From the latest Marina Times:
REAL ESTATE INVESTOR
Airbnb goes legit?
Home-sharing service begins collecting mandated hotel tax as city clarifies regulation
BY JOHN ZIPPERER
Short-term residential rental companies such as Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway might be the biggest disruption to hit the real estate market since public online listings took away the Realtors’ MLS exclusivity. But recent developments in San Francisco show that both regulators and the new market entrants are learning to work with each other.
David Owen, Airbnb’s regional head of public policy, announced in late September that beginning in October ...
Showing posts with label san francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label san francisco. Show all posts
Monday, September 29, 2014
Sunday, April 27, 2014
San Francisco's "Growing Pains"
In the latest (May 2014) issue of the Marina Times, I begin a four-part series looking at San Francisco's ongoing population growth, which is projected to take the residential count above 1 million in the future.
Growing pains: How much San Francisco is too much San Francisco?
BY JOHN ZIPPERER
(May 2014)
This is the first of a four-part series exploring the growth of San Francisco.
The downtown-bound BART train was particularly full one recent morning, when yet another group of commuters boarded at a station. Among them was a man in his early 40s, who immediately began complaining loudly about all of the “[bleeping] tech workers filling up my city.” As surrounding commuters tried to look away, one office-bound commuter began arguing with the newcomer, demanding to know what his problem was. There ensued a diatribe by the 40-something, who complained about San Francisco being ruined by new residents. There were lots of bleeps, as well as a threat to fight the man who dared to question him.
Across San Francisco, conversations in much nicer tones have been taking place for months and even years, with longtime residents wondering about the changes occurring...
Read the entire article
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| As San Francisco’s population continues to expand, some people are worrying about the changes that are being wrought (photo: darkwind / flickr) |
BY JOHN ZIPPERER
(May 2014)
This is the first of a four-part series exploring the growth of San Francisco.
The downtown-bound BART train was particularly full one recent morning, when yet another group of commuters boarded at a station. Among them was a man in his early 40s, who immediately began complaining loudly about all of the “[bleeping] tech workers filling up my city.” As surrounding commuters tried to look away, one office-bound commuter began arguing with the newcomer, demanding to know what his problem was. There ensued a diatribe by the 40-something, who complained about San Francisco being ruined by new residents. There were lots of bleeps, as well as a threat to fight the man who dared to question him.
Across San Francisco, conversations in much nicer tones have been taking place for months and even years, with longtime residents wondering about the changes occurring...
Read the entire article
Saturday, July 27, 2013
America's Cup Takes Off
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| Emirates Team New Zealand’s Aotearoa suffered a breakdown with a sail during the Louis Vuitton Cup in July (photo: © ACEA / PHOTO GILLES MARTIN-RAGET) |
NEWS
Now for the Action
After legal and political wrangling, America's Cup is putting on a show at the Marina's doorstep
By John Zipperer
People who think that the America’s Cup is an uneventful playtoy of billionaires are given second thoughts when they hear that the large AC72 catamarans used in these races are literally faster than the wind. As everyone in the Marina knows, the wind can be quite fast, indeed.
July saw the competition get into high gear, with the action spread from the courtroom to the waters. Following the tragic death of Artemis Racing’s Andrew “Bart” Simpson on May 9, teams and regulating bodies quarreled over new rules intended to make the racing safer. As reported in last month’s Marina Times, lawyers got involved as teams argued over changes to the boats’ mechanisms that some feared would advantage certain teams over others. At one point, the legal wrangling got so heated that there was concern that one or more teams might pull out of the races, putting the entire competition at risk...
Sunday, July 7, 2013
My Surveillance Problem and Yours
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| You can always retrieve that lost e-mail: The Utah Data Center, also known as the Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center, under construction near Bluffdale, Utah. Photo: Swilsonmc |
BUSINESS AS USUAL
My Surveillance Problem and Yours
By John Zipperer
Bay Area tech companies found themselves in some unfamiliar, muddied waters when it was reported in a British newspaper that a massive U.S. government spy program was collecting daily records on pretty much every user of Verizon. Next came disputed claims that the government had direct access to the central databases of such tech giants as Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Google, and others.
Edward Snowden, the young CIA contractor who leaked the tech surveillance information, fled to Hong Kong, saying he had faith in its legal system to protect him. He is really saying he has faith in China’s legal system, because ...
San Francisco's Bad Deal for TICs: Same Old, Same Old
My latest real estate rabble-rousing from the current edition of San Francisco's Marina Times:
Real Estate Investor
City knocks homeowners with TIC deal
by John Zipperer
On June 11, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to change the tenants-in-common (TIC) condo conversion system. But they took a bill to enable a larger-than-normal group of TIC owners to become condo owners and turned it into a bill that will all but kill condo conversions for the foreseeable future.
