· Nathan Marsak · 3 min read
1807 N. Van Ness Ave.
An elegant 1911 home on North Van Ness, on a street replete with gorgeously maintained vintage houses, falls to the logic of Senator Wiener's anti-homeowner legislation.
On a street replete with gorgeously maintained vintage homes, one house of 1911 vintage was soooooo lovely…
…that it made the YIMBYs spit out their coffee. “Pffffttt,” came the latte shooting from their collective nostrils, and then, sputtering, exclaimed “this will upset our unholy dark god Wiener! The man who said he would end homeownership because it is immoral!”
Yes, he actually said that, and then got to work ending homeownership (hardly surprising, his being owned by his big-donor real estate corporations). Newsom signed Wiener’s anti-homeowner bill, tossing California zoning laws out the window, allowing real estate speculators to demolish anything and build high-density apartments anywhere and everywhere, because (and in another case of yes, he actually said that) Newsom stated that tearing out California’s lawns and trees and little houses with their stored carbon footprints, and replacing them with new super high-density modern construction apartment complexes will “address the problems of climate change.”
Therefore, this:
Note: the rendering above is actually Leeor Maciborski’s 2021 version of the project, when it was a mere three stories. It’s much taller now. Which is funny, since the name of the designing firm is Taller.
So, say goodbye to 1807 N Van Ness—and anywhere else—with box beams, white oak floors, and leaded-glass built-ins:
“HA HA HA HA HA!” cackle the YIMBYS. “Soon the work of evil Edwardian-era single-home-builders will be nothing but a memory. This offering will please our dark god!”
The YIMBYs dance around the fire, tossing Victorian spindlework on the flames. The eldest of them snorts and spits out a bit of Edwardian porch railing on which it was chewing, and intones: “Lord Wiener shall be pleased indeed! He shall be as pleased as when our puppet Newsom bathed in the blood of the World’s Cutest House two doors down at 1821 Van Ness. Replaced by…LUXURY TOWNHOMES! BA HA HA HA HA! Newsom has delivered on his promise to silence communities, destroy democracy, enrich developers, and piss on those who actually need housing! HAIL VICTORY!”
1821 N Van Ness, built 1917, and 1821 N Van Ness, built 2017. Above shot: not green. Below shot: green. Thank God developers are saving the planet.
Of course, California is bleeding people, a half-million in the last couple years—so many we lost a seat in the House of Representatives for the first time in history (plus lost sway in the electoral college, and a ton of federal money). Nowhere is losing more so than Los Angeles County: July 2021-July 2022, for example, saw a greater-than 90,000-person loss of LA County restidents…not only the largest decline in California, but the largest decline in the country, and that’s saying something, considering how many people are fleeing New York and Illinois.
Developers aren’t rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, they’re building the deck chairs. But what company doesn’t need a good loss carryforward on the books? Good for them! And who does it harm, anyway?
