Larry Hosken: New: Tag: choice

I'm yes on Prop 33, though I'm pretty YIMBY

I'm slogging through my ballot, looking at California proposition 33. This proposition says that cities could impose rent control on more types of housing. Opponents say: Beware! NIMBY jerks will use this to prevent new construction by imposing unreasonable rent control so that new projects don't "pencil out." That sounds bad to me, but I'm not a real estate development expert. I dunno whether this is a real problem with the proposition or if it's just a YIMBY echo chamber convincing themselves it might be a problem. So I went looking for some real estate development experts.

My hypothesis: Suppose this proposition threatens new construction. Then among its opponents, along with landlords, I expect to see several building unions, contracting companies, construction companies. But when I look at the opponents, I see landlords. OK, there's also the California Council of Carpenters, one company with "construction" in its name, and another company with "builders." That's not zero but it sure ain't much. I expected to see a lot more than that. (For comparison, there are about a hundred companies with "apartments" in the name.) I tracked down the recommendations of the San Francisco Plumbers, Steamfitters, and HVAC; they had opinions about every California proposition except 33.The prop opponents are well-organized, must have tried to get endorsements from many organizations; but those organizations mostly replied "nah." This looks…like the fraction of Californians who believe the world is flat.

So I'll vote Yes. If this proposition wins and all California housing construction indeed grinds to a halt in a year: Sorry, I tried my best.

Want to encourage people to #vote, but mostly people with attention to detail? Leave a note of encouragement in a small crack in the sidewalk, kinda buried, kinda overgrown with grass.

mismatched Scrabble tiles spelling 'vote' in a crack in the sidewalk. I _guess_ they spell 'vote.' Honestly, the E is so overgrown it could be an F.

(San Francisco, that church near Waller/Belvedere)

The #SanFrancisco #IVoted sticker is pretty spiffy this time.

there are parrots, sea lions, flowers, and a sailboat

I just gave to a political campaign. I dunno how much I agree with the candidate; I didn't really check. I was just so surprised to see a political campaign text show up on my phone not in the Spam folder.

screen shot of Message app. I've just sent a message that reads: This is the first campaign plea I've seen in _months_ that my phone didn't send straight to the spam folder. My congratulations to whoever crafted this campaign, nice work

Maybe the money I sent in won't go towards paying some consultant agonizing over some message that goes straight into the trash. Maybe this contribution won't be like throwing the money away, but with extra steps. It would be nice to think so, wouldn't it?

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