A silicon valley vision for San Francisco

nytimes.com

4 points·dirktheman··3 comments

There are things I dislike about Ron Conway's politics (the gun thing), but in general I support his goals in SF.

What I do dislike in SF are two things: shifting the payroll tax to a gross receipts tax is unfair to non-tech businesses with lower margins. A simple surcharge to the state income tax would be much more suitable, for both businesses and residents.

Two, as far as I can tell, either Ron Conway nor Ed Lee have seriously addressed the lack of affordable housing in SF. Not "affordable housing" -- housing for people with political connections and long-term waitlists, for below market rate rents -- but genuinely making housing affordable based on demand, by de-politicizing zoning and permitting in the city.

BMR rents/sales here are ridiculous. I've read some of the requirements for the sales and I don't see how these units ever get sold legitimately. BMR rents are also a similarly byzantine process.

As it is now SF (like the state itself) is business unfriendly and I hope that changes. My favorite example is SF's property tax depreciation schedule and the 12 year cycle for servers. I can't think of a server that is even designed to function that long anymore, the standard is 3 years. This is how out of touch San Francisco is, and it needs to change.

I am glad someone is finally taking on the ridiculousness of San Francisco politics. I was born here, and I've watched things just get more and more ridiculous. There's a reason this city was voted one of the worst run in the US, just watch a board of supervisors meeting and you'll get a good sense of whats wrong.

I think Ron is in the wrong about a few things (1A vs 2A), but frankly Ron is and will be a boon to San Francisco politics and the economy.

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