Enjoying the warm summer weather and the beautiful hills without eucalyptus trees. #euclife
Walnut Creek has been building lots of housing around the BART station in the last few years. Quite a variety of styles.
There's also a new extended-stay hotel near the Walnut Creek BART. More cities ought to build these, it would reduce the number of regular apartments being turned into corporate rentals. (Berkeley has one under construction downtown right now)
Orinda has some artsy benches near it's downtown. The Theater Square outdoor mall has a nice alley that wraps around a movie theater. It's all offices upstairs right now, but in a work from home world, maybe one day it'll be housing.
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wrote a picture book on California housing - "Rhena the House Makes New Friends" read it in the thread or at the link! sites.google.com/view/alfredtwu… 1/
For those who believe that our best days are still to come...
...and that wherever the country is headed,
California will get there first. 2/
California's legislature started 2021 with over 100 housing bills. About half are still active. The rest may return next year, or in rare cases, later this year as a gut-and-amend of an unrelated bill. Details in thread & at alfredtwu.medium.com/2021-californi… PDF at dropbox.com/s/zdhhg3qf495c…
Wildfires and earthquake preparedness: the direction we're going in is hardening existing buildings, and tougher codes for new buildings. SB12, SB63, and AB1329 are still active.
you laugh, but China basically borrowed California's flawed property tax system and dialed it up to 11 - taxes are based on original purchase price, homeowners pay nothing at all. Trying to change it is now a major headache for the government. researchgate.net/publication/32…
Commercial property gets taxed at "1.2% of 70-90% of original value" which is almost the same as California property tax of 1% of purchase price. Private residential houses aren't taxed at all. what could go wrong? researchgate.net/publication/32…
Without property taxes, China relies on leasing vacant land for development to fund local government. This system stops working when cities stop growing. The government has been trying to shift to a regular property tax system for over a decade. chinadaily.com.cn/a/202102/01/WS…
It’s time to go all in on growth. We got to build lots of wind & solar, etc. When we get to 100% clean energy, will we shut down what will then be the country’s largest industry, or will we keep building and grow incomes & the economy 7.5% a year to 4 times its current size? 1/
Renewable energy is different from fossil fuels in that most of the work is done up front. While a constant sized fossil fuel workforce equals constant (or shrinking) energy production, a constant sized renewable workforce equals continuous energy growth. 2/
Installation of new wind & solar has been growing exponentially. To replace oil/coal/gas fast enough, it needs to be. When that’s done, we’re not going to lay off millions of people mid-career - we’re going to keep going. 🚀🌕 3/
Today in vaccine eligibility expansion: Alabama announces April 5 as the day when everyone 16 and up can sign up for vaccines. Additional counties opening up in Hawaii as well. 1/
With the state expecting a 50% increase in doses delivered, Alabama - which had already opened eligibility to more than half the state - set Monday as the day the rest are eligible. wsfa.com/2021/04/02/ala…
Another one of Hawaii's islands will also start vaccinating everyone 16 and up on April 5. khon2.com/coronavirus/bi…
More states moving up the day when vaccines are available to everyone 16 & up: Wyoming did it yesterday, Maine moved up to 4/7, Washington announced 4/15 and Virginia 4/18. Thread 1/