Demolishing the California Dream: How SF Planned Its Own Housing Crisis
If you look deep enough into the history of any modestly large Amercian city (pop. 250,000 +) and it&#x27;s surrounding suburbs, you will see a metro area that was and still is being shaped by race.<p>It&#x27;s not a surprise that SF&#x27;s first zoning law was a veiled attempt at curbing Chinese immigrants, it&#x27;s not a surprise that when the highways were built in Portland, OR the mostly black neighborhoods in NE Portland were razed to make room for cars.<p>Here is a quote from a recent Cupertino City Council meeting where new apartments, with a % allocated to affordable house, were up for discussion:<p>“The idea of Cupertino is to have people living here that are educated with degrees. Bringing this in would bring a lot of probably lower income people, and that would definitely bring down our median average household income.”<p>American urban policy is filled with slight of hand comments and maneuvers just like this.<p>A poster has been down-voted to oblivion for pointing out the hypocrisy that the bluest states have the most un-affordable housing, but I do think there is a thread here which highlights the hypocrisy of those who virtue signal for equality but advocate for policies that secure their wealth and make it almost impossible for lower income folks to survive.