[ale] OT:Silicon Valley Home Prices Drive Mayor to Hills]

Wed Nov 15 14:37:05 EST 2000

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To: darkjedi1066 at msn.com (sith)
Subject: Wired News : Home Prices Drive Mayor to Hills
From: development at combiz.net (student of the Tao)
To: ale at ale.org
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 09:43:31 -0800 (PST)
CC: development at combiz.net

A note from student of the Tao:

   I bet prop 13 factors into this.

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 From Wired News, available online at:
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,40172,00.html

Home Prices Drive Mayor to Hills  
by Katie Dean  

2:00 a.m. Nov. 15, 2000 PST 
A self-proclaimed 28-year-old "washed-up" mayor -- chased out by high
costs in his Silicon Valley suburb -- hopes to find professional,
personal, and political gold in the El Dorado Hills near California's
state capital. 

Yep, buying a house in one Silicon Valley city is so expensive that
even the mayor can't afford to live there.    

David Buckmaster will continue his day job at InsWeb, an online
insurance company. The company is opening a new office near
Sacramento, and offered to pay relocation fees and help with a down
payment on a house for David and his wife, Kim, a first-grade teacher.

Deciding to leave the Peninsula -- the area between San Francisco and
San Jose that is home to a number of wealthy technology companies --
where he grew up was difficult, but ultimately made the most sense for
the couple, who plan to have a family. 

"We came to the conclusion that we could never afford to live (in San
Carlos)," he said. "We don't want to raise our kids in an apartment. 

"I wanted to make people aware of how tough it is out there," he said,
explaining why he chose to publicize the decision. "I think (housing
costs) affect our economic vitality here. It's an Achilles' heel." 

Other San Carlos city council members sympathize with the mayor. 

"I can well appreciate his dilemma," said Don Eaton, who sits on the
council. "I remember 25-plus years ago when housing prices were just
starting to go crazy, and wages were a whole lot lower than they are
today, and the gap just kept widening and widening. I think David is
actually doing the smart, long-term thing, personally. 

"We will miss his talents and ideas," he added. "He's brought good
perspectives to issues." 

"It's truly unfortunate that we are going to lose a bright and
talented professional and political leader in the Bay Area," said
Michelle Montague-Bruno, the director of communications for the
Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, an organization of the Valley's
technology companies that works with government to address problems of
housing, education and transportation, among others. 

"However, he and his family are dealing with a reality that Silicon
Valley families deal with every day," she said.  
SVMG has actively addressed the problem of skyrocketing housing costs
by supporting the Housing Trust of Santa Clara County, which runs a
first-time home-buyers program. 

Technology companies like Intel and Hewlett Packard have donated money
to the housing trust to establish grant or loan programs to assist
teachers who want to buy a house. 

There are no housing assistance programs for mayors, apparently. And
Buckmaster and his wife believe there is so much demand for the
assistance, the chance that they'd receive aid is slim, anyway. 

Though the mayor previously thought of Sacramento as "a town we always
drive through -- fast -- on the way back from Lake Tahoe," he and his
wife have found a $300,000 house in El Dorado Hills that they plan to
buy. In San Carlos, a comparable house would cost over $1 million,
Buckmaster said. 

El Dorado Hills is in the process of incorporating, and Buckmaster
said that "if they need a 28-year-old washed-up mayor, I'm ready to
help out. 

"I could see myself running again." 

Buckmaster has served on the San Carlos City Council since he was 23.
Last year, he was appointed by his fellow council members to serve as
mayor. 

To build more affordable housing, Buckmaster believes that state
government must modify the tax structure. 

Currently, San Carlos gets little revenue from property taxes, but
generates a lot of funding from sales tax. Thus, when the city must
chose between building new houses or apartments versus building a new
Home Depot or Best Buy, the city chooses the business because it
benefits the city financially.  

Related Wired Links:  

Asia's Next Tech Hub: Singapore  
Oct. 28, 2000 

Austin Suffers Growing Pains  
Oct. 13, 2000 

'Dot-Commers Go Home!'  
Aug. 26, 2000 

Building a Jetsons-like Community  
Aug. 26, 2000 

Tech Boom a Bust for Teachers  
Aug. 1, 2000 

Maine Lines Up to Be Tech Mecca  
Jun. 24, 2000 

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