Interesting that the estimated $235M in increased rents to tenants from bringing in 20K tech workers to San Jose is almost as much as the $339M/yr the city spends on unfunded pension liabilities for former employees who no longer work there. https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-pension-plans-unfunded-liability-expected-to-soar/ …https://twitter.com/wpusanews/status/1138861019307040770 …
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Almost like the Bay Area is structurally incentivized to balance its books (between retirement obligations that were never transparently budgeted for in the 1st place & capped, inheritable property tax assessments) on the backs of tenants & young people
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/oaklands-budget-battle-heats-up/Content?oid=26586639 …pic.twitter.com/4ux4gEoAXf
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Why did San Jose sell 10 acres of land to Google for a mega-campus? Because it's a mostly residential city and it loses money on land that contains housing and earns net tax revenue on land that contains office space. https://www.spur.org/sites/default/files/publications_pdfs/SPUR_Back_in_the_Black.pdf …pic.twitter.com/fPxfHBgCYQ
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And because it is spending a quarter of its general fund every year on retirement obligations for people who no longer work there that weren't adequately covered by pension investment returns. http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/82758 …pic.twitter.com/FwtiRySpw3
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The city's financial situation is still precarious enough that it still isn't even at staffing levels from almost 20 years ago because they had to lay off so many workers in the last recession. https://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8461 …
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So invariably, it sells land to Google to stabilize the city’s long-term financial situation even as everyone knows a large downtown Google campus will boost real estate values (and by proxy, damage housing affordability for tenants and future buyers.)
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Oh and did I mention that San Jose voters themselves dropped the ball on passing a $450M affordable housing bond last year? (Affordable housing is always great, as long as someone else pays for it and it’s not near me, naturally!)https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-mayor-eyes-second-chance-for-affordable-housing-measure/ …
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Replying to @kimmaicutler
The bond got 64% support—-which should prevail in a democracy. But CA has Prop 13...
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