San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

Look no further than the GSA!!!!

http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/G...

http://www.newson6.com/story/19066698/gs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vofWkCJvbDo

In our first segment lets start with the Crown Jewel of Fire Stations in RSF. I was dropping my daughter off at Helen Woodward for Critter Camp and finally had a chance to snap a quick picture. Adorned with imported hand hewn stone from the finest quaries in Italy this Tuscan masterpiece features multiple balconies for the residents viewing pleasure.

Crown Jewel of RSF

Why don't you try to get an appt in there for a "coffee klatch" with its inhabitants (Folgers and powdered creamer, that is, if you can stand it). You could ask to bring your daughter in there to meet the resident Dalmatian :-]

While you're there, you can sit out on a balcony and ask the "residents" about their "cushy lives" living in the "Crown Jewel." You could learn all about their daily duties associated with living in the "Crown Jewel" since you probably think they all sit around watching their ipads waiting for a call.

Before you leave, don't forget to ask each one how many hours they get to "live there" before going home and thank them for their service.

You never know. You might desperately need their services some day :=0

sdr,

You can take your complaints to the PRIVATE developer and HOA that mandate that type of architecture. It's the architectural style that draws most of the people who **choose** to live there and pay for it.

You can also take your complaints to the PRIVATE developers/contractors who profitted from this building. Not a single firefighter/"union thug" got any of the money spent on this building.

"Jim Ashcraft, president of the fire district’s board of directors, estimated that with all contingencies included, the total cost of the new station will be about $4.7 million.
Michel and Ashcraft said 75 percent of the money for the station will come from fees charged to developers for projects within the district, while the remaining 25 percent will come from the district’s general fund, generated primarily from property tax revenue."

http://www.ranchosantafereview.com/2011/...

........................

Stop trying to malign the hard-working, decent people who work in public service. Your bitter little song and dance is getting old. If you made poor career (or other) choices in life, that is nobody's fault but your own.

This is excess any way you put it. I did not call out the workers I am calling out the system. I'm thrilled with my career choices and take full responsibility for myself. Remember that I am self employed and wake up each year with nothing. I'm fine with that and don't suck off some arcane system. And don't give me the argument that RE is supported by tax dollars and government manipulation either. No one from the government writes me a check ever. There is a playing field out there and it is completely up to me to make it happen each and every time I get paid.

Across the street from this building is the Helen Woodward center consisting mostly of trailers. Somehow they are allowed to be there in a less than Tuscan inspired villa. The Horizon school next to that is very modest as is the public school just to the South. The only thing that looks anything like this within miles are homes paid for by individual citizens. There are also many old barns in the area about to fall over.

Its not getting old to anyone but the two anvil sisters around here. The system is broken and not sustainable. The corruption and waste in the private sector is unfathomable. You have your pet peeves and have no problem airing them. Others do around here also. We have just as much right to complain about injustice in this country as you and we wont stop either. This is America.

More to come

Is this an example of excessive government spending on buildings? $78,000 per room to renovate a building that is only 23 years old.

From http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?s...

"$8.8 million ... to renovate a bachelor enlisted quarters (BEQ) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.

"BEQ 41371 is a three-story motel style barracks that was constructed in 1989," said Dan Tokatlian, NAVFAC Southwest project manager for the renovation. "It has 132 rooms and houses 396 Marines. The building does not meet many current codes, and it is not energy efficient."

The project will include the installation of a roof mounted 50kW photovoltaic system. An unexercised option and one planned modification in the task order could lead to a total award of $10.37 million. The planned modification will include furniture, fixtures, and equipment."

For anyone who wants details, see http://www.adgcinc.com/MACC0019/RFP.pdf

Building 41404

Loo. There is so nuch more low hanging fruit

Fullerton teacher forging the winner of the student government vote

Cudahy officials doing anpleandeal on corruption

State park service hiding tens ofnmillions wwhile cloosing parks and begging for donations

Browns tax first on th ballot gambit

Most of the workers are just workers in a very very broken unaccountable organization

Exactly and they take questions on the system as personal attacks. They bring up how tough the job is and its only the best of the best who can handle these jobs. When asked they say they took the jobs because of benefits and forgo higher pay (questionable IMO). Its not out of a sense of duty to the community its out of their own self interests. Do I blame them? Of course not. They are doing what anyone do which is take advantage of the system for their own benefit. The system is a mess.

Welcome to Prevailing Wage and the US public works system! Why pay $1 for something when you can pay $3 and get mediocre quality?

