Comment Re:I Read TFA... (Score 1) 107
You've got a fair grasp of what's going on, but this is crap:
a) Repeal prop 13, rent control, the below-market-rate program and all the other government meddling.
You'd think in this day and age people would think two or three times before going with laissez-faire free market "solutions", but there's a lot of you guys around at this point...
The trouble with these ideas is that whatever they say, people don't really *want* to leave issues like the character of their neighborhoods up to the whims of The Market. Rent Control is essentially a hack to slow down these kinds of changes.
Do you really want to see an unrestricted build out everywhere through out the Bay Area? Personally I wince every time I see a construction crane, because I know whatever it is they're building it's going to suck. Circa 1950 or so, The Market apparently lost the ability to build anything that isn't a piece of crap.
BTW, the techcrunch article you liked so much leads up to a recommendation for a Bay Area regional planning agency (presumably with the authority to tell Mountain View to shove their NIMBYism down their throat). It's not at all a plea to get the government out of the planning business.
(Myself, I think Google should get over that "don't be evil" business, and hire some of they guys who work for sports teams shaking down cities to build stadiums for them. All Google needs to do is *hint* that they're thinking about moving to Fremont, and I think Mountain View would come around.)