Cool Stuff in Other Cities

[HankStrong]

7 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Self-storage wars in downtown Jacksonville:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/resolving-the-downtown-self-storage-wars

From The Jaxson 

Oh my, this sounds familiar…as Suze Orman points out, unless it’s for a temporary purpose, a self-storage unit means you have too much stuff.

We won’t even talk about the irony of an economy that refuses to build affordable housing but is exploding with self-storage projects.

 

Exactly.  I've used a storage facility twice in my life.  Both times I was moving and had an occupancy gap.  The second time I used a Pods pod.  They just delivered it to my new residence.

Of course, I'm also someone who doesn't buy items for the endorphins that buying stuff apparently releases.  You could fit our entire lives (minus vehicles) in our living room and still have room to walk around.  I married a woman that shares my values there.  She has a packed closet, but beyond that she's good.  I just don't go into that closet, however, since it doesn't spill out into the rest of our house it must be fine.  My personal downfall is the laundry room where I have every shelf & cabinet stocked completely with non-perishable cleaning supplies, sanitizing items, and paper products.  

All of this wouldn't include storage of boats, RVs, 4-wheelers, etc. in my eyes.  It is only practical to store those off-site if you are someone who owns one of those things.  I don't, but fully respect they need a home and that's often not your actual home.  However, if YouTube videos and TV shows are to believed, most storage units are full of trash or junk.

[JFW657]

On 6/27/2022 at 7:22 AM, spenser1058 said:

Self-storage wars in downtown Jacksonville:

We won’t even talk about the irony of an economy that refuses to build affordable housing but is exploding with self-storage projects.

Just out of curiosity, how does an economy refuse or agree to build or otherwise do anything?

Building affordable or even unaffordable housing is something that is done by humans who have a financial stake in the final outcome, which is why it's so difficult to get it done.  

[spenser1058]

Just now, JFW657 said:

Just out of curiosity, how does an economy refuse or agree to build or otherwise do anything?

Building affordable or even unaffordable housing is something that is done by humans who have a financial stake in the final outcome, which is why it's so difficult to get it done.  

It’s all about recognizing priorities. What you are describing is late stage capitalism where the government simply abdicates all responsibility to the market. That’s fine except in the case of market failure. Very specific economic decisions have been made in the last 40 years which made this seem inevitable. It wasn’t.

[HankStrong]

Semantics aside and without this becoming the *constantly annoying* R vs. D or Biden vs. Trump or whatever:

 

There are certain facts that none of us can avoid.  Houses are being bought in insane (and almost certainly unsustainable) numbers by companies and not actual human beings.  Some people say "Oh, it's the wealthy buying 2nd homes!" or "Those silly AirBnB people!" much like in mid-00s it was blamed on "Those darn flippers!" The facts are that while all of those people in both periods of time had some level of responsibility, the mid-00s was largely the fault of subprime lending and the mortgage industry milking as much profit as they could out of people and the current situation is way out of hand because companies like Bedrock, Blackstone, OpenDoor, Zillow, etc. are buying up thousands and thousands of homes. as investments or to milk as much profit as they can out of people. 

These homes are usually the ones in range of the people who need them most.  My friend told me that no one was bidding against him in his latest house.  His house was just barely over $1M.  No wonder.  Try looking in the $100k-$500k market.  Just because it's not happening to you, that doesn't mean it's not happening.

The problem is real.  Blaming someone who doesn't agree with your politics (on both sides) doesn't fix the problem.  This is a massive issue.

[spenser1058]

2 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Semantics aside and without this becoming the *constantly annoying* R vs. D or Biden vs. Trump or whatever:

 

There are certain facts that none of us can avoid.  Houses are being bought in insane (and almost certainly unsustainable) numbers by companies and not actual human beings.  Some people say "Oh, it's the wealthy buying 2nd homes!" or "Those silly AirBnB people!" much like in mid-00s it was blamed on "Those darn flippers!" The facts are that while all of those people in both periods of time had some level of responsibility, the mid-00s was largely the fault of subprime lending and the mortgage industry milking as much profit as they could out of people and the current situation is way out of hand because companies like Bedrock, Blackstone, OpenDoor, Zillow, etc. are buying up thousands and thousands of homes. as investments or to milk as much profit as they can out of people. 

These homes are usually the ones in range of the people who need them most.  My friend told me that no one was bidding against him in his latest house.  His house was just barely over $1M.  No wonder.  Try looking in the $100k-$500k market.  Just because it's not happening to you, that doesn't mean it's not happening.

The problem is real.  Blaming someone who doesn't agree with your politics (on both sides) doesn't fix the problem.  This is a massive issue.