KQED News headlined its report “San Francisco Supervisors Pass TIC Condo Conversion Expansion,” and that’s certainly how the veto-proof eight-vote majority of the board would like it sold. But what the majority, led by Board President David Chiu, did was play opposites ...
Friday, May 31, 2013
Building up not out
My final article from the May 2013 issue of the Marina Times:
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| The way forward is up. Photo by John Zipperer |
REAL ESTATE
Everybody Can Win the LotteryBy John Zipperer
One of the laziest and most clichéd phrases in business is when something is called a “win-win solution.” With that caveat, we have a problem in this town that can be solved by investment in lots of new multifamily housing units and produce (ugh) a win-win for everyone.
Anyone who has ever been stuck in a tenants-in-common (TIC) housing arrangement, forced to wait a decade before converting to a condominium, knows the havoc that can ...
Monday, April 1, 2013
Values in the Sky
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| Better to build up than over wetlands and forests. (Photo: John Zipperer) |
REAL ESTATE INVESTOR
Values in the SkyBy John Zipperer
Someone commented to me recently that he didn’t see where much more new building could take place in San Francisco. The City, already heavily built up and undergoing still more construction, seemed to be full to bursting. Certainly this city – one of the most densely populated in the country – couldn’t get any more dense, could it?
It can, it will, and it must ...
We're Number 1 – in Housing Unaffordability
Don't bother telling me "unaffordability" isn't a word. That's unpossible.
Here's a quick real estate market report I wrote in the April 2013 issue of the Marina Times; and my apologies to any kind souls in Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, whose hearts are I'm sure pure and families shine like gold.
Here's a quick real estate market report I wrote in the April 2013 issue of the Marina Times; and my apologies to any kind souls in Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, whose hearts are I'm sure pure and families shine like gold.
REAL ESTATE
We're No. 1 – in Housing UnaffordabilityBy John Zipperer
Consider it the price you pay for not having to live in Ogden-Clearfield, Utah. By the end of last year, San Francisco became the metro area with the lowest percentage of its households earning the median income able to purchase a home, according to the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB).
Technically, NAHB rates the city in the category of “San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California,” which is a rather large stretch of land. But ...
The Latest Site for Parking, Biker Clash
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| Big changes are in store for Polk Street (Photo: BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons) |
From the April issue of the Marina Times:
NEWS
Polk Street Latest Site for Parking, Biker Clash
By John Zipperer
Whether they got there by car, bike, bus, or on foot, locals filled the basement hall of the Old First Presbyterian Church on March 18 to discuss plans to remove parking spaces to make room for expanded bicycle lanes on Polk Street. By the time they were done, the head of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) said his organization is “committed to going back to the drawing board to achieve the goals of the project.”
The proposal, part of an effort by the SFMTA to use Prop. B money to improve streets and safety, set off a heated debate in and around ...
Monday, January 28, 2013
Anti-Boom and Anti-Bust
My latest article in San Francisco's Marina Times newspaper:
ECONOMY
As San Francisco Leads a New Economic Upswing in the State, It's Time to Act UnnaturallyBy John Zipperer
The $25 million man, as I called him, was the symbol of California’s boom-or-bust economy. In the early 1990s, when California was struggling through one of its cyclical busts and commercial real estate in particular was hit hard, this man was $25 million in debt.
The $25 million man was a commercial real estate developer and consultant. He had rung up his debt during the go-go times of the late 1980s and very early 1990s, but when the market swung back — as it always will — he was ...
Monday, December 3, 2012
The Golden Ticket
My latest opinion piece in the Marina Times, in which I probably anger some well-paid people and their enablers.
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| At least the original Robin Hood was into forcible trickle-down economics. Photo: andscene |
OPINION
The Golden Ticket
City's reverse Robin Hood spending
By John Zipperer
December 2012
For years, there has been a movement to convince cable television providers to charge for their channels on an a la carte basis. You can select each of the channels you want and pay for only those.
If we took that same approach to public budgets, what do you think would be the result? It’s not an entirely serious question; there are certain things that people don’t like but that need to be paid for
Saturday, August 4, 2012
DC3's Newest Copilot
Also in this issue of the Marina Times, I spoke with rising local politician Kat Anderson.
Kat Anderson’s task for DC3: Unity
by John Zipperer
With the election of Marina resident Kat Ander-son to San Francisco’s Democratic County Central Committee (DC3), the City’s Democrats have put one more piece in place for ending what has been at times a destructive intraparty contest.
Anderson, who was sworn into office July 25 for a two-year term, said it is time the City’s left-wing and moderate sides of the Democratic Party stop fighting ...
