OK, can we all agree that, at the very least, New Yorkers and Angelenos can stop telling us how stupid we've been, collectively, as the city of San Francisco in not preparing for our current population boom and housing crisis? It's all been said, and The Atlantic writes something new on the topic every couple of months, and we're working on it and it's not that simple, alright? Maybe it's not happening fast enough, and you can say that City Hall still isn't doing enough, but you can also say that this isn't exactly the kind of problem you can wave a magic wand at housing development takes years, and the larger scale it is, the longer it will take. Were we ill prepared for a sudden influx of new people? Sure. But at this point, I don't think the city is putting up any serious barriers to development except for continuing to require that all market-rate developers set aside some units for affordable housing, or contribute to an affordable housing fund.
So, at this late date, we hardly need Gawker fucking Gawker telling us what our problem is in a post today titled "San Francisco: Build More Housing, Assholes."
Brilliant. Thanks for the tip.
Editor Hamilton Nolan merely rehashes, again, things that have been written since 2012 by people who know a whole lot more about the issues, about how SF's development controls and rent control laws are to blame for our misery and the high cost of everything. Also, he reduces it even further than SPUR director Gabriel Metcalf did in this piece last July blaming progressives for being insular preservationists who are afraid of newcomers.
Look, we all like complaining about people who moved somewhere more recently than us. They are the worst! Are they not? So corny! I highly recommend this as a lively topic of conversation. I love talking shit about people other than me! But then, when it is all done, it is grown-up time, and people need a place to live, so the grown-ups need to figure out a place for people to live...Thanks to the political efforts of people who consider themselves real hardcore lefties! Thanks a lot, motherfuckers! Enjoy the beautiful houses you purchased real cheap in 1970 while you rail against the development that might one day allow middle class people to live in your lovely city again!
Thank you, kind New Yorker, for summing it all up so succinctly.
Now, kindly go back to your pizza rat scams and complaining about how you'll all be stuck in Williamsburg forever when that L train tunnel has to close. Sorry that all our lives suck so hard. City living sure is tough.
Also, motherfucker, has your city experienced a new Gold Rush and a flood of new, eager bodies in the last five years? No? Does New York have enough spare apartments lying around to house 50,000 brand new people if they just showed up one day? Actually, if we make that proportional to the relative difference in the sizes of these two cities, does New York have enough spare spots to house 500,000 new people who just showed up all of a sudden?
Oh and you know how dyed-in-the-denim New Yorkers love to complain about how gentrification has basically ruined every part of the city, including the Bronx, at this point? Well, San Franciscans take that shit seriously, and we don't let the person with the most money bulldoze whatever the fuck they want and build something new, and if that means we have some growing pains and things have to reach Manhattan-level prices for a while, then I guess that's how it will be.
We will get through this. We're starting to wrap our heads around living in a denser place. We're fighting it out, and people are actually building some really huge housing projects, none of which have happened overnight.
So, shut the fuck up already. And tell Brooklyn to shut the fuck up too. As they say over there, mind ya business. Assholes.
Previously: How Many San Franciscans Are Rooting For The Tech Economy To Tank?
San Francisco Has Always Been A Pretty Expensive Place To Live
