C’est ça…

The problem is not, mind you, that the either tenants or property owners were “victorious” so much as the fact that the battle is so contentious and the stakes are so high. Of course there are battles like this in other urban areas as well, but it’s always somewhat amplified in SF because of two factors: (1) rent control, which tends to artificially inflate rents on vacant properties and to artificially deflate rents on occupied ones, and (2) the “activist factor” in SF which tends to amplify pretty much every issue.

There’s other baggage there for me as well, but this is a major part of why I was so anxious to get out of SF eight years ago and why it often seemed so exhausting to live there. No matter how hard you work, your standard of living–or the residential component thereof–will only ever improve so much. On a reasonably good salary by most California standards, I would not currently be able to afford market rent even the dingy hovel I used to occupy South of Market.San Francisco unfortunately works well neither for homeowners nor for renters in this regard.

Granted, there’s much less demand for living spaces here in the heart of the Piedmont Triad for a variety of reasons but it sure does make life a lot simpler sometimes.

(Nod to Andréa Lindsay et Luc De Larochellière.)

Thoughts before shutting down work, visiting Mom, and driving over to my weekend house in Winston-Salem:

• A neighborhood where $1600/sq ft is a housing bargain is probably not one where I want to live. That’s irrelevant, of course, because I couldn’t afford to live there even if I wanted to (link via Dan).
• I’ve loved this song (and its siblings, “I Know a Place” and “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”) since I was a wee tyke. As I grew older, they also represented an urbanity that somehow got lost during the late 1960s and 1970s but was something I really wished I had lived through. It’s interesting to read the back story and even more interesting that I chance upon the link via an urban issues site I frequent rather than via one about music. Obviously I wasn’t the only one who recognized Pet’s whole urban vibe thing.
• On suburban blight, an issue I’ve been intrigued by in recent years, especially since watching it firsthand in East Charlotte when I lived there briefly in 2005-2006. Atlanta has more than its share as well. The big issue, as the author points out, is that discarded suburban strips are less likely to attract the sort of homos, hipsters, and homesteaders that have rehabbed other types of down and out neighborhoods, just because the built environment is so much less flexible.

Next week is beyond hectic for me. Don’t expect much in the way of updates. Not that it matters that much, I guess (David said, kicking a tumbleweed out of his way…)

 

Random stuff for a Thursday afternoon:

• At least the city council gets it, even if Rob never will (as usual): I’d argue that very few–if any–urban areas have ever been substantially improved through the addition of a massive casino.
• Amazing what crack will do to a body, isn’t it?
• California moves boldly into 2002.
• Looks like Greensboro is getting a Smithfield’s just as I’m (sort of) relocating here. That’s happy news.
• The Quebecois Tom Waits lives, in case you were wondering.

Highlights from last week’s trip to Washington:

• Making a presentation on the same stage as some major international heavy hitters and in the same building as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
• Dinner with Juan Felipe at Busboys and Poets.
• The National Building Museum and its orgasmically amazing bookstore.
• Great Lebanese place in Alexandria.
• The aforementioned shower head. I usually have a hard time believing a high-end hotel is really three times better than the Red Roof Inn, but I was almost convinced this time. It helped that I wasn’t paying for it, though.

And some stuff for a warm spring evening:

• Good piece on modernism in Canada. I really love that modernism was a bigger deal in Canada than in the US.
• in honor of the late Margaret Thatcher.

More random stuff for a Thursday afternoon:

• My new snack obsession. I find myself shopping a lot at Trader Joe’s now that there’s one in my neighborhood, even for things like produce and meat. It’s amazing how much more pleasant shopping at TJ’s is when you don’t have to do it at one in San Francisco.
• Hear hear to the assertion that contrary to popular belief, LA is “one of the most urban cities in the world” and also to the recognition that LA is in fact a very densely populated place.
• Speaking of LA…
• Despite the fact that I’ve just never gotten that whole “bear” thing (the gay one), one thing I very much believe is that the whole scene was largely inspired by this show. Anyhow, I may have to own the DVDs now that they’re available.
• Did I mention that this was really cool?

At some point soon, I’ll expand on my exciting weekend in Tennessee, summer vacation plans, and more. But that time is not today.