describes our community.  At one meeting a housing advocate (who lives in San Anselmo) demanded that "all land within 1/2 mile of 101 highway be changed to multifamily housing at 30 units an acre or more".  This is equivalent to many downtown areas of San Francisco and Oakland.

There are only five "Priority Development Areas" ,  three are in San Rafael -downtown San Rafael,  Civic Center Station (near Marin Civic Center and Northgate Mall) and Marinwood.  There are NO PDAs in Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon, Corte Madera, Novato, etc.   Why is this so?  Why are we the "lucky ones"?  What did these other politically active communities know that we don't know.  Why didn't they fight for a Priority Development Area status? 

Although we only comprise 2% of Marin's population,  we will have 83% of all low income housing for unincorporated Marin.   Did anyone tell you about this "decision" that has been made for us?

Is this the future we want for Marinwood?  Why haven't the planners, politicial insiders and developers been talking with us?  Do they take us for sheep?

From One Bay Area Priority Development Narratives report page 27:

TRANSIT NEIGHBORHOOD Marin County - Marin County Unincorporated 101 Corridor The highly urbanized and commercial 101 Corridor Priority Development Area is transforming into a mixed-use, sustainable corridor with connections to transportation hubs and recreational opportunities. The corridor includes Marin County land within a half mile of US Highway 101. When complete, this area will provide a mix of housing, offer a range of jobs, focus intensive developments in nodes, enhance existing commercial and industrial areas, and expand workforce housing. The corridor is served by a variety of transit services including Golden Gate Transit regional connections and local bus service, and local shuttles. Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) service is also planned for the area, with a connection linking to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Both commercial and residential development are encouraged on commercially zoned sites, which will generate fewer commercial vehicle trips and allow residents to live close to jobs. Affordable housing is also encouraged; the county grant and loan funds support high levels of affordable housing development and related infrastructure. Transforming the commercial corridor is projected to increase pedestrian connections as well. 

see the complete repor Priority Development Narratives Report 

Silvestri The Best Laid Plans - Part II: 21st Century Planning

Frank Lloyd Wright was a champion for individual creativity and local control

The Best Laid Plans - Part II: 21st Century Planning

 

By Bob Silvestri

 

 

“The Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people at each level of the network to innovate free of any central control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform for innovation.” ~ Vint Cerf
When you develop Internet software, the only thing you can be sure of is that everything you’re sure of will probably change because innovation is happening everywhere in the long tail. It is the ultimate “bottom up” system. This means that designing for it requires solutions that embrace user interactivity, open-ended design, flexibility, and methods that “learn” and adapt to change. I think city planning can be that way. In fact I think it will have to be because whether we like it or not, the coming century will be an increasingly bottom up, networked, borderless, telecommuting, personally expressive, crowd-sourced world.
I know. It sounds like a lot of big words. But think about it. I recently wrote a piece about a “criteria-based method” of planning. It suggests an approach that would be more responsive and adaptable to the nuances of local public policy needs and the ever-changing dynamics of private capital markets. It highlights the importance of enabling individual initiative and local empowerment in solving planning problems. And in some ways it was inspired by the third planning vision that came out of the 1930s.
The Bad Boy of Planning
Frank Lloyd Wright was perhaps the most controversial architect in modern history. His iconoclastic career was unique even among American visionaries. Always the rebel, he never bothered to get a license to practice until he was in his 70's, by which time he'd designed or built more than 600 buildings. By today’s standards he’d be called a Libertarian (footnote: The Marin County Civic Center was Wright's last commission before his death).
Wright absolutely hated top down planning and big government. He’d be rolling over in his grave if he knew about ABAG and the One Bay Area Plan. When it came to city planning, Wright was a staunch advocate of “local control.”

Full Article: The Best Laid Plans: Part II 21st Century planning

Sustainability is about people-Economic Sustainable concepts explained

 

Here is how "economic sustainability" is explained.  They do not tell you how the objective of "fairness" is achieved.  It has to do with a strong central government, redistributing property and loss of liberty and taxation.

