[UCGal]

City of San Diego limits companion units to 700sf. And there are limits based on lot size, parking, where on the lot it would be placed, etc.

You are right – it doesn’t pencil out from a strictly financial point of view – higher equity. But from a FAMILY point of view it can be a great solution. We were able to offer my inlaws over 5 years of independent living they would NOT have had if we didn’t build it. The nursing home costs would have been higher. And they had a better quality of life.

And – don’t discount the income it can generate when it’s no longer used by family. We’re getting a very nice rental income now. It was a factor that played into my ability to retire early.

If you look at it from strictly real estate financial perspectives – we have a long payback. But if you factor in nursing home costs for family members…. maybe not so much. And if you factor in the fact that we were able to do the right thing by my in-laws – that is worth a HUGE amount to me. For others, it might not have value.

[UCGal]

As AN pointed out – UTC is part of 92122 and part of university city. The community group is in common, they share the same planning groups, etc. I remember when Genesee was first connected northbound. (Heck I remember when it was connected south to Clairemont.) I remember when the first condos went in, about 1969 – then called Genesee Highlands. (Kids in those townhouses went to Curie Elementary, my elementary school.) So yeah – I’ve seen the growth in my hood. I’ve also seen a few developments go in during the late 70’s and early 80’s in south UC. Some very close to my house. I’m currently watching the old “leisure life” low rise senior living area get torn down and much denser senior housing going in here in south UC. This impacts my daily traffic – but I don’t complain about it… they’ll make good neighbors.

What made you arbitrarily pick 1986? Just curious.

[quote=bearishgurl]
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.
[/quote]

LOL – now the Rose Canyon green space folks and the Regents Rd proponents are a good example of a NIMBY topic.

The city plan has ALWAYS had Regents Rd being connected from North UC (UTC) and south UC. But NIMBY folks objected. They claim the green space – but that green space is already impacted by Amtrak/Coaster tracks, Genessee, etc. In the meantime south UC is underserved for emergency response from the fire station in north UC. My family is an example of this divide – my sister is against the bridge, I’m for it. Money was put in escrow by the developers to build the bridge. That money is/was still there. When Scott Peters was on the city council they did extended hearings and the council voted to move forward with the bridge. Then he was term limited out and Lightner was elected – she’s been spending that escrowed money on EVERYTHING but the bridge – hoping to wipe out the funds set aside 50 years ago.

FWIW – San Diego county has a bigger population now. Life marches on. A factor in my decision to retire is the fact that the north 805 construction, and the huge amount of traffic out of Sorrento Valley sometimes made my 6.5 mile commute take over an hour. That project won’t be done till 2017. I didn’t blame the workers, or the folks commuting. I just stopped commuting myself.

What do you propose to stop growth you don’t like? Build a wall and don’t let anyone else move in? Lets get real… that’s not going to happen.

I’m just wondering who decides when growth is ok, and when it isn’t. You don’t like the fact that Chula Vista east was developed. You regularly disparage 4S as lizard land. Is there *any* area you think is ok to develop? Or do you want everyone to be sterilized, and all migration to CA to be banned. You weren’t born here – so is it a case of “you’re here, now lock the gates”. I was born here, but don’t have as much animosity towards people making the choice to move here as you do.

[UCGal]

I have to agree with Rich on this. It was pretty clear they were laughing at the idea of the shark scaring the swimmers and did not know a swimmer had been bit till a while later – when the laughing abruptly ended.

Were they assholes? Absolutely. But not as callous as you make them out to be.

And what are you basing the native California thing on? Are you implying native American? Or are you implying someone born in California? And where is it implied, suggested, or anything, and why would it matter.

I totally agree the fishers are jerks. But you imply a lot of stuff that isn’t there.

[UCGal]

[quote=UCGal]We did it. For me – my family risk of cancer made me want to know. My husbands family leans torwards heart disease and stroke… As well as some family history of dementia. If we had the increased risks we wanted to know to address bucket list things sooner than later. For the most part we got good news… No increased risks.

For the biggies, you have to go through several locks to make sure you really wanted to know. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, colon cancer, breast cancer.

