California has become a giant experiment in direct democracy, and we’ve reached new levels of absurdity this year with 25 propositions in San Francisco and 17 statewide. Following up from my primary endorsements post, here are my recommendations for the 2016 General Election, with an emphasis on housing and transportation issues. If you have questions, please reach out on Twitter.
Because this ballot is so large, and because of the slow-motion trainwreck happening on the national stage, you should expect very long lines at polling stations on election day. I highly recommend applying to vote by mail so you can…
An article on TechCrunch titled “Technology will change where we live” talks about how new technologies such as self driving cars, Hyperloop, and virtual reality could cause huge shifts in where and how people live. But is this a future that we really want, and do we have to wait around for new technologies to become ready before we can build better cities?
“The challenge is there’s only so much of San Francisco to go around.”
The article starts off with a fundamentally flawed (but not uncommon) suggestion that San Francisco is full. Sorry everyone, back onto BART! …
If you live in San Francisco, there’s a good chance you and your friends talk a lot about housing prices. Earlier this year, prices for a 1-bedroom apartment exceeded Manhattan for the first time, making San Francisco one of the most expensive cities in the country.
How did this happen?
Policies at the local, regional, and state levels have blocked sufficient new housing from being built. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people are rushing into the area, looking to take advantage of a booming tech economy. In 2015 alone, the region added over 64,000 new jobs while building only 5,000…
Eric Butler
Software developer in Brooklyn.