This is why the Administration's "Jobs Bill" is nothing other than a pork-laden payoff to Big Labor, the unions and those contributors who gorge at the public works trough.

Again, PRIVATE contractors, not public workers/unions.

I guarantee you, they could get it done more cheaply if they used govt workers.

If you want to address fraud and abuse, you'll find the majority of it comes from deals where public money and PRIVATE companies/interests intersect. It dwarfs any fraud/abuse done on the part of public workers.

Hell yes, you and your ilk are the #1 beneficiary of the government's largess over the past 5+ years. Do you have any idea how much government money is spent on housing and finance? What do you think your income would look like without all the lobbying done by the NAR and related interests? What if there was an open market where anyone who wanted to assist buyers/sellers could do so without any of the restrictions lobbied for by the NAR? What would your income (a percentage of price!) look like if not for the government-backed loans which make up almost the entire mortgage market?

Again, if you have a problem with the fire station, go talk to the developer and HOA. Ask them all about it, and make yourself more informed before you go spouting off.

Need to add that your group of lying thieves is most responsible for the financial crisis that has decimated so many govt entities. If you actually do some research instead of spewing your uninformed rhetoric, you'll find that the #1 reason that govt finances are in such trouble is because of the significantly reduced revenues, not pensions.

Governments are often forced to spend what they take in (if you need me to explain that to you, just let me know), so their expenditures went up with the bubbles. If not for the bubbles, they would have been forced to keep their spending down, and they wouldn't be in the shape they're in today. Realtors were 100% behind the bubble and were telling everyone to pay more than they should and that they should stretch to bid more than the next potential buyer. The NAR was very actively denying that there was a bubble, while pushing for even more "financial innovation" so that more idiots could pay more for housing than they could ever afford.
........

"Lereah has been criticized for encouraging the rise of the United States housing bubble. According to a blog quoted by the Chicago Tribune, "In October 2005 Lereah was busy calling the bubble believers 'Chicken Littles.' Many of the predictions espoused by the 'Chicken Littles' are fast becoming closer to reality. ... David Lereah has lost credibility because of his irresponsible cheerleading."[8]

"The steady improvement in [home] sales will support price appreciation...[despite] all the wild projections by academics, Wall Street analysts, and others in the media." David was Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors when he said this. The day was Jan 10, 2007, just as housing prices steadily worsened falling even farther than many skeptics had predicted."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lereah

I love it. Now they are MY thieves. I'm the first to admit all the problems with Wall Street and NAR. Im not defending them. I'd be happy to see it all cleaned up and would be perfectly fine. I have other skills and could do lots of things with my life. I'm not a one trick pony sucking off the taxpayer dollar.

Exactly what HOA and developer are you talking about. I didnt see any mentioned in the article. What I saw was a govt entity (the fire district) using developer fees to finance their largesse. You covered the problem with govt finances perfectly. The problem is declining reduces. You just left out why it is such a proble which is the inability to reel in expenses adequately in the face of declining revenues. Thats the problem not pensions which are one of many symptons of the problem. So are palacial fire stations out of character with the area. You said the RSF was necessary to keep up with the architural style in the area. I was back through today and took more pictures. We will all see what buildings look like around there and why it is truly a Crown Jewel.

CAR: But those private companies are required to work within FAR/CFR guidelines, which include mandatory compliance with federal wage and labor laws which dictate the use of Prevailing Wages. I doubt that government workers could do it cheaper (because they'd be required to use Prevailing Wage standards as well).

If you wanted to truly get the best bang for your buck, you'd make it true low bidder and the (present) market would drive down costs considerably.

On certain federal projects, such as NRC/DOE you are actually required to use union labor, which really spikes costs. I've done security projects at NGS (nuke generating stations) where 100% compliance with union labor is the norm and the labor costs (compared to other Military/Federal projects using Prevailing Wage) were obscene. Cost overruns, work stoppages and incessant Change Orders were the norm. It wasn't uncommon to pay 3x to 4x what the job should've cost and all because of the union labor angle.

Allan,

If the government uses its own employees, they don't have to worry about profit margins, and have greater control over material quality and costs (no cost+ on materials, either). I will also admit, though, that too few govt managers/supervisors are especially good at cost control, but this is usually at the top, not where union workers are involved.

