$4 toast prompts housing petition

[Jesus Malverde]

Everybody has their own "Holy cow, I can't believe life in San Francisco is so expensive!" tale of woe. For Eddie Kurtz, it was reading about a $4 piece of toast.

Venture Beat recently published a blog post titled "$4 toast: Why the tech industry is ruining San Francisco," citing a $4 piece of toast at the Mill on Divisadero. Kurtz, political director for the Courage Campaign, cited it as an example of an increasingly unaffordable San Francisco that motivated his group to launch a petition calling on Mayor Ed Lee to do something.

Of course, the petition is really about pushing the mayor to fight for affordable housing, not affordable toast, but it's all linked in the realm of this city is crazy expensive.

"It feels like there's a widening sense that this is out of control," Kurtz said. "It feels like there's just a widening gap, and regular people who often don't think about these things are having sticker shock about trying to find an apartment and pay the bills."

The petition reads, in part, "Sign on and tell Mayor Lee: San Francisco became one of the greatest cities in the world because it valued the working class. Unless you change course, our vibrant, diverse city will become a memory."

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/4-toast-prompts-housing-petition-4962002.php

[SoCalDem]

1. Want cheap toast? Make your own at home.

Ordering even CHEAP food at a dining establishment has other costs built into the amount charged.. Even a 3rd grader can understand that

[WinkyDink]

3. Exactly. The rent, utilities, employee wages, cleaners, etc.!

[Laelth]

2. People want to live in liberal cities.

That free market demand drives up the costs of everything in the city. No surprise here.

What I want Americans to hear, however, is the obvious--most of us want to live in places that are liberal.

-Laelth

[Hell Hath No Fury]

4. SF is a little different -

Yeah, it's liberal, but we have had our City systematically sold off of the highest bidder. All of our recent Mayors have been chosen for us by the CA Democratic Party, and they have all bent over backwards to make this a town for the 1%. There was a conscious decision to abandon the working class in favor of white collar. The only housing being build is luxury condos. We voters just turned down a project that would have built 130+ units on our waterfront that went over the existing high limit -- the units would have sold for $5 million. 130 units of affordable housing would have gotten the thumbs up here. Former mayor Newsom upped the crazy when he let Twitter in with a sweetheart tax deal that essentially relieves them of any city taxes. Our representatives are selling us out, right and left, and there is very little we can do to stop them right now.

I am glad there is a new movement afoot -- I am certainly going to look into it and participate.