Interview with Author Cara Black
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| Cara Black; photo by Steven Fromtling |
Cara Black: International woman of mystery novels
by John Zipperer
If you walk down Market Street with mystery novelist Cara Black, what else do you talk about but murder? As she chatted about the chilly late July weather, she occasionally flipped her hair away from her eyes, only to have the wind blow it back. But at the mention of a real unsolved murder case here in San Francisco, Black’s eyes widened and she asked for details. She then shared a true story about another unsolved murder here, a locked-room killing in her own neighborhood involving a victim from France.
France and death are not far from the surface when Black talked with the Marina Times about ...
Monday, June 11, 2012
Prometheus Has Landed
After seeing Ridley Scott's film Prometheus this weekend, I'm looking at that large hill behind our house in a whole new way.Ever since we terraformed this part of the planet, people have been curious about what's inside that mound and whether it poses any danger to us.
Scanners show that it is hollow ...
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
All in the Family
My latest politics article from the Marina Times:
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| Ross Mirkarimi from happier times in 2008 (Photo: Brian Kusler) |
POLITICS
All in the Family: There Are no Winners in This Fight
By John Zipperer
Say the name Ross Mirkarimi, and you are almost guaranteed to get strong and even visceral opinions from just about anyone in San Francisco. Through a combination of his own actions and obstinacy, as well as some heavily socially engineered legislation over the years, San Francisco Sheriff Mirkarimi will continue to be a lightning rod for a long time. In short, he won’t let the story die.
Doyle's Legacy Goes Farther than His Drive
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| View of Doyle Drive during the April 28 demolition (Photo Courtesy of CalTrans) |
Doyle's Legacy Goes Farther than His Drive
By John Zipperer
More than 90,000 people have driven over Doyle Drive daily, yet few are likely to know why the elevated roadway carried that name. There are a number of things in the Bay Area named after Frank Pierce Doyle, but the now-demolished roadway leading to the Golden Gate Bridge was arguably the most apt. Frank Doyle, who passed away on Aug. 5, 1948, was a significant Bay Area figure in the early 20th century, involved in everything from banking to the recovery from the 1906 earthquake. As president of the Exchange Bank,...
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Digital Nomad
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| Anastasia Ashman Writer, Producer, Author (Tales of the Expat Harem), Co-Creator of Global Niche (photo: Steven Fromtling) |
Digital Nomad
Anastasia Ashman merges social media and global citizenship
By John Zipperer
Some people lose themselves in the world. Anastasia Ashman turned herself into a tour guide to help people find themselves. A Berkeley native, Ashman’s life has taken her around the world, from the development hell of Hollywood to the ruling circles of Malaysia to the ancient streets of Istanbul. Now she’s back in the Bay Area, recently taken up residence with her husband in Russian Hill, and she’s able to say, “We didn’t come here knowing that much about what’s going on in San Francisco. We came here with the intention of finding out and treating it like a foreign country.”
Foreign country? To a woman who grew up across the Bay?
It’s a disconnect between location and identity that is intentional on her part ...
Start Making Sense
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| The first panelists for Week to Week (from left): Larry Gerston, Debra J. Saunders and Michael Fox Photo: Steven Fromtling |
ZIPPY
Start making sense
By John Zipperer
Blame or credit Dorothy Crain.
I was a teenage political junkie and Dorothy Crain – a longtime family friend – fed my habit by directing me out of the schoolyard-level discussions and arguments toward adult discussions of current events. While I was still in junior high school, she gave me a subscription to The New Republic, which became my political bible throughout the 1980s. When I visited the magazine’s offices in 1991, it was a tiny bit like touring Rome or Jerusalem.
Nerd, I know.
The Living Bridge
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| The Golden Gate Bridge from the south side. Photo: Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. |
The Living Bridge
Anniversary Events
May is full of things to do, see, and hear to celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th anniversary By John Zipperer
Three quarters of a century can change a lot, but they can also hide a lot, adding a gloss of fame and affection for what was a very controversial project. That’s the case for the Golden Gate Bridge, the iconic link between Marin and San Francisco that is the most famous visual shorthand for illustrating the city by the bay. Today, it ranks with the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, Sears Tower, and the St. Louis Arch as beloved symbols of specific cities and even representatives of the spirit of the country at large.
Considering its modern fame, how many people know that the 1920s saw a vigorous debate within the Bay Area over whether the bridge should be built at all?
Blond Roots
My latest column in the Marina Times:
ZIPPY
Blond roots
The Marina doesn’t deserve its rep
By John Zipperer
Can you judge a neighborhood by its enemies? If you read what some people are saying online about the Marina, you can be forgiven for expecting the Marina to be a Beverly Hills-wannabe neighborhood filled with Stepford Wives. The mildest might be SFGate, which says that the Marina District’s “apartment buildings, shops and restaurants seem to be bursting at their seams with beautiful, young and fit 20- and 30-somethings.” Hardly sounds like hell on earth. But apparently it does sound like that to other reviewers ...
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