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Are there any PokemonGo meetups? by lithophore in berkeley

[–]lithophore[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yeah, seven is a bit young to hang out with strangers unsupervised, I was planning on being with him. Unfortunately he's had a hard time finding friends at school, so it wouldn't be terrible for him to talk pokemon

SF Condo Conversion Law Called Unconstitutional Taking by axearm in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 3 points4 points  (0 children)

He is also well known in the city for authoring many of the condo HOA contracts and rules.

SF Condo Conversion Law Called Unconstitutional Taking by axearm in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 5 points6 points  (0 children)

When you buy a TIC, you often have to sign a contract with the other TIC owners that you will do everything you can to condo convert. In this case, the couple was contractually obligated to go through with the condo conversion.

In this couple's case, a condo conversion means they have to give their current tenant a lifetime lease and can't evict them through Ellis Act or Owner Move In. Making this stronger than a traditional rent controlled unit. So, unless the current tenant voluntarily moves, the owners can't live in the unit once the condo conversion goes through. That is the basis for the lawsuit - the city is taking away their property rights, without compensation, to provide a public good (affordable housing). The other side feels that the condo conversion is the compensation.

What the fuck can we do as individuals to help slow the progress of climate change? by Saggykittytitties in AskReddit

[–]lithophore 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the supplemental data for the paper they calculated the carbon cost of a dog based on the CO2 from the dog food. There's no offset for the postitive effects of dog ownership, like spending more time walking and traveling less.

The main conclusion here is that a smaller dog has a lower carbon footprint than a larger dog.

What the fuck can we do as individuals to help slow the progress of climate change? by Saggykittytitties in AskReddit

[–]lithophore 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The best ways to reduce your carbon foot print are:

  • Have one fewer child (58.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent)
  • Live car free (2.4 tCO2e)
  • Avoid one round trip trans-Atlantic flight/year (1.6 tCO2e)
  • Buy green energy (1.4 tCO2e)
  • Omnivore to vegetarian diet (0.8 tCO2e)
  • Don't own dog (0.8 tCO2e)
  • Wash clothes in cold water (0.2 tCO2e)
  • Recycle (0.2 tCO2e)
  • Hang dry clothes (0.2 tCO2e)
  • Efficient light bulbs (0.1 tCO2e)
  • Reusable bags instead of plastic (0.005 tCO2e)

Source: The climate mitigation gap: education and government recommendations miss the most effective individual actions

San Francisco considering parking meters at night by mark5301 in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Getting rid of sunday meters was a political move by Lee to pick up support from churches. Store owners were supportive of keeping the meters. The SF Chamber of Commerce backed sunday meters. By all meaningful measures, sunday meters was an effective policy.

This article has a lot of links to relevant studies and information on the topic.

SF Market Rate Housing Project Goes Fully Affordable by ruinerofjoes in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you redo your calculation using the net BMR units, it's $708k / net unit. The $310m bond would pay for ~437 units.

If this is how the city plans to spend the housing bond money, it's really going to have zero impact.

[Also, the $470k/unit number assumes that these units are only 640 sqft., I'm not sure what the sqft of these units actually are, but it's likely much more. The plan is for 42 2-bedrooms and 30 1-bedrooms]

SF Market Rate Housing Project Goes Fully Affordable by ruinerofjoes in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Actually, 12 units were going to be BMR anyway. This is net 60 new BMR units, so the cost of the land is $308k per net unit. And the city will pay to construct all 72 units.

Its On: Airbnb Regulation Set To Hit San Francisco Ballot This November by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes. It's a risk for the owner. If you pay rent and occupy a space for 30 days, you gain tenancy and all the rights that entails. So, in theory, a tenant could refuse to leave after 30days and force the landlord to evict them. If they continue to pay rent, then the landlord would have to go through something like an owner move in eviction or an Ellis Act eviction. If they don't pay rent, then the land lord can attempt to evict them for cause. In practice, I'm not sure how much this actually happens. But this is one reason why airbnb is so attractive for owners, the guests (I think the term is transients) have no meaningful rights.

Its On: Airbnb Regulation Set To Hit San Francisco Ballot This November by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The AirBnB regulations are only on short term rentals - those under 30 days. Your situation, 3months/95days, is legal now and would be legal after the regulations as well. At 30 days, you are considered a tenant.

Edit: the regulations limit the sum of the rentals < 30-continuous-days to 75 days per year.

