Monday, August 14, 2006

Alms for the low six figures?

The city of Santa Barbara is deciding whether to take their last big vacant lot left in the whole damn valley and use it to build "affordable housing" units for residents earning up to $160,000 a year.

City planners expect the oh-so-affordable units to go for about half a mil each - not bad for a city where the median home price is 1.2 mil, huh?

Oh, Santa Barbara, you have such tasteful, cute problems! Your problems are like "Oh, no! We're all so prosperous, and our homes are worth so much money, where will the help live?" Your problems are so clean and well lit, and so compliant with all local zoning variances.

Readers, if you are ever visiting SoCal, do not go to Santa Barbara. It's expensive and boring. The shops are full of golfing clothes. An expired parking meter sets off alarm bells in City Hall. The bars SUCK ASS.

Christ, I hate that fucking place.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! I had no idea that you harbored such hatred for our neighbors to the north.

Anonymous said...

As an erstwhile developer of (real) affordable housing, I applaud your well-placed righteous indignation.

But I assume when you ask "Where will the help live?," you mean the "professional" help. At $160k, it must be housing for local therapists.

Anonymous said...

Um, the help lives in Ventura. And Tha 'Nard, of course.

I hate Santa Barbara too.

vikkitikkitavi said...

Spooney: You don't know me.

David: In the article, city planners claim that they are looking for the buyers to be "cops and teachers."

HUH? I'm pretty sure I make considerably more money than either of those groups, and yet I struggle to pay the mortgage on my quarter-mil little cracker box.

Jess: It's almost as bad as Carmel.

Larry Jones said...

The median income in California will not qualify you to finance the median-priced home, and now "affordable housing" for people who are, well, rich? The message seems clear: "Get out, you huddled masses, or prepare to live in cardboard lean-to's."

Anyway, thanks for the excellent public service - researching every bar in Santa Barbara. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it, eh?