In a recent 48 Hills post, housing activist Peter Cohen aimed a couple rounds of return fire at SPUR's Gabriel Metcalf. The post comes in response to Mr. Metcalf's own article critiquing progressive housing policy. Mr. Cohen bounces around a bit, but he does repeat some frequently used talking … [Read more...]
Jeff Fong
Jeff graduated from San Jose State University in 2011 where he studied Politics and Economics. He spent two years working in financial services before joining a startup focused on urban transportation. Since then he has become increasingly interested in urban economics as well as transportation policy and spends much of his free time reading, writing, and researching.
Market Fundamentalism in the Mission?
There’s a proposal to place a moratorium on all market rate construction in the Mission District, one of San Francisco’s most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. Needless to say the proposal has sparked a debate. And Dan Ancona’s Putting Market Fundamentalism On Hold is another rock hurled into that … [Read more...]
Seamless Transit: Thoughts on the new report from SPUR
Seamless Transit is the new transportation policy report from SPUR. Main author Ratna Amin proposes integrating the Bay Area’s balkanized transit systems to improve lackluster ridership. Given that the region has 23 separate transit providers--more than any other metropolitan area in the … [Read more...]
Why Money for Schools Means No Permits For Housing
Housing has a lot going against it in the California. But amidst all the legal, political, and regulatory roadblocks, there’s one law that sneaks by largely unnoticed: Prop 98.Prop 98 guarantees a minimum level of state spending on education each year. Sacramento pools most city, county, and … [Read more...]
The Right to the City
This post draws heavily from Tom W. Bell’s “Want to Own a City?” and would not have been possible without his prior writing and research The "Right to the City" is an old marxist slogan that’s as catchy as it is ill-defined. Neither the phrase's originator Henri Lefebvre, nor David Harvey, a more … [Read more...]
Filtering: Gentrification in Reverse
Co-authored with Anthony Ling, editor at Caos PlanejadoGentrification Gentrification is the process through which real estate becomes more valuable and, therefore, more expensive. Rising prices displace older residents in favor of transplants with higher incomes. This shouldn't be confused with … [Read more...]
How to Fix San Francisco’s Housing Market
Want to live in San Francisco? No problem, that’ll be $3,000 (a month)--but only if you act fast.In the last two years, the the cost of housing in San Francisco has increased 47% and shows no signs of stopping. Longtime residents find themselves priced out of town, the most vulnerable of whom … [Read more...]
BART, Josefowitz, and Mass Transit in the Bay
Last week, Nick Josefowitz unseated a multi-decade incumbent for a spot on the BART board of directors. Normally I don’t pay too much attention to elections, but Mr. Josefowitz might actually have some good ideas.For everyone outside the Bay Area, the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system is a … [Read more...]