Condo Society

Let’s focus on one city. This’ll streamline the conversation. Let’s talk about the city that invented popsicles. Let’s talk about that shining orb of San Francisco respite.

Let’s talk about The City.

Oakland. Smokin’.

I sell real estate all over the East Bay Area, from Richmond to Berkeley to Pleasant Hill to Lafayette to Oakland to Alameda to San Leandro. Each of these cities has its charm, but hands-down the most important city I sell in is Oakland.

What makes Oakland important?

XXXXXXXX pop sstats and gentrification

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Okland’s civic engagemtn

OAkland pop growth projections

Okland recent position as political

OAkland’s walk score.

 

Oakland The Logical City.

 

 

 

Coastal California is in a particularly effective position to lead the way. People love living here. Nine years ago, I moved 3000 miles away from a loving and high-functioning family and I will probably never leave. I am not alone. This is our chosen home and we must be stewards of its future.

Here are a few reasons why Coastal California should switch to upzoned cities with high-density buildings:

High-density housing is a way for communities to scale with population growth. Bay Area cities are not engineered to house all our new residents. The results are rudely skyrocketing home prices, shrinking inventory, and buyers forced into buying stalemated properties that do not scale with the future.

High-density housing can appropriate abandoned space and create multiple affordable housing units where there was wasted space. When high-density housing is beautifully planned and integrated into urban cities of convenience, a much more affordable lifestyle emerges. More diversity is allowed to remain in the city and more citizens who love this particular city are able to stay. All incomes have to exist to have healthy cities. All incomes are part of the new wave.

High-density housing can teach young people to be stewards of their environments. The environmental superiority of the urban high-density building far outweighs the urban single-family house. Simple mechanics like heat running up the building and smaller footprints allow this superiority. Additionally, many responsible developers are figuring out how to do LEED-style housing developments that include 100% solar power, eliminate parking minimums, use efficient materials, gather rainwater, and have electric charging stations.

 

I love living in coastal California. I love having the beach within 10 minutes and Yosemite within 120 minutes. The Bay Area is an incredibly beautiful, magnetic place to live. We are also experiencing an unplanned population explosion that is ruining nearly everything enjoyable. What can we do? Thank All That is Holy and Sparkly that the beach and Yosemite are infinite.

This blog is my exploration of the urban planning that California could adopt to correct her course. This blog is also an advertisement of myself as a Realtor and real estate consultant.

So what can we do? We can upzone our cities. We can build. We can create housing where there is nothing. We can talk intersectionality. We can coalition build. We can see the housing opportunity as one of the fundamental human rights issues facing the Bay Area.

Urban and inner-city development laws must change. We must engineer these beautiful cities to create space for all people, and we must nurture and contain the human potential that exists now. We must build affordable housing. We must acknowledge that more people – different people – are coming to our neighborhoods. Instead of fearing them, let’s seize the opportunity to practice coalition building and intersectionality. Patience for change and new direction is never easy.

We are the new guard.

We make the rules.

Progress is a bitter pill, but we can engineer the sugar.

Coastal California, welcome to the future. Welcome to the Condo Society.