What would happen if they accepted the lowest bid, and the contractor showed up with fresh (illegal?) immigrants with no experience, etc. and used sub-standard materials? How much would it cost to remedy problems that would not be as likely happen with union workers who are paid a living wage? As you know, with union workers, you know that you're getting trained, experienced workers who can more easily be held accountable for the work they do.

Not saying there aren't issues with unions and all the red tape, just saying that using the cheapest labor and materials won't necessarily translate into savings over the long run.

It's so obvious, you're right. It's really for our best that we pay some of our small university presidents $300-$400K, and $60,000 a year for a housing allowance and $12,000 a year for a car allowance.

It's really for our best that they do this on Wednesday and then on Thursday tell us that we will have a 5% increase in tuition IF we pass the tax hike propositions or a 20% if we don't.

So the argument we often hear why these public sector palaces are so....well...palacial is that they need to match the community character and design standards. So lets play the old Sesame Street game of "One of these things is not like the others"

Helen Woodward directly across from fire station

Helen Woodward

Ordinary but somewhat aging shopping center next to that

shopping

School next door to fire station

school

Barn just up the road

Barn

Fire Station

Crown Jewel of RSF

I"m not sure where you are coming from?

Do you think Public buildings should be Quonset huts?

I have no problem with Public INfrastructure being built on a "Monumental" basis and with long design lifes come real value in elegant design.

[img] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co... [/img]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hjAmotKGZwA/T4...

(One is the old library, one is the new library)

the same goes for schools, Fire stations, Police stations,,,

If i am going to have to look at something for a very long time it may as well be a very nice thing to look at.

Which do you prefer to look at the Golden Gate Bridge or

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/21492887

that.

The Golden Gate is beautiful because of its sheer size and what it spans. You can find similar suspension bridges all over the east coast.

Architecturally signifcant public buildings in major metropolitan centers are a different matter. Building palacial fire stations in every cash strapped city across SoCal is irresponsible. Not to mention the RSF Building is garish and gaudy not elegant. Its the architural equivalent to many of the tract mcmansions.

Public buildings should be utilitarian not monuments to excess. They should also match their settings not go far and above. For example, most people have a big misconception about RSF because of the wealth there which is along the lines of Beverly Hills. The real charm of RSF is its understated country atmosphere. Yes there are some real palaces there built as monuments to individual egos but most RSF architecture is relatively simple and timeless.

CAR: Except low bidder does not = illegal labor and sub-standard materials and for one reason: Existing building codes like IBC 2012 (Int'l Building Code).

Most of the conventional costs are carried in Labor and Material. When you use union crews, the costs skew heavily in the Labor direction. You can deliver excellent build quality (from the Material side) without breaking the bank to do so, but Labor costs can swing widely and all it depends what costing standard (e.g. Prevailing Wage, union, Merit/Open Shop (non-union), etc) that you're using.

I'm not banging away on unions here, this is just from past (and present) experience. The rough rule-of-thumb that we use in Metro markets (like NYC, Chicago, SF) is 2x Materials and 3x+ Labor (and this number goes even higher in Metro NYC, which is a friggin' nightmare) when compared to a "standard" Commercial project.

del

Do governments even have workers to build buildings? Isn't it contracted out with maybe government supervisons on the job?

On the Military/Federal projects I work on, the owner (US Army Corps, Naval Facilities, etc) has a project team that runs the gamut from contracts officers (who manage the contract with the winning contract team, including architects, engineers and general contractor), through project engineers (who oversee that the project is being built according to the approved plans/specs and ensure quality control) to a project manager who provides oversight throughout and then signs off on the final construction and "gets the keys" (and thus releases the project team).

I'm not aware (on the Mil/Fed side) of any government construction teams; it's all done by private contractors who bid/bond/prosecute the work.

Now you've done it, a new agency.

--- U.S. Department of Construction. "No worker left behind.." is the motto. "To correctly and fairly spend stimulus dollars" is the credo.

Hobie: Actually, I think the proposed National Infrastructure Bank (an altogether new layer of bureacracy) would solve that problem handily.

Since we cannot do anything without Big Gubment, we should source the construction component to them as well. In this way, we could guarantee that everything would go exactly according to plan, there would be no cost overruns, corruption or shoddy workmanship and a la the Soviet Union of the 1930s, we'd be guaranteed new roads, bridges, etc that we could use to better our collectivist existence.

We could bring back the concept of the New Soviet Man:http://vimeo.com/24389859

Behold the Power of the State!