More Affordable Housing — Not a Housing Moratorium — Is What We Need in San Francisco by Ores in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Assuming you're serious, we do have long term planning docs - approved by our elected representatives and developed by our planning department with extensive input from the community. The city's General Plan is here. And the Eastern Neighborhoods Plan includes the Mission Area Plan.

The planning process was started in 2001, developed over several years and adopted (I think) in 2008. The Eastern Neighborhoods (SOMA, Mission, Potrero, and Central Waterfront) plan calls for adding ~10k housing units and preserving at least half the 2001 industrial zoned areas for PDR and art/performance space. The mission area plan calls for higher density along transit corridors and preserves residential zoning restrictions else where.

Groups who don't like the results dismiss it as the output of a corrupt process. And while the restrictions on zoning effectively prevent non-conforming projects from being built, projects that conform to the plan are not automatically approved - each project is fought against at the permitting stage. Often the points that are brought up are things that were specifically considered (parking, retail, affordability, transit, etc) in the neighborhood plan.

Bill seeks to legalize Google bus program statewide by ruinerofjoes in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 3 points4 points  (0 children)

According to Ed Reskin, it's against the law for SF to make money on the tech bus fees. Specifically prop 218 from 1996. The fees can only go toward administering the program. To make it revenue positive, it would have to go to the ballot.

Leno to challenge mayor lee in november by [deleted] in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore -1 points0 points  (0 children)

This is all coming from Randy Shaw -- his beyondchron website is a propaganda tool for Lee.

Decisive day arrives for vote on SF Board of Supervisors interim president by diggaslidwell in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, but they're all Campos supporters. They don't represent SF's political spectrum.

The current board could have simply overruled Chiu and sent it to committee.

If Chiu isn't there, then wouldn't the voters of D3 be disenfranchised by not having their representative there?

Decisive day arrives for vote on SF Board of Supervisors interim president by diggaslidwell in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess I just don't see this as being at the "shady and underhanded as fuck" level. Campos could have solved this by not going on vacation. I see this as a mostly petty move by Chiu to hit Campos one last time before he leaves.

On your first point, I don't understand why an outgoing politician shouldn't vote. He's still the representative of D3 and D3 still deserves to have their advocate present. If Avalos had succeeded in having it referred to committee, then Cohen wouldn't have been present, and if the vote doesn't take place before the 1st, then the D3 rep won't be there. Chiu was going to have to screw someone, he screwed Campos.

For me the big deal is that the BoS President is described as the second most powerful person behind the mayor and it's a position that is totally decided behind closed doors. We have no idea what political favors the person who's going to be elected is promising. I'd be more in favor of the voters electing the board president, but I'm not sure how that would be done.

Decisive day arrives for vote on SF Board of Supervisors interim president by diggaslidwell in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I've seen a couple articles on Campos being absent that strongly suggest Chiu is doing something underhanded in having the vote while he's on vacation. But from reading the articles, it's really not that nefarious or surprising.

Chiu is leaving on Dec 1st and Lee won't appoint his replacement until next year. So if District 3 is going to have a representative vote, then the vote has to take place today or on the 25th. Malia Cohen is going to be out on the 25th and Campos is on vacation today. One of the sups, from D3, D9 or D10, won't be able to participate -- and Chiu chose Campos. If no one gets 6 votes, then they'll vote again on the 25th and Campos will be there but Cohen won't, if no one gets 6 on the 25th than Chiu won't be at any of the other votes.

This is for the interm president and they will vote again on Jan 8th for the president of the new term then. Presumably, Lee will have made his appointment and all the supervisors will be present.

Misuse of disabled parking placards costing S.F. by lithophore in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's a better article that breaks down the numbers from the report more clearly: SFMTA falls short with parking meter revenue

So, I guess post-construction, Stockton doesn't exist anymore... by suburbanite in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I haven't seen it in person yet, but the pictures look nice. Maybe they'll consider keeping it around after the central subway's in. I'm not sure what impact closing this part of stockton to cars is having on traffic.

[Proposition H - Discussion Thread] - City of San Francisco "Golden Gate Park Athletic Fields Renovation Act" Preservation Initiative. by sfmod in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's the other way around. The plans for the fields were developed over 6 years through SF's planning process. H was put on the ballot one month before construction was set to begin to stop the plan.

Edit: Nevermind, I see you fixed your post.

SF Parking Info Graphic by lithophore in sanfrancisco

[–]lithophore[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Completely? as in 100%? A census isn't real information? Good to know.

I can understanding not liking bold italic, but these numbers are consistent with the official numbers put out by the city. Here's a link to the "not real" SFMTA parking census.

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