California

Opinion | Steph Curry’s NIMBY “scandal” is more complex than meets the eye

Published

2 years ago

February 7, 2023

Opinion | Steph Curry’s NIMBY “scandal” is more complex than meets the eye

Atherton, California, is a affluent little city in Silicon Valley, just a few miles south of Meta’s headquarters. The city’s common residence worth, in line with Zillow, is simply shy of $7.5 million; median family revenue exceeds 1 / 4 of one million {dollars} per yr. It’s one of many poshest ZIP codes in a state riven by homelessness, housing insecurity and wealth inequality.

So when Atherton residents oppose the event of latest housing of their backyards, they hardly make sympathetic figures. Native householders Steph and Ayesha Curry realized as a lot not too long ago after they wrote a letter to the city opposing a multifamily housing growth at 23 Oakwood Blvd., the lot abutting their property.

In concept, I might hardly ask for a greater foil than an Atherton multimillionaire who doesn’t wish to stay subsequent to some residences.

I’m knowledgeable YIMBY (which means “Sure in My Again Yard”). I spend most of day by day serious about how California can relieve its housing disaster by constructing extra houses. In concept, I might hardly ask for a greater foil than an Atherton multimillionaire who doesn’t wish to stay subsequent to some residences.

However this specific story isn’t fairly so easy. For one factor, Steph Curry is the place to begin guard for the Golden State Warriors, one of many best basketball gamers ever, and one thing of a secular saint to the folks of the Bay Space. For an additional, the Currys raised some not unreasonable privateness considerations of their letter opposing the mission.

“We hesitate so as to add to the ‘not in our yard’ (actually) rhetoric, however we wished to ship a word earlier than right this moment’s assembly,” they wrote, in line with Complicated. “Security and privateness for us and our children continues to be our prime precedence and one of many greatest causes we selected Atherton as residence.”

The problem, the Currys clarified within the letter, is that residents of 23 Oakwood would have clear sightlines into their property. For most individuals, that might be a trivial concern; until you reside in a really distant space, odds are you shut the blinds earlier than you alter out of your garments. However Steph Curry’s fame means he faces extra makes an attempt to invade his privateness — and his household’s privateness — than the remainder of us. If I had been a mega-celebrity making an attempt to provide my kids a comparatively regular life, I’d most likely do every part in my energy to verify folks couldn’t peer into my home. To that finish, the Currys proposed a compromise: “taller fencing and landscaping to dam sight traces onto our household’s property.”

Little doubt a part of the rationale the Currys’ objection to the 23 Oakwood proposal made nationwide headlines is the handy framing: It’s very simple to dunk on (sorry) rich NIMBY celebrities who discuss a very good recreation about social justice whereas policing wealth segregation in their very own neighborhood. The Currys’ acknowledgement of their reluctance to “add to the ‘not in our yard’ (actually) rhetoric” reveals they realized the narrative is mainly a layup. (Sorry once more.)

The wealthiest enclaves have been the worst offenders with regards to blocking new housing growth.

However even when the Currys had been engaged in some extra clear-cut villainy — like their neighbor, enterprise capitalist Marc Andreessen, who, regardless of being value almost $2 billion, is outwardly apoplectic on the chance that any multifamily housing in Atherton would “MASSIVELY lower our residence values” — they wouldn’t be the true downside.

The actual downside is structural. It has little to do with the Currys and every part to do with the anti-housing land-use insurance policies of tony suburbs like Atherton.

Contemplate the trigger for Atherton’s insane residence values. It helps that the houses are very large and really good. However much more essential is the shortage of these houses.

Atherton is within the middle of one of many world’s richest and most economically productive areas: the house of Meta, Stanford College, Alphabet and Apple, to call just a few of an important multibillion-dollar establishments in Silicon Valley. Lots of of 1000’s of individuals are employed within the area’s tech sector, and 1000’s upon 1000’s extra clear their houses, ship their groceries and drive their rideshares.

However because the labor drive of Silicon Valley swelled over the previous 20 or 30 years, housing manufacturing stayed largely stagnant. The best-wage earners outbid everybody else for the prevailing housing inventory — elevating costs to their present astonishing ranges.