One Bay Area Vision for our Glorious Future

This is how they are trying to sell you the vision of "One Bay Area".

All you need to do is surrender your liberty, property rights and freedom to an unelected Regional Government (ABAG) that will decide our collective future.

Building or Adding to your house in Marin? Affordable Housing fees take a big bite out of your budget

Even a small addition may cost you big "affordable housing " fees

Considering expanding your house or building a new one?  Be prepared for large Affordable Housing fees to be paid BEFORE your building permit is issued. 

Of course, if you are a government affordable housing developer, these fees are waived 

Affordable housing developers build the units,  sell the tax credits, secure tenants with government guaranteed rent payments.  They make nothing but money.

We taxpayers are stuck with the paying the improvements for new schools, police, fire, sewer and water upgrades. We pay twice.  Once for an "affordable housing fee" to improve our private property and Second, for all of the community improvements affordable housing requires.

Does this sound like "Fair" housing to you?


For More see: Marin County Affordable Housing Impact Fees.

Find out more about the 2012 Housing Element.  Talk with your neighbors.  Learn about the Marinwood Priority Development Area. Write the IJ and local politicians. Sign our petition. Vote.

Silvestri: The Best Laid Plans - Part I: A Brief History of Planning

The demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing project.  A interesting documentary on this housing project is available on Netflix

 

 

The Best Laid Plans - Part I: A Brief History of Planning

by Bob Silvestri

“Adriana, if you stay here though, and this becomes your present then pretty soon you'll start imagining another time was really your... you know, was really the golden time.”
~ Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
In the late 1800s, the social and economic disruptions caused by the Industrial Revolution sparked a back-to-nature movement (inspired by the writers like Thoreau) and utopian communities sprang up across the country. But others believed that industrialization would bring about another kind of utopia: one filled with scientific wonders and new opportunity for all. But the dawning of the 20th Century brought surprises no one imagined.

Full article: Best laid plans Part 1- A brief history of planning

The Pressure's Off Under One Bay Area Plan

Photo from UN Happiness Summit: Women, their teeth red from chewing betel nuts, laugh at a vegetable market in Bhutanese capital Thimpu, October 23, 2006 (Gopal Chitrakar/Courtesy Reuters).

Editors Note: In keeping with our mission of creating conversation about the housing mandates, we will present different community viewpoints for you to consider. David Edmonson writes frequently about Marin housing and SMART from Washington, DC. The full article is published in the Patch.com which is doing an excellent job of local coverage.

 

David Edmondson

Marin ex-pat & editor, The Greater Marin

When Plan Bay Area released its draft preliminary growth numbers (yes, they’re that speculative), a cry went out around Marin that ABAG wants to cram growth down the gullet of stable and "non-growing' county. For years, Marin has lost jobs and so either lost housing units or grew at a snail’s pace. We aren’t like the nearly bankrupt towns of the East Bay or Delta, with vast tracts of new, identical houses. Sadly, if regional and state agencies have their way such reckless and unrestrained growth would come to our counties. You might as well kiss the Marinite way of life goodbye.
That’s a good narrative, but as with most sensationalist narratives of the government losing all reason, it’s pure nonsense.

Full Article: The pressure is off

Palo Alto: "ABAG goals would 'wreak havoc' on schools"

A parade of dunces brings us "Smart Growth" without examining it's effect on the Dixie School District   "A comprehensive plan is not very comprehensive if it doesn't include school needs" City/School Liaison Committee discusses how to protest regional housing quotas

by Sue Dremann Palo Alto Online Staff The 2,860 housing units a regional agency wants Palo Alto to accommodate would "wreak havoc" on the Palo Alto Unified School District, board member Mandy Lowell warned city officials Wednesday. "We would need to open two to three more schools," Lowell told members of the City/School Liaison Committee Wednesday morning.   Palo Alto fights ABAG goals to save schools