Everything you said confirms my point - economic decisions made over the past forty years got us to this place. There were other alternatives along the way. It’s brought us to market failure when the citizens of the country are rapidly losing the ability to be able to pay for housing. There is no way that rent that is often doubling in about a year and over much of the country is good economic policy. That wasn’t happening before the financial system was deregulated. Trickle-down economics don’t work any better in housing than they do in any other sphere of the economy.

[jack]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

It’s all about recognizing priorities. What you are describing is late stage capitalism where the government simply abdicates all responsibility to the market. That’s fine except in the case of market failure. Very specific economic decisions have been made in the last 40 years which made this seem inevitable. It wasn’t.

Late stage capitalism aside, there are tons of affordable housing all over America. No one wants to live in those places. 

All joking aside, there are a multitude of reasons for the sharp run up in housing costs. Covid, extremely low mortgage rates, lack of new inventory, nimbisim, shortage of workers for new construction, etc. 

[jack]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Everything you said confirms my point - economic decisions made over the past forty years got us to this place. There were other alternatives along the way. It’s brought us to market failure when the citizens of the country are rapidly losing the ability to be able to pay for housing. There is no way that rent that is often doubling in about a year and over much of the country is good economic policy. That wasn’t happening before the financial system was deregulated. Trickle-down economics don’t work any better in housing than they do in any other sphere of the economy.

What has happened over the last 40 years is that we consistently failed to provide enough housing for everyone regardless of their income bracket. If we kept close to the pace of new housing we had in the 70's we would be in a better spot. 

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/HOUST

 

[jack]

2 hours ago, HankStrong said:

Semantics aside and without this becoming the *constantly annoying* R vs. D or Biden vs. Trump or whatever:

 

There are certain facts that none of us can avoid.  Houses are being bought in insane (and almost certainly unsustainable) numbers by companies and not actual human beings.  Some people say "Oh, it's the wealthy buying 2nd homes!" or "Those silly AirBnB people!" much like in mid-00s it was blamed on "Those darn flippers!" The facts are that while all of those people in both periods of time had some level of responsibility, the mid-00s was largely the fault of subprime lending and the mortgage industry milking as much profit as they could out of people and the current situation is way out of hand because companies like Bedrock, Blackstone, OpenDoor, Zillow, etc. are buying up thousands and thousands of homes. as investments or to milk as much profit as they can out of people. 

These homes are usually the ones in range of the people who need them most.  My friend told me that no one was bidding against him in his latest house.  His house was just barely over $1M.  No wonder.  Try looking in the $100k-$500k market.  Just because it's not happening to you, that doesn't mean it's not happening.

The problem is real.  Blaming someone who doesn't agree with your politics (on both sides) doesn't fix the problem.  This is a massive issue.

Some of those purchases are bought by people. None of the reports separate out house flipper, mom and pop investor or Wall St company from one another. The reports don't also factor in homes sold by investors (mainly flippers) during the same time frame. Its a quick and dirty analysis meant to rile up the proletariat. 

Regardless, the numbers are higher today than 20 years ago but they are still a fraction of total homes owned. We need to build more housing for all income brackets. 

[HankStrong]

I should just stick to talking about trains because it's almost revolting to have sit between this in almost every thread.

[JFW657]

3 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

It’s all about recognizing priorities. What you are describing is late stage capitalism where the government simply abdicates all responsibility to the market. That’s fine except in the case of market failure. Very specific economic decisions have been made in the last 40 years which made this seem inevitable. It wasn’t.

So, you are blaming the government then?

What do you suggest the government should do? 

What is the government's responsibility to the market?

What should their priorities be?

Price controls? Rent controls? Forcing developers to build cheap housing even if they lose money?

Subsidies?

More Cabrini Greens? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini–Green_Homes

 

5 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

I should just stick to talking about trains because it's almost revolting to have sit between this in almost every thread.

Why?

I thought you raised some interesting points.

And after all, this is the kind of topic the forum is here to discuss.

[spenser1058]

St Pete Mayor Ken Welch says he has an important announcement about the Trop on Wednesday- who will the mayor choose to develop what may be the most sought after 86 acres in the Bay Area?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[spenser1058]

Here’s something I like to see more of from our timid city government - St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch (who was elected after this process began) decided he didn’t love the proposals for the Trop so they’re starting over.

That’s what a strong-mayor form of government is supposed to be all about. Of course when the incumbent refuses to make use of the power, you end up with…meh.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/536016-ken-welch-cancels-previous-trop-site-proposal-set-to-launch-new-request/

From Florida Politics 

[jack]

14 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

Here’s something I like to see more of from our timid city government - St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch (who was elected after this process began) decided he didn’t love the proposals for the Trop so they’re starting over.