As far as the family and genetic stuff… My husband has connected with several 3rd cousins in the old country…. (He chose to respond to the anonomyzed inquiries… And was able to trace back the common ancestor.). That’s been cool and we’ll probably meet them when we next go across the pond. Less luck on my side.

It was worth the $99 to us.[/quote]

Since this thread started we discovered something else from the 23andMe data that was impactful for our family. We found that we all (husband, me, kids) have variations of the MTHFR mutation. One son has a homozygous mutation of the C677T marker – which means his body produces a less effective version of the enzyme that breaks down folate. The rest of us have the heterozygous mutation – so we partially break down folate, but less effectively than folks with natural form of the gene. Folate needs to be broken down to cross the blood/brain barrier and is used to regulate neurotransmitters (seratonin, dopamine, melatonin, etc.). We now take OTC vitamins in the methylized form of the b vitamins.

Huge big deal to find an obscure but impactful problem.

[UCGal]

The through street (Merrimac and Appleton) are more a factor in resale than in rental prices, IMO. Appleton has the most traffic between Genessee and Cole – but the next block west (between Cole, and where it turns into Merrimac) is also pretty busy because of the school. I drive those streets regularly because I have to go to the PO across from McDonalds – and that’s my “shortcut”.

I agree with livinincali about the rent estimates.

[UCGal]

NIMBYism on steroids.

You state that Chula Vista residents didn’t want newcomers, new development. But there has been new housing built everywhere in the county, traffic has been impacted everywhere in the county.

Back on the topic of silicon valley prices… Friends moved up there last year when he left Qcom for Goog. They sold their paid off Carmel Valley 4Ksf home for well over $1M. They are renting a 1600sf beater house in Palo Alto for almost $4k/month. They are having no luck finding a house for $2.5M or less in Palo Alto.

The increased google salary was not enough to compensate for the HUGE increase in housing costs.

[UCGal]

[quote=spdrun]*shudder*

The few times I’ve been to downtown Chicago, I’ve found it to be bleak and depressing. Careful what you wish for!

I found San Francisco to be much prettier and more uplifting to walk around.[/quote]

Chicago is definitely becoming a “hip” mecca for high tech.

When Google bought Motorola one of the first things they did was lease the top several floors of the Merchant Mart building in downtown Chicago. They wanted to google-ize stodgey suburban Motorola. At the time my cynical self said it was a way to do a backdoor layoff without severance… move 42 miles from Libertyville to the loop, which is less than 50 miles, so no relo packages required. Plus the older suburbanites wouldn’t want to leave their suburbs and deal with the urban work environment. But they successfully kept a huge percentage of the workforce from Libertyville (those they hadn’t downsized in RIFs).

But then again, right after they opened the Merchant Mart corporate headquarters Mot-Goog was sold to Lenovo.

Even still – downtown Chicago is hipper than it used to be.

[UCGal]

I’m still trying to figure out why blocking the buses is going to be productive in deporting these undocumented children.

Obviously, for humanitarian reasons, you need to make sure there is an adult to RECEIVE the deported child on the other end – so it is not as easy as driving a mile into Mexico with a bus and dropping these unescorted kids off.

My understanding is that many of the illegal immigrants are from Guatamala – so they are arranging to deport them back to their home country, and arranging with agencies down there, to receive the minors that came across without parents.

In order to deport them, they have to go through the process, set by law, to have hearings (to confirm they are, in fact, here illegally and do not qualify for asylum.) Once the hearing determines they should be deported, they will be returned to their home country.

Blocking the buses just slows down the process and might even prevent the system from working. That’s why I keep wondering why the folks who want them deported are blocking the buses.

These are people who have been apprehended. They are in detention and custody of the ICE, and are in the process of being deported. Blocking the buses does exactly what? What purpose does it serve? Do they want ICE to stop detaining suspected undocumented people? Do they want ICE to stop the deportation process?

[UCGal]

[quote=Hobie]Didn’t know we had so many donut connoisseurs here! Next time you are in Cardiff check out VG Donuts. Good stuff. Across from the Cardiff Kook sculpture which is another reason to go there. 🙂

http://www.thecardiffkook.org/blog/blog/%5B/quote%5D

After hearing so much about VG’s I tried it. And then tried it again because I thought I should give it more than one chance.