The Rancho Santa Fe Protective Covenant was assembled in 1928, to help preserve and maintain the character of the community and unique land features, as well as establish architectural guidelines to restrict the type of homes and amenities to be built in the area...

The Covenant CC&R's have been amended many times since then.

http://activerain.com/blogsview/2291910/...

I've left Photos #1 and #4 up because of the age of the buildings. The barn is likely 60-80 yrs old. The Helen Woodward Animal Shelter was built in stages between 1972 and 1983.

http://www.animalcenter.org/about_hwac/h...

I do not have a copy of the Covenant's CC&R's (flyer, can you assist us here?) but the buildings depicted above likely predate the RSF "Architectural Committee" or "Art Jury" amendment(s) by decades.

For the sake of illustration, let us compare a South County uninc area ("Sunnyside" 91902) small spec-built infill tract of about 14 "luxury" homes. "Ames Ranch" was completed in 2004 (all but 2 lots) with CC&R's encumbering. It encompassed only one cul-de-sac, created by the developer. Next to this tract was a dog kennel on 2-3 AC which had been in operation since the early 60's. It boarded dogs which barked night and day which bothered the new neighbors in the new tract, esp those whose backyards backed into the kennel property. These new owners filed many complaints with the Assn and the county, which went nowhere. The dog kennel had all the necessary permits to operate and was situated in a semi-rural area at least 100 feet from the neighbor on the west and 500 feet from the easterly neighbor ... that is, until new owners began moving into Ames Ranch.

Another slightly-newer 9-home spec development situated about 3 mi northwest of Ames Ranch in the South County uninc area of "Bonita Mesa" (91902) is "Vista Pointe," an infill development of large luxury homes. It had the same fact pattern as Ames Ranch except I don't believe VP has an HOA. On the southwest corner of this developer-built cul-de-sac, there existed a family-owned chicken ranch on an approx 1 AC parcel which had been in existence for at least 55 years. The *new* VP neighbors complained to the county about the odor of the chicken ranch to no avail.

In the mid-late '80's, an "upscale" (for the era) medium-sized tract with dramatic facades (for the era) went up just west of the master-planned community of "Cottonwood" <100 yards south/southeast of an existing commercial egg ranch. Here is a recently closed listing on one of the sts which were most affected by the sulfur odor.

http://www.sdlookup.com/MLS-110065824-11...

The new owners complained vociferously of the strong sulfur odors after moving in and the Assn/County could do nothing. I do not know if the egg ranch is still in operation today.

In my third example, the egg ranch was a "stone's throw" to three sts in the tract, but was actually situated on a long private gravel drive not reachable directly from that tract. One would have to drive all the way around an adjacent county park and circle around to the north and back south again to reach the egg ranch (3.5+ mi). Nevertheless, the odors were there intermittently when viewing the builder models and should have been noticed by potential buyers. In all of these cases, the new owners had the oppt'y to notice and should have noticed what was on the adjacent properties PRIOR to going under contract in a new development.

Compare the above scenarios to a new owner moving in under the jet-rising path in 92106 and then complaining to the City about the noise! I'm sure there are many other areas of the county which have infill and tract development adjacent to these pre-existing issues.

Here, there was nothing the RSF Assn could do about the animal shelter or old barn. The other properties in photos #2 and #3 look as if they could be newer and thus went thru some sort of "vetting" by the RSF Assn. Remember that the "amendments" to the CC&R's were a "work in progress" all during this time.

A civil action was filed in 1996 by a new RSF homeowner who sought a judicial determination of the validity and enforceability of certain unrecorded (RSF Assn) guidelines. Later the Assn filed a writ of injunctive and declaratory relief against her (to have her seek the proper permits or tear down her newly-erected wrought-iron fence). The case is interesting but has a bit of convoluted fact pattern. The Assn ended up prevailing eight years later. In part, the 4th DCA found that the challenged (by Dolan-King) RSF Regulatory Code provisions were valid concerning the definition of the terms "major" and "minor" construction.

See https://www.davis-stirling.com/CaseLaw/R...

Between 1-22-04 (when RSF v Dolan-King was finally published) and July 2006, there were five legislative changes that directly impact CA Architectural Review Committees within HOA's. Those changes are:

1) Effective July 1, 2006, architectural committees are required to keep meeting minutes. (Civil Code section 1365.2(a)(1)(H).) These minutes must be made available to members, upon request. (Civil Code section 1365.2(b)(1).) The association may withhold or redact information because of privacy, privilege under law, or if the information may lead to fraud in connection with the association. (Civil Code section 1365.2(d).)

