SM and SC counties (north of SJ) are a shining example of good planning, IMO. Being surrounded on two lengthy sides by water no doubt helped, lol. There was no way for its local politicians to become “greedy” over bond money and developer fees when the vast bulk of it was developed and its open space set aside PRIOR to the passing of the Mello-Roos Community Facilities District Act, that is, except for “Foster City,” which was dredged out of the bay (similar to SD’s Harbor and Shelter Islands) and later massively developed.
This short-sighted greed by CA local politicians over bond $$ for infrastructure, developer fees and additional property tax money over the last three decades (but mostly in the last decade) has wrought untold financial havoc on cities and counties throughout the state. The public officials voting for all this new development could only think at the time of having the money for “growing” their respective governments. They obviously didn’t realize at the time that if they grew their governments (to take care of a bigger population) that if the time came where they had to do layoffs, there would be a HUGE impact on services to the “entire” population (both newcomers AND the longtime residents) :=[
Obviously, all these local “politicos” could think of when they were voting was $$$ to increase their “power” and standing on the map.
This unchecked greed is the sole cause of the formation of CA ghost towns, now and into the future, IMHO.
