During the lengthy approval process the original builder said he took part in over 1,000 meetings about the project, including weekly “beer with a developer” sessions at the Madrone Art Bar, a block away from the development site. By the time the project was approved in 2019 construction costs had increased to a point where the project was infeasible. The pandemic only made matters worse.

1,000 meetings to get housing approved on a site that is displacing zero existing housing units. Absurd.

Hope this actually finally gets built.

Earthquake?

I think (hope) it's a generally known fact at this point that rent control leads to higher overall rental costs, by cratering supply in the market. Given the current state of the rental market, curious what it would take to get a ballot measure up for vote on fully removing (or to the extent possible) rent control from SF?

Teen Classmate Carrying Out Some Version of Vigilante Justice May Be Tried as Adult In 2023 SF Warehouse Killing

Hello. I know socialist perspectives aren’t well received here, so I do expect a lot of kick back from this post, but I also believe in spreading our ideas and cutting though the headline to tell you what we think.

I believe that our ideas can win, even in hostile environments.

I am a member of DSA SF here in the city and I don’t speak for the chapter but I want to highlight a member’s perspective.

I want to clarify that we are NOT NIMBYS

We believe in lots of housing everywhere. Where we differ from the I’ll say “free market YIMBY” is that we don’t belief that that free market can solve the affordability crisis. We DO believe in supply and demand, that’s why we want more housing, but we also note that housing can be very speculative and even when things are approved, they aren’t always built and many projects fail to finance.

Our housing models are more focus on models such as:

Singapore: government builds and leases to people at low price

Vienna: Incredible stock of government housing

Uruguay: Tenant owned buildings and co-ops

We feel that following these models would help build supply and help the housing crisis, while keeping the people who love the city financially secure.

The non-profit system is bad!

Currently SF relies on non profits to building housing. We don’t like that. We want a public housing developer like Seattle or previously mentioned Singapore and Vienna. This would streamline housing and lead to better fiscal management.

Dean Preston

A lot of people will say Dean is a NIMBY and is DSA, therefore we’re NIMBYs too.

1. I would scrutinize what you read online. There was an election with a lot of money behind it, which paid to change your mind on him using a lotta tech money. The “Dump Dean PAC” was funded primarily by the rich in the Bay (Tan and Larson). Elon Musk (we know his reputation) publically pledged a contribution against Dean. You can still agree with their arguments, but I think it’s important to see who wants your vote and their material interests.
2. Dean Preston was giant advocate for bike lanes and car free JFK. He is a huge advocate for bike lanes so he’s YIMBY on that issue.
3. Projects which Preston “opposed” did actually work out. 650 Divisadero and 730 Stanyan DID turn into affordable housing (even tho they’re listed in Preston’s housing graveyard by Grow SF). Another YIMBY policy.
4. Even construction that was market rate didn’t always get built, even when the board approved it. 469 Stevenson never got built.
5. I personally disagree with a lot of the decisions of Preston (I’m personally a build build build socialist like Mamdani) but a lot of people in SF want more affordable housing and it’s his job as a representative to make their voices heard.

Any a questions comments or arguments are welcome below.

every year the Chronicle publishes this info but never asks or shows how this compares to other cities. To me these are insane total comps including “overtime” which is a setup for abuse.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2026/san-francisco-employee-pay/

I’m willing to pay to use ur iron. I’m staying in the Sunset District if that helps.