Everybody’s got an opinion about all of us horrible NIMBYs until their OWN quality of life is affected by unbridled growth. Has anyone here who lived on a quiet street gotten a letter from their city and Caltrans stating that the street in front of their house is going to be extended by 8-10 miles to accommodate 100K living units of additional traffic? If so, did your letter state that a freeway entrance would be built five houses down from you and that your sidewalk and part of your easement would be taken for an additional lane and your sidewalk moved further up on the easement (bordering your front yard)? Did it state that a double yellow line would be drawn down your (future 4-lane) street? This happened to hundreds of homeowners in Chula Vista, many who had purchased their home new between 1961 and 1964. Do any of you have deep enough pockets to fight City Hall and Caltrans? Come on, let’s hear it, folks. What if you went to 2.5 years worth of public hearings and were ultimately told to pack sand? If you listed your property for sale, you would then have to disclose to a prospective buyer (or their agent would) the upcoming plans for the street. How would that make you feel? Trapped, possibly??
As I previously stated, Poster child Chula Vista is but a microcosm of the far-reaching effects of the presence of the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act on CA’s books. I’m sure Stockton’s old-timers aren’t too thrilled about their post office waits increasing from 4 minutes to 45 minutes. Without the Act in place, the Golden State would still be golden. Alas, those days are long gone, never to return.
The City of SD did a fine job of separating 92122 (condo vs. SFR area) decades ago with a strip of dedicated open space and the RR tracks which were already there. They didn’t mix the two. The condo complexes constructed in the 70’s and early 80’s are tasteful and well-built with plenty of alley clearance, larger-than-std 2-car garages and mostly spacious units (avg 1650 sf), most with their own courtyards. I haven’t looked at any of the *newer* complexes there (north of Nobel and also east of Genessee, north of the tracks) so don’t know what the clearances are like on them.
You people all need to come down and take a tour of craptastic 91915 and see for yourself what I’m talking about. WTH, spend all day there and drive down every street (you might have to wait your turn, though). ’nuff said.
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Oh, and btw, Palo Alto and Aspen have some of the most diligent, deep-pocketed, nose-to-the-grindstone NIMBYs on the planet and they aren’t going anywhere! Hence we have the prohibitive housing cost in those places. Deal with it.
