California Forever

California, legendary NIMBYs included, built the most prosperous and popular state in the nation, with its largest and fastest growing companies, with more innovation and scientific discovery than any other part of the country, with by far the best public university system in the country, and with maximal tolerance for immigrants and people with uncommon religious beliefs, sexual and gender inclinations, and approaches to work and life generally.

It was historically flexible enough about development to accommodate more people than any other state. I wouldn’t be so cynical as to think that greenfield development in a place where basically no one is now will not win over a substantial part of the population (even if some of the supporters would oppose the project if it was in their own metaphorical backyard).

As an ex Californian I know as well as anyone how easy it can be to take the state’s many unique strengths for granted when you live there. But believe me, you miss a lot of it when you leave, and you also realize most other states face similar problems, or will, including with nimbyism, homelessness, addiction, you name it.

California is great and retains the capacity to surprise. And I think one of the strongest pieces of evidence for that is even the critics building this development away from everyone else in the state still called it California Forever.

I remember Sunnyvale downtown projects were abandoned you can explain it but the reality is they (developers and city) did not meet their commitments and it leaves a bad taste. I saw aggressive campaigning myself in front of Cupertino library which was in line with reports of aggression and manhandling that the opposition to Valco talked about. And I supported the NIMBYs even though I was a renter because the opposition was just so ham handed.

So when citizens feel overpowered, in mega cities they don't have much choice but in mini cities they can have a say, and they do revolt and get called nimbys. If we had double the nimbys maybe the construction corporates will try a better faith negotiation with them. No?

This is extremely dishonest reporting. So what that he made a billion in a single day? He probably also lost a billion some other day...

If he didn't make a billion in a day, would he not be at fault for the failure?

Seattle needs housing more than anything, and I’m glad they added a ton when they developed the area.

Now the Kraken office took over the Joey restaurant spot. And nothing is in the Hooters or Chandlers locations. Duke’s also moved out of that dock area to a larger location east but the service leaves something to be desired.

That sounds like ideal American suburb which a lot of Americans seem to prefer. If not, by now we would have seen it getting decayed.

> as a generic suburb

What's wrong with generic suburbs?

> They just happened to develop land that was in high demand due to its proximity to the coast

Seems to fit description of this new place too (proximity to SV and SF)

They've also created a very popular 'urban-esque' area by the Irvine Spectrum, where numerous automotive HQs are, Amazon has a large presence, all within walking distance of a huge number of mid rise apartments.

>I fail to see why we would hail Irvine as a great city

It's one of the most popular places right now to move to. It may not be your preference, but it seems it's popular enough to have prices go through the roof.

You would think that Irving (in the heart of the D/FW metroplex) would be a place you would encounter homophobia, given the popular opinion of Texas. But people there seemed to not care who I was holding hands with.

Scaling is a problem though, that's for sure, although many colleges are in fact towns outright (like Penn State). However, there's a big incentive for colleges to turn into hedge funds/real-estate holding firms which works against the educational mission of universities IMO.

As for overpriced... I mean, you get what you pay for. I don't think it's overpriced because I've tried the alternative, and I've found it lacking. Although I see several avenues to cut costs while keeping service levels.

But if you think college campuses are just for the students, you're missing half the picture!

Maybe we need something like "Tech Masons" where you have a built-in social group, continuing ed and everyone promises not to disrespect each others' tech stack decisions. "Oh. So you're going with COBOL? I'm sure there are aspects of the project I don't understand that make COBOL the ideal language for that project. Let us grab a beer and talk about inverting trees, brother (and/or sister.)"

As for schools, there is an elementary, middle, and high school within a 3 block radius of the campus. Obviously these are funded by the city, but a lot of that funding of course comes from the school and employees through their taxes, so it's a symbiotic relationship. Many faculty here make it their mission to outreach to these local schools. We have events for children all summer long where they engage in physics, chemistry, computer science / robotics, environmental engineering, art, and music projects etc.

Loud parties are annoying but are only held off campus. There are noise ordinances on campus.

Built after World War II for returning white veterans and their new families, the communities offered attractive alternatives to cramped central city locations and apartments.

This is not accurate. World War II was the de facto end of The Great Depression and to their shock they were able to produce "more guns and more butter" because unemployment rates had been as high as 30 percent in the previous decade.

There was a tremendous need for housing. During the Great Depression, some people lived in the basement of their house and rented out the house to try to not lose the house. Others moved every thirteen months because if you could pay your rent on time and in full for twelve months in a row, you could get the thirteenth months free.

Levittown was the birth of the modern suburb and it helped resolve a massive need for new housing. It was so successful, we are still haunted by this ghost of Christmas past.

The entire country turned its collective will away from the newly finished war and towards building new housing. They created new policies and financing mechanisms and to this day it is challenging to build anything in the US other than suburban-style single family detached homes because our entire financing and policy infrastructure and collective subconscious supports the idea that a home in the 'burbs is the ideal home.

So we have grown 1950s-style suburban homes to be ugly homes on steroids, a la McMansions, and can't manage to build much else and then we wonder why there are so many homeless.

We are victims of the overwhelming success of Levittown.

I'm aware that racism tended to exclude people of color. I don't think this had much to do with it being the suburbs. If we had built towers of apartments in downtowns, I imagine redlining would have still kept out people of color.

Racism is not why they were suburbs. Them being suburbs is not primarily why people of color were excluded. Racism is people being shitty and they were going to be shitty in this particular way in that particular era regardless of the style of home which helped fill the overwhelming need this country had for additional housing and it finally had the means to build some of that for at least some people.

On top of all this, almost all American cities are built for cars. They are too spread out for public transport to be efficient. That said, buses are an underrated public transportation method, which although much less sexy than a metro, are adaptable and have far less overhead than a subway line.

Random article I googled up that seems to suggest, no, one small airport won't replace a billion dollars annually for the county.

Florida Tech adds that, in 2013, US airports generated around $10 billion in aeronautical revenue.

https://simpleflying.com/how-airports-make-money/

The island of Lanai may never get developed. Thats the only way to preserve things how you want. Otherwise other people's opinions, in places of power, get what they want, regardless of what your want. Just look across the water to Honolulu, which is rife with skyscrapers.

Sadly, the Kauai from years past is already gone. Rose tinted glasses are nice to look at the past with, but amonst the extraordinary natural beauty, modern day Kauai has the same problems as everywhere else. Meth, fentanyl, and a lack of jobs.

you got me pegged for the wrong political party. and it aint red or blue.

In fact the imagery on the website furthers my point. Looks like modern apartment buildings and malls, very similar in feel to those in Demolition Man.

Dollars don't live in cities, people do.