[ale] OT:Silicon Valley Home Prices Drive Mayor to Hills

[Matt Kern]

Funny, I just moved from the Valley to Atlanta nine days ago, and I'll never
look back...trust me, you'd have to do much more than double your salary.
It just isn't worth a million bucks to live in a 3 BDRM 1.5 BATH house built
in 1975 and not maintained.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Fulton Green [mailto:me at FultonGreen.com]
To: ale at ale.org
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 3:07 PM
To: Rod Young
Cc: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] OT:Silicon Valley Home Prices Drive Mayor to Hills


Thanks for the note. I had posted a query about the cost of living in S.V.
as
compared to Atlanta, and the consensus was unless I could double my salary,
it wouldn't be worth it to move out there. And according to the recruiter I
talked to earlier this week, the extra $$$ aren't gonna happen unless I can
convince someone to hire me as a VP. Oh well. Time to look into the
telecommuting option, I guess ...

On Wed, Nov 15, 2000 at 02:37:05PM -0500, Rod Young wrote:
> A note from student of the Tao:
> 
>    I bet prop 13 factors into this.
> 
> ============================================================
> 
>  From Wired News, available online at:
> http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,40172,00.html
> 
> Home Prices Drive Mayor to Hills  
> by Katie Dean  
> 
> 2:00 a.m. Nov. 15, 2000 PST 
> A self-proclaimed 28-year-old "washed-up" mayor -- chased out by high
> costs in his Silicon Valley suburb -- hopes to find professional,
> personal, and political gold in the El Dorado Hills near California's
> state capital. 
> 
> Yep, buying a house in one Silicon Valley city is so expensive that
> even the mayor can't afford to live there.    
> 
> David Buckmaster will continue his day job at InsWeb, an online
> insurance company. The company is opening a new office near
> Sacramento, and offered to pay relocation fees and help with a down
> payment on a house for David and his wife, Kim, a first-grade teacher.
> 
> 
> Deciding to leave the Peninsula -- the area between San Francisco and
> San Jose that is home to a number of wealthy technology companies --
> where he grew up was difficult, but ultimately made the most sense for
> the couple, who plan to have a family. 
> 
> "We came to the conclusion that we could never afford to live (in San
> Carlos)," he said. "We don't want to raise our kids in an apartment. 
> 
> "I wanted to make people aware of how tough it is out there," he said,
> explaining why he chose to publicize the decision. "I think (housing
> costs) affect our economic vitality here. It's an Achilles' heel." 
> 
> Other San Carlos city council members sympathize with the mayor. 
> 
> "I can well appreciate his dilemma," said Don Eaton, who sits on the
> council. "I remember 25-plus years ago when housing prices were just
> starting to go crazy, and wages were a whole lot lower than they are
> today, and the gap just kept widening and widening. I think David is
> actually doing the smart, long-term thing, personally. 
> 
> "We will miss his talents and ideas," he added. "He's brought good
> perspectives to issues." 
> 
> "It's truly unfortunate that we are going to lose a bright and
> talented professional and political leader in the Bay Area," said
> Michelle Montague-Bruno, the director of communications for the
> Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, an organization of the Valley's
> technology companies that works with government to address problems of
> housing, education and transportation, among others. 
> 
> "However, he and his family are dealing with a reality that Silicon
> Valley families deal with every day," she said.  
> SVMG has actively addressed the problem of skyrocketing housing costs
> by supporting the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, which runs a
> first-time home-buyers program. 
> 
> Technology companies like Intel and Hewlett Packard have donated money
> to the housing trust to establish grant or loan programs to assist
> teachers who want to buy a house. 
> 
> There are no housing assistance programs for mayors, apparently. And
> Buckmaster and his wife believe there is so much demand for the
> assistance, the chance that they'd receive aid is slim, anyway. 
> 
> Though the mayor previously thought of Sacramento as "a town we always
> drive through -- fast -- on the way back from Lake Tahoe," he and his
> wife have found a $300,000 house in El Dorado Hills that they plan to
> buy. In San Carlos, a comparable house would cost over $1 million,
> Buckmaster said. 
> 
> El Dorado Hills is in the process of incorporating, and Buckmaster
> said that "if they need a 28-year-old washed-up mayor, I'm ready to
> help out. 
> 
> "I could see myself running again." 
> 
> Buckmaster has served on the San Carlos City Council since he was 23.
> Last year, he was appointed by his fellow council members to serve as
> mayor. 
> 
> To build more affordable housing, Buckmaster believes that state
> government must modify the tax structure. 
> 
> Currently, San Carlos gets little revenue from property taxes, but
> generates a lot of funding from sales tax. Thus, when the city must
> chose between building new houses or apartments versus building a new
> Home Depot or Best Buy, the city chooses the business because it
> benefits the city financially.  
> 
> Related Wired Links:  
> 
> Asia's Next Tech Hub: Singapore  
> Oct. 28, 2000 
> 
> Austin Suffers Growing Pains  
> Oct. 13, 2000 
> 
> 'Dot-Commers Go Home!'  
> Aug. 26, 2000 
> 
> Building a Jetsons-like Community  
> Aug. 26, 2000 
> 
> Tech Boom a Bust for Teachers  
> Aug. 1, 2000 
> 
> Maine Lines Up to Be Tech Mecca  
> Jun. 24, 2000 
> 
> Copyright  1994-2000 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved. 
> 
> 

--
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message
body.

--
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message body.