Anti-Google Protesters Disrupt San Jose Mayor’s State Of The City Address

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rgMekanic

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A group of protesters in San Jose interrupted Mayor Sam Liccardo's "State of the City Address" 4 times to protest Google's plans to build a mega-campus in the city according to a report from CBS. The protesters were from a group called Serve the People San Jose, which is a grassroots group opposed to the Google mega-campus.

While I can appreciate the residents concerns in San Jose, tactics like this are not helpful to anyone's cause.

“People are fearing that they won’t be able to live in San Jose,” said Serve the People San Jose member Liz Gonzalez. “We have to be in their face because we’re fighting to stay in the city that we grew up with that we love where our family and friends are,” she says.
 
As much as do not care for Google, this is just the wrong way to go about fixing things.
 
What is their overall goal or agenda here? Bring back burger flipper jobs? I just don't get the prerogative, and I honestly doubt they have one other than a 70's hippie yelling "DOWN WITH CAPITALISM! RAH RAH! Fight the powa!!"
 
Cyraxx said:
What is their overall goal or agenda here? Bring back burger flipper jobs? I just don't get the prerogative, and I honestly doubt they have one other than a 70's hippie yelling "DOWN WITH CAPITALISM! RAH RAH! Fight the powa!!"
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Probably blah blah housing prices will go up, "technological" gentrification of neighborhoods, ... the usual.
 
I was born in San Jose and have lived here my whole life. If I didn't but my house during the economic downturn, I'd be looking to move out to somewhere more affordable due to the rising housing cost.

Housing prices have already gone up. If it isn't unaffordable now, it will be real soon. Median home prices are around a cool $1M right now.

The protesters are fighting a battle they cannot win. I expect them and most of my young relatives without home ownership, will move out of the area soon or eventually.
 
Cyraxx said:
What is their overall goal or agenda here? Bring back burger flipper jobs? I just don't get the prerogative, and I honestly doubt they have one other than a 70's hippie yelling "DOWN WITH CAPITALISM! RAH RAH! Fight the powa!!"
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They're not exactly anti-google, but more anti being forced out of affordable housing. From their webpage they have issue with the mega campus that Google is intending to build and how that will affect the low income housing crisis. They claim shouting is the only way they'll get any attention.

I hear Seattle has similar problems with Amazon's massive growth in the that city and we have similar low income housing shortage in Los Angeles area and it's contributing to the homeless population.
 
rolling_tiger said:
. If it isn't unaffordable now, it will be real soon. Median home prices are around a cool $1M right now.
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Yet homes are still being sold, and prices are rising as a result... hence kind of destroying the whole "unaffordable" argument. The sooner people realize that housing in a particular city is not a right, the faster they can move on with their lives and not go broke just trying to scrape by.

Yes I am an equally lucky individual with a house in San Francisco, that I very well plan on turning into a rental property when I retire and living somewhere much cheaper.
 
rgMekanic said:
The protesters were from a group called Serve the People San Jose, which is a grassroots group opposed to the Google mega-campus.
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Maybe it's just me, but Google doesn't set housing prices. The locals do. You know, the people of San Jose are the ones increasing housing prices. If they don't change housing prices, everyone gets to stay where they're at. Google people moving in will be the ones struggling for housing or building new housing.

To me, the blame for housing price increase is always with the locals. They're the ones that own the housing.
 
krotch said:
Maybe it's just me, but Google doesn't set housing prices. The locals do. You know, the people of San Jose are the ones increasing housing prices. If they don't change housing prices, everyone gets to stay where they're at. Google people moving in will be the ones struggling for housing or building new housing.

To me, the blame for housing price increase is always with the locals. They're the ones that own the housing.
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companies buy dozen of houses or apartments, then lease them out. Remember how AirBnb was once about privately own apartment for rents , and not entire apartment blocks as quasi-hotels?

then they are companies like Google who would be very generous in paying for corporate housing leases.Even housekeeping and lawn maintenance can ask for generous rates from these mega corps.

say even if im a multi millionaire who wants to participate in the real estate market, i would be buying entire apartment blocks as well.
 
theBrownLlama said:
companies buy dozen of houses or apartments, then lease them out. Remember how AirBnb was once about privately own apartment for rents , and not entire apartment blocks as quasi-hotels?

then they are companies like Google who would be very generous in paying for corporate housing leases.Even housekeeping and lawn maintenance can ask for generous rates from these mega corps.

say even if im a multi millionaire who wants to participate in the real estate market, i would be buying entire apartment blocks as well.
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Where does it all start from? Who sold those houses/apartments? If locals don't sell, companies can't move in. Locals see $$ signs and sell off or increase prices. Why not, I'd do the same.

It also doesn't help that the government is anti-suburb and pro-urban/mass transit.
 
Oh NO!.... there are JOB's coming to San Jose... we won't be able to leach off the city and say there are no jobs available.. stop the inhumanity...
 
Ass cannons should move to Kansas if they don't like buildings. Look buttercup, it's San Jose, it's the IT corridor of the state. STFU.
 
Incontentia Buttocks said:
Ass cannons should move to Kansas if they don't like buildings. Look buttercup, it's San Jose, it's the IT corridor of the state. STFU.
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A lot are moving out. It's like a ratio of 1:3 (arrivals/departures) for California currently. I'm laughing, cause if it keeps happening, you end up not being able to survive as a state. Course, more people leave, prices drop, more ppl move in. I feel it'll just be a constant up and down for them, unless the state decides to do something about it. Which is unlikely.

Me, I suggest they move, cause there's much better places out there. They're probably just too afraid, as that's all they know.
 