The wealthiest enclaves have been the worst offenders with regards to blocking new housing growth. This additional enriched the residents of these enclaves by guaranteeing staggering progress of their property values, which in flip helped lock out undesirables (learn: non-rich folks). What was left of the Valley’s working class was confined to close by cities like Redwood Metropolis and East Palo Alto.

Atherton enforced this revenue segregation by outlawing the development of nearly something besides single-family houses — which needed to be constructed on heaps that, in line with the city’s zoning code, could possibly be no smaller than 1 acre. The Metropolis Council even voted to close down its native commuter rail station partly over fears that the state would mandate extra housing growth close to transit stops.

Atherton isn’t the one metropolis that took such pains to take care of its exclusivity. Native governments all through the state — together with large cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco — have strangled housing growth, and plunged the complete state right into a social, political and humanitarian disaster. Atherton is simply distinctive due to the sheer magnitude of the wealth locked behind its partitions.

Ending America’s a number of, interlocking housing crises would require that we finish the staggering mismatch between financial exercise and housing manufacturing in locations like Silicon Valley.

Particular person householders will not be the primary impediment. As a substitute, California and different states should cope with a system that has made it far too simple for native governments to place asset progress for wealthy folks forward of everybody else’s housing wants. That doesn’t preclude cities from making cheap lodging for present residents. However it’ll require constructing many, many extra houses. And for the sake of preventing revenue segregation and selling truthful housing — a necessity in and of itself — California might want to be sure that lots of these houses are in-built locations like Atherton.

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California

Another batch of raw milk from a trendy California brand just tested positive for bird flu

Published

4 hours ago

November 28, 2024

Press Room

Two batches of raw milk from a trendy California brand have tested positive for bird flu this week.
Bird flu has been spreading rapidly among cattle in the US.
Experts say drinking raw milk is dangerous, and can cause food poisoning.

Another batch of raw milk just tested positive for bird flu in California.

Last Sunday, Fresno-based Raw Farm voluntarily recalled a first batch of cream top whole raw milk with a “best by” date of November 27. By Wednesday, the California Department of Public Health announced that a second batch of Raw Farm cream top, with a “best by” date of December 7 had also tested positive for bird flu, based on retail sampling.

“We’re not making a big deal about it, because it’s not a big deal,” Kaleigh Stanziani, Raw Farm’s vice president of marketing, said in a short video posted on YouTube after the farm’s first voluntary recall was announced earlier this week.

She said there had only been an indication that there might be a “trace element of something possible,” emphasizing that there had been no reported illnesses of Raw Farms cows or positive tests from the cattle.

Raw Farm owner Mark McAfee later told the LA Times that the California Department of Food and Agriculture had requested that his company “hold delivery of further products” until Friday, after conducting thorough testing of two Raw Farms and one creamery on Wednesday. (McAfee could not immediately be reached for comment by Business Insider during the Thanksgiving holiday.)

Raw milk may be helping bird flu spread — but not in the way you might think

Containers of Raw Farm raw milk on a shelf at Berkeley Bowl on November 25, 2024 in Berkeley, California.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Scientists suspect that cross-contamination of raw milk between animals may be one reason the H5N1 virus is spreading rapidly among cows in the US — and could even contribute to the human spread of the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautions that dairy workers might be able to contract bird flu by infected raw milk splashed into their eyes.

There is no definitive evidence yet that humans can get bird flu from drinking contaminated raw milk. Instead, health authorities generally recommend avoiding raw milk because of other serious health risks, including food poisoning with bacteria like Salmonella, E.coli, or Listeria.

There are no known health benefits of drinking raw milk. Instead, all evidence suggests that pasteurized milk is just as nutritious, and is safer to consume.

Still, raw milk has become a trendy product among some influencers. Gwenyth Paltrow says she has it in her coffee in the morning.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, says he wants the US Food and Drug Administration to stop its “war” against raw milk.

