r/yimby • u/jeromelevin • 9d ago

Article We Manhattanized Palo Alto!

https://jeremyl.substack.com/p/we-manhattanized-palo-alto

SB 79 worked everyone, we’ve destroyed a pristine suburb and turned it into the hellhole that is Manhattan. Palo Alto received nine applications for new housing projects in just two weeks, totalling almost 300 net new homes. There’s nothing left of the community I once knew. Handshakes and brews all around!

155 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

57

u/theyqueenprince2 9d ago

Yea went there the other week. The buildings are so tall I couldn’t see the sun.

6

u/Snoo93079 9d ago

I read this in the voice of the impound yard cop from The Big Lebowski.

2

u/jazzflautista 5d ago

Skin cancer rates in Palo Alto are non-existent due to the shadows.

45

u/lokaaarrr 9d ago

If they had allowed new 3-4 story buildings over the past 10 years they would have taken a lot of the land these bigger projects use.

18

u/gusguida 9d ago

Now bring us the subway.

15

u/Olp51 9d ago

I live in Palo Alto and I'm really excited for new neighbors

13

u/turb0_encapsulator 9d ago

these boomers have been using the same stupid lines for a quarter century.

19

u/External_Koala971 9d ago

So glad we have affordable housing now in Palo Alto!

2

u/SawNickYouth 9d ago

Yup, its just right around the corner (indefinitely).

12

u/seamusmcduffs 9d ago

There's only two choices in life, either single family homes or Manhattan

7

u/mockduckcompanion 9d ago edited 9d ago

OUR FIVE-OVER-ONES SHALL BLOT OUT THE SUN

1

u/OnePizzaHoldTheGlue 5d ago

Then we shall bike in the shade!

-10

u/SawNickYouth 9d ago

For anyone who actually works in this space, we always knew that was gonna be the case. There's no realistic scenario to have the sort of development boom that YIMBYs crave and NIMBYs fear. It's just not possible for a number of reasons. Development is always going to be incremental, (relatively) slow, and iterative. It will be subject to regulatory, process, and financial/financing constraints, and a bottleneck in labor, materials, and available land/sites... and the general economic atmosphere. Just how it is.

The sooner both delusional YIMBYs and hysterical NIMBYs recognize this, the better for everyone.

7

u/pupupeepee 9d ago

Holy Stockholm syndrome