OK, so I like my job. I like where I work. I dont really feel like leaving. My commute is already at about 45 minutes and moving closer to work is out of the question. What was in reasonable range has now become unaffordable as well. Things to blame would be the new statdium that moved out of the metro area to my county. I also imagine the growth of yall'ywood has something to do with it. If we manage to convince and entice Amazon to build their new campus here I can only imagine that costs will go up even more. Unfortuantely I didnt buy a house. Yeah my mistake. So basically the only option is to be find a job available in the area that I can afford to live? Unfortunately there arent any tech jobs out in the sticks. I'm too qualified to flip burgers.
 
LOL, look at their group online. Decolinzation, "transformative justice", "Gentrification is genocide"....another bunch of socialists disguising themselves with a catchy name and a cooperative, incurious media.
 
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This group maybe nuts, but there are real issues caused and solved by high housing costs.

Families with children or about to have children can't afford to live in the area and leave. Schools are closing due to low enrollment. School teachers can't afford to pay for housing and leave the area or don't even bother.

The entire area will basically be filled with tech workers who don't have time for families, people who provide goods and services for these people and suffer the high costs or crazy people who like 2 hour commutes and live somewhere affordable.
 
Recidivant said:
OK, so I like my job. I like where I work. I dont really feel like leaving. My commute is already at about 45 minutes and moving closer to work is out of the question. What was in reasonable range has now become unaffordable as well. Things to blame would be the new statdium that moved out of the metro area to my county. I also imagine the growth of yall'ywood has something to do with it. If we manage to convince and entice Amazon to build their new campus here I can only imagine that costs will go up even more. Unfortuantely I didnt buy a house. Yeah my mistake. So basically the only option is to be find a job available in the area that I can afford to live? Unfortunately there arent any tech jobs out in the sticks. I'm too qualified to flip burgers.
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Except that you don't need to move out into the sticks to find a place with jobs and affordable living. If you can't find any, means you aren't looking hard enough or even looking. Seattle, Portland, Boise, etc have IT jobs and affordable living. Just reading a friend's post the other day that Austin received like 97k Californians last year.


rolling_tiger said:
This group maybe nuts, but there are real issues caused and solved by high housing costs.

Families with children or about to have children can't afford to live in the area and leave. Schools are closing due to low enrollment. School teachers can't afford to pay for housing and leave the area or don't even bother.

The entire area will basically be filled with tech workers who don't have time for families, people who provide goods and services for these people and suffer the high costs or crazy people who like 2 hour commutes and live somewhere affordable.
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There will come a point where enough ppl move out that housing prices will drop again, but there will definitely be struggles, as services industry, schooling, police, fire dept, etc will be degraded.
 
This housing boom is different from the previous ones in that overseas investors are the ones buying the homes to stash their wealth and with some US speculators and local home owners, but it's mostly all cash buyers.

Many of these homes are left vacant, so it only exasperates the problem. The only way the market goes down is if there is a major sell off by this group.

Also, there's not much land in the valley to build out, so more housing is difficult to come by.

krotch said:
Except that you don't need to move out into the sticks to find a place with jobs and affordable living. If you can't find any, means you aren't looking hard enough or even looking. Seattle, Portland, Boise, etc have IT jobs and affordable living. Just reading a friend's post the other day that Austin received like 97k Californians last year.




There will come a point where enough ppl move out that housing prices will drop again, but there will definitely be struggles, as services industry, schooling, police, fire dept, etc will be degraded.
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rolling_tiger said:
This housing boom is different from the previous ones in that overseas investors are the ones buying the homes to stash their wealth and with some US speculators and local home owners, but it's mostly all cash buyers.

Many of these homes are left vacant, so it only exasperates the problem. The only way the market goes down is if there is a major sell off by this group.

Also, there's not much land in the valley to build out, so more housing is difficult to come by.
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So in other words, even with people moving out, their won't come an equilibrium and housing prices will just stay high. Sucks to be in Cali I guess. I'm from Idaho, we just receive those moving out of Cali.
 
Boise is a good destination for some from the tech industry, especially with Micron being there and it having reasonable housing costs. There aren't any large lots of land that you can get in Boise, around San Jose.

I personally know people who have moved there, Denver, Portland, Austin and my brother is looking into moving out to Brooklyn because it's cheaper and isn't centered around tech.
 
krotch said:
A lot are moving out. It's like a ratio of 1:3 (arrivals/departures) for California currently. I'm laughing, cause if it keeps happening, you end up not being able to survive as a state. Course, more people leave, prices drop, more ppl move in. I feel it'll just be a constant up and down for them, unless the state decides to do something about it. Which is unlikely.

Me, I suggest they move, cause there's much better places out there. They're probably just too afraid, as that's all they know.
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Ummm good? Because as it stands California is grossly overpopulated* (* in the areas everyone decides to live) virtually no metropolitan area has the ability to sustain itself, getting water from easily half way across the state (in the long direction for Southern California!). Having this many people cost disproportionately more money than having few people, which is one of the reasons why taxes are so high (one of them... greedy populations wanting everyone else to pay for their pet projects is another, and very similar to other states just we have more politicians, hence more crap).

That said, yeah move, except for the fact then everyone starts hating Californians for moving to "their" state.
 
Ya, many in Idaho have a big hate for Californians moving in. I can sort of understand, due to some of them wanting to change Idaho into another California. Luckily, that's such a minor amount, they won't be able to change anything. Most simply integrate into local society.

Many others simply are envious of them, as they sell their $400k+ crappy Cali house and get a really nice house or build a nice house in Idaho for a fraction of the cost. I'm from Twin Falls, Idaho. $80k Idaho house is probably the same as a $400k Cali house. I'm only back home for 2-3 weeks out of the year and have no idea what the Cali folks do. None of the jobs there pay much.
 
ive worked in San Jose, its a shithole lol.(its got its nicer areas, campbell for one) anything downtown and east of that is pretty hood.
 
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