High Density Development

High density development projects represent a fundamental challenge to the quality of life in Santa Clara. These developments are burdening an already overstressed and underfunded school system and creating large amounts of traffic on local roads not built to accomodate it. In short, these projects are designed to convert some of the quality of life of existing residents into a monetary form that is placed in the bank accounts of developers and their government allies. These high density developments also are a response to the demands of CEOs (living in much wealthier communities, with no growth and no high density like Los Altos Hills, Woodside, Atherton and Portola Valley) and their lobby groups for more workers so they can continue to expand their business in Silicon Valley where it is easier for them to lord over it. It also gives them a continual over-supply of workers for their existing businesses (buyer's market), giving local workers a double whammy - wage supression and increased competition for jobs and housing (driving prices up). It is time for the CEOs to expand their business in less crowded, less expensive areas where their new workers can enjoy a nice quality of life and at a much lower cost of housing.

The Santa Clara "Greenprint"

The city council and the bureaucrats of Santa Clara have an aggressive campaign to overcrowd the city by building massive high-density projects. But it appears that they are concerned that the people of the city might become upset and unhappy with their scheme. How do we know that? One sign is that they have produced something called the Santa Clara Greenprint Map. Nothing says "We're worried they might revolt" more than listing cemetaries, monastaries, police stations and Great America among other dubious sites, on a "greenprint map" which is trying to give the impression the city is overflowing with "green" areas.

Housing "Shortage"

According to the Santa Clara City Council, there is a desperate need for new high density housing in Santa Clara. A housing shortage. All building in Santa Clara, as in all communities in the United States, is completely and totally controlled by the local government. You cannot build any commercial, retail, or residential buildings without getting the approval of the local government. If there is a "housing shortage" it means that the local government approved too much commercial development. The solution to a housing shortage caused by the local government is not to burden tax payers with the expense of new high density development. High density does not pay for itself which is why the developer is required to make a payment to the local school system. However, the extra services required by high density versus the taxes it brings in will fall short forever. The highest density city in the United States - New York - has both a city income tax and a city sales tax. Rather than lower taxes, high density increases them for the residents of New York City. Yet the high-density developer only has to make one payment. In addition to the cost burden of high density for existing residents, it has the obvious negative of making traffic worse, and overcrowding schools and everything from the library to barbecue pits and tennis courts at parks. The solution to a "housing shortage" is to correct the mistakes that the City Council made in the past. Begin buying and leveling commercial property.

The City Council overdevelops commercial - creating towering office buildings north of 101 - and then comes to the residents and says "Gee, we're sorry to inform you that we have to pack more people into the finite area of your city because we overbuilt commercial - er we have a housing shortage". Notably, the Santa Clara City Council is not putting high density on the south east side of the city where they live. They chastise residents for "not in my backyard" regarding high density development, and then don't put it in their backyards.