I’m not a fan. Their icing is far to sweet – to the point of diabetic shock. I’m a cake donut person (vs the fluffy raised donuts) and they seemed to specialize in the raised donuts – and the cake donuts they had were iced with the super saturated super sweet icing.

I know – I should give up my San Diego native card for admitting this.

[UCGal]

Back to the Murrietta protests.

Correct me where I’m wrong:

– The buses being blocked were ICE buses with undocumented folks who’d been CAUGHT. The buses were taking them from one Homeland Security facility that was overcrowded, to a less crowded facility.

– The ICE folks weren’t going to just release these detainees. They were going to process them, schedule hearing dates, and follow the legal due process procedures.

– After processing at Murrietta they were going to be shipped off to other ICE facilities, and if there were sponsors available, some of these folks *might* be able to be released to custody of the sponsors (in other locations) to await their deportation hearing.

Did I get this right? This is what I’ve been reading.

Why are folks who are theoretically concerned about the “illegal” aspect of the border crossings now trying to circumvent the law and order process? Why aren’t they supporting the detaining of these immigrants while their legal status us determined?

If the block enough buses – the ICE will be forced to release them onto the streets since they have no room for them in the facilities in Texas.

Seems like if you’re for law an order, you should be allowing the Homeland Security folks to actually follow the laws and provide due process – even if that means housing detainees at the INS facility in Murrietta.

[UCGal]

[quote=scaredyclassic]
I think one of the more important factors determining how you feel about the decision is whether or not you have a uterus not political affiliation.[/quote]

I have a uterus… but it’s a bit past it’s prime.

This ruling does not impact me directly. And I never used those forms of birth control.

I have friends who feel that *any* birth control is an interference in God’s plans to go forth and multiply. They don’t claim to be part of the quiverful movement, but they are pretty close in my view. I support their right to make those choices. I also know that my choices were different. And I didn’t feel that my employer should be involved at all.

[UCGal]

[quote=scaredyclassic]I tried to sell my wife’s old 401k at the bottom but I couldn’t figure out the computer access. It’s probably up 100 percent. The best strategy is to not let me do anything.[/quote]

You’re not the only one. There have been studies done that show that people, in general, have bad instincts when it comes to timing the market – and just letting stuff ride ends up more lucrative, in the long run.

I know for a fact that I am a terrible market timer… so I’m now in the zen “let it ride” mode….through ups and downs.

[UCGal]

As mentioned above. What if a private corp is owned by a Christian Scientist. Are they allowed to impose their religious beliefs on their employees and offer NO medical care?

Or Jehovah Witnesses – refuse to cover blood transfusions?

What about Catholics? They believe any birth control is a sin, right? So can Catholic business owners insist that the employer provided insurance provide not birth control – even if it’s being used for non – birth control purposes?

I find it interesting that the precedence for this decision was the one that allowed (vs restricted) the use of peyote for religious purposes. The precedence was expanding the ways to practice your beliefs (without impacting those around them.) This case is a twist on that – the religious rights of the owners trump the religious rights of the employees. They are allowed to restrict access to something that is legal and should be between a woman and her doctor. They are basically putting the employer/owners in the position of parent, and the employees in the position of child.

[UCGal]

The prices are why we only go every few years.

[UCGal]

My overall investments have not beaten the index, nor are they designed to. I have a 60/40 split – 60% index funds equity. 60% in fixed income – a combo of government bonds, corporate bonds, and a cash position that is mostly in CDs.

It won’t go up as much as the market, but it won’t go down as much, either. The fixed income provides some dampening. My positions in international index and in small cap provide some extra growth potential along with risk.

I am a TERRIBLE stock picker and an even worse market timer. So set and forget with index funds works for me.

I’m curious how you calculate your growth on your 401k? I assume you’re making contributions through the year, so how do you subtract that out? Or do you consider your overall growth – including contributions? Going forward I’ll be able to cleanly see my returns, since my 401k/IRAs are off the table for use for many years.

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