2) Architectural committee decisions must be in writing. (Civil Code section 1378(4).)

3) If the proposed change is disapproved, the notice of the decision sent to the homeowner must include an explanation of why the proposed change was not approved and provide a description of the procedure for reconsideration of the decision by the board. (Civil Code section 1378(a)(4).)

4) If an application is denied, associations are required to have a procedure in place to allow homeowners to appeal the architectural committee’s decision to the board. (Civil Code section 1378(a)(4).)

5) Associations are required to annually mail a notice to all homeowners describing the association’s application process. The notice must describe the common changes that require association approval and include a copy of the procedure used to review and approve or deny a proposed change. (Civil Code section 1378(c).)

The above "landmark" published version of this opinion can be cited as Rancho Santa Fe Association v. Patricia Dolan-King (2004) 115 Cal.App.4th 28 and has been affirmatively cited throughout CA courts many times since then.

The likely reason for the RSF Fire District's heavy compliance with the Board's Architectural Committee or "Art Jury" is due to the fact that, if sued by the Assn to be "out of compliance" after they had already built part or all of the fire stn, they would very likely lose. The District was looking out for its own self-interests (and those of their taxpayers) when they brought all their plans for the new station to the Committee first. It's really as simple as that and had NOTHING to do with those who work in the building, "public sector porn," or the "system."

Not sure how much actual construction work they do these days (as opposed to private contractors), but what about the...

Navy Seebees:

"Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee[1] is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, (CB) of the United States Navy. The Seabees have a history of building bases, bulldozing and paving thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips, and accomplishing a myriad of other construction projects in a wide variety of military theaters dating back to World War II."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee_%28U...

--------------------

Army Corp of Engineers:

"From the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps to contribute to both military construction and works of a civil nature. Assigned the military construction mission on 1 December 1941 after the Quartermaster Department struggled with the expanding mission,[17] the Corps built facilities at home and abroad to support the U.S. Army and Air Force. During World War II the mission grew to more than 27,000 military and industrial projects in a $15.3 billion mobilization program. Included were aircraft, tank assembly, and ammunition plants, camps for 5.3 million soldiers, depots, ports, and hospitals, as well as the Manhattan Project, and the Pentagon."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Stat...

-------------------

And there's this (not just construction related, but it is related to fraud, waste, and abuse whenever public money and private interests intersect):

"September 12, 2011 — The recent report by the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting, which examined contracting abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan, understandably focused on the loss of up to $60 billion to waste and fraud out of the $206 billion given for contracts and grants.

"It is a new era in which contractor waste can threaten mission failure after eight years of war. But the reality is that America's reliance on private contractors is not likely to fade. The Pentagon and others have made major advances in recent years, but the path to reform remains long. It is time to get on with it."

http://www.cnas.org/node/6958

For once I have to agree with with CAR sdr. The same is true for cell sites. The amount of money that wireless carriers spend on a cell site is directly proportional to the amount of asthetic quality that the local zoning board dictates. Wasteful? Absolutely but this is the rules we have to play by. If every network in this nation was built to the same zoning standards that San Diego demands customers would have to pay double what they are currently paying for services.

The point is that local zoning boards are responsible for this and not the public unions.

And CAR as anti-union as sdr is... You are just as guilty in rallying around the counterpoint.

In fact sdr is the ying... To your yang.

CE

CAR, quit backpedaling and just admit you have no idea how government construction projects work.

There are effectively zero construction workers employed by the government. The government doesn't build anything directly. They do some design, but mainly manage and administer private contractors. It's not a perfect system, but it's a model that works pretty well, and it's way more efficient than having a "U.S. Department of Construction" or a state equivalent. When you see workers and construction vehicles building a freeway, the majority are not government employees. The few CalTrans vehicles you do see belong to project managers, design engineers, inspectors, etc.

But more government involvement in construction is always better:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...

(But at least they didn't hire any "illegals" to do the work!)

I was a US Army Engineer. We did some light construction directly, mostly temporary stuff and only stuff with a military purpose. Although we (and the SeaBees) were damn good at what we did, you wouldn't want us to build your freeways, dams, or office buildings. Nobody in the government is trained or equipped to do construction on that scale.

The Corps of Engineers, although under the DoD, is effectively a civilian organization that manages large construction projects. They don't actually own the bulldozers and don't drive the trucks. (And they don't carry C4 in their rucksacks.)