That’s what a strong-mayor form of government is supposed to be all about. Of course when the incumbent refuses to make use of the power, you end up with…meh.

https://floridapolitics.com/archives/536016-ken-welch-cancels-previous-trop-site-proposal-set-to-launch-new-request/

From Florida Politics 

I don't know how they can have an RFP without knowing what will happen with the Rays. 2020 was way too early and this seems to be jumping the gun a bit. The previous RFP had the bidders providing two options just in case Trop stayed or was leveled. 

I wish we could have some certainty. 2027 is not that far away. 

[spenser1058]

15 minutes ago, jack said:

I don't know how they can have an RFP without knowing what will happen with the Rays. 2020 was way too early and this seems to be jumping the gun a bit. The previous RFP had the bidders providing two options just in case Trop stayed or was leveled. 

I wish we could have some certainty. 2027 is not that far away. 

I think it’s pretty much been decided that, whatever happens with the Rays, it won’t be on the Trop site. There’s a lot going on there that has little to do with baseball. Remember, the Trop was conceived (badly, it’s pretty much agreed around town now) by the Grumpy Old Men under the old form of government (did we mention they were white males?) St. Pete has changed immensely since then (for the better) and current leadership (including an African-American mayor) is actually including the (significantly African-American) community this time.

Edited June 29, 2022 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Once the world’s wealthiest city per capita, New Bedford, MA was well on its way to dying just a few decades ago. Now, residents are bringing it back with help from government investments and thankfully, developers so far aren’t trying to build out of scale square concrete boxes. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/travel/new-bedford-boston.html?referringSource=articleShare 

From The New York Times 

[spenser1058]

Can Suburban Office Parks be made Urban?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/upshot/future-suburban-office-park.html?referringSource=articleShare

From The New York Times 
 

[spenser1058]

The coming of four-lane highways often spelled doom for Florida’s historic cities. As the pavement was laid, historic old buildings were sold to generic chains and wonderful old houses were often haphazardly carved into multifamily apartments, as the original owners had no interest in the noise and traffic of the new roads.

Fortunately, sometimes the “new road” bypassed the old towns entirely, which in the ‘50’s was considered by real estate types to thwart their opportunities to make a killing.

Thankfully, after a couple of decades, what had been left behind was rediscovered by a new generation totally bored with the latest BK or KFC on the highway.

Today, the renaissance of places like Winter Garden and, in this Jaxson story, Micanopy, show that we can find our way home:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/sights-and-scenes-micanopy

I’d be remiss if  I didn’t note the exception that proves the rule. I continue to be amazed by (DeLightful!) DeLand, whose century old downtown was bisected by US 17-92, but they managed to keep almost everything that made the place special. Great job!
 

[spenser1058]

@prahaboheme, I believe you were in L A for at least some of the time the decisions about demolishing Parker Crnter were made. Any thoughts on it? Thanks.

[prahaboheme]

A nifty infill project coming to St. Pete’s Edge District — here’s looking at you Orange & Pine:

https://stpeterising.com/home/2022/5/19/mixed-use-retail-building-approved-for-downtown-st-petes-edge-district

[idroveazamboni]

All about Tampa and Walter Street project.
 

https://apple.news/ArElAOgd0QXi8iqa7s02ahA
 

Edited July 16, 2022 by idroveazamboni

[spenser1058]

3 minutes ago, idroveazamboni said:

https://apple.news/ArElAOgd0QXi8iqa7s02ahA
 

Hey, I liked Magic Mike! It is sort of hard to give up the rep when one of your mayors owned several of the strip clubs…

[idroveazamboni]

11 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

Hey, I liked Magic Mike! It is sort of hard to give up the rep when one of your mayors owned several of the strip clubs…

Tampa will be the next great city while Orlando continues to languish.  Water sells. 

[spenser1058]

10 minutes ago, idroveazamboni said:

Tampa will be the next great city while Orlando continues to languish.  Water sells. 

It also helps when the city’s sugar daddy invests in downtown (and, unlike the DeVos clan, knows how to keep his sports team consistently winning), while ours went out to BFE and created more sprawl. Oh well, eventually it’ll all be Orlampa!

[dcluley98]

That guy's watch and pose is cringe AF.  

 

Hahaha. I will take my walk around Lake Eola dodging the dodgy over that nonsense.  

[spenser1058]

Today, The Jaxson looks at Jacksonville’s historic live and movie theaters. What’s great is that although there have been adaptive reuses, several are still entertaining folks with their original functions:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/jacksonvilles-surviving-historic-theatres/

Edited July 18, 2022 by spenser1058