Over the summer, “Carnivore MD” Paul Saladino released a raw milk smoothie in partnership with the elite Los Angeles health foods store Erewhon featuring unpasteurized (raw) kefir from Raw Farms, and powdered beef organs.

California has some of the loosest rules around raw milk in the country; it’s generally fine for California retailers like health foods stores and grocers to sell it, raw milk products just can’t be transported across state lines, per FDA rules.

Dr. Paul’s Raw Animal-Based Smoothie includes Raw Farm kefir milk, beef organ powder, as well as blueberries, honey, bananas and other ingredients. It’s $19.

Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Michael Payne, a researcher at the Western Institute of Food Safety and Security, told The Guardian that people consuming Dr. Paul’s $19 smoothie were “playing Russian roulette with their health,” and ignoring pasteurization, “the single most important food safety firewall in history.”

California dairy farms have been seeing an uptick in bird flu cases since August. The state has reported 29 confirmed human cases of bird flu, and all but one of those was sourced back to cows.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first confirmed case of bird flu in a California child from Alameda County. The child had no known contact with infected farm animals, but may have been exposed to wild birds, the California health department said in a statement.

The child had mild symptoms and is recovering well after receiving antiviral drugs.

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California

10 of 15 Southern California industries slow their hiring pace

Published

12 hours ago

November 28, 2024

Press Room

10 of 15 Southern California industries slow their hiring pace

Southern California’s bosses added 80,700 workers in the past year to a record 8.06 million jobs – but that hiring pace is roughly half of the pre-pandemic job market’s gains.

My trusty spreadsheet – filled with state job figures for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties – compared employment changes for the region and 15 industries in the year ended in October with the average yearly hiring pace before coronavirus upended the economy.

Yes, there have never been more Southern Californians employed. However, the recent hirings that created the all-time high staffing are far below the average job creation of 159,600 a year in 2015-19.

This is one of many signals of cooler business trends. It’s a chill significantly tied to the Federal Reserve’s attempts to slow what was once an overheated economy.

But Southern California bosses have another challenge – a shortage of workers. The region’s workforce, a measure of labor supply, is basically flat comparing 2024 to 2015-19. Fewer choices of workers have added difficulty for local businesses trying to meet their staffing needs.

Think of that when you learn that among the 15 Southern California business sectors tracked – hiring in 10 industries is below pre-pandemic years compared with five industries with improvements.

The downs

First, contemplate the 10 industries where the hiring pace has weakened, ranked by the size of the decline …

Professional-business services: 1.14 million workers in October – down 4,600 in a year vs. 24,100 annual gains in 2015-19. This net downturn of 28,700 jobs is unnerving because this white-collar work typically pays above-average salaries.

Construction: 378,700 workers – down 3,100 in a year vs. 16,200 annual gains in 2015-19. A building slowdown due to lofty mortgage rates created this 19,300 reversal.

Logistics-utilities: 820,800 workers – up 6,800 in a year vs. 25,800 annual gains in 2015-19. What’s at least a temporary oversupply of warehouses in the region may be behind this 19,000 slowdown.

Manufacturing: 558,400 workers – down 15,300 in a year vs. 4,100 annual cuts in 2015-19. This 11,200 drop is continued losses of local factory work tied to high cost of doing business in the region.

Fast-food restaurants: 359,400 workers – up 3,400 in a year vs. 12,400 annual gains in 2015-19. Weaker consumer spending and a hike in the industry’s minimum wage contribute to this 9,000 drop.

Hotels/entertainment/recreation: 268,300 workers – up 3,400 in a year vs. 9,600 annual gains in 2015-19. This 6,200 cooling reflects worker shortages.

Full-service eateries/food service: 339,100 workers – up 1,600 in a year vs. 6,600 annual gains in 2015-19. Inflation making shoppers pickier is part of this 5,000 cooling.

Information: 214,200 workers – down 100 in a year vs. 3,700 annual gains in 2015-19. Weakness in tech businesses and Hollywood productions created the 3,800 net downturn.

Personal services: 266,600 workers – up 500 in a year vs. 3,200 annual gains in 2015-19. Again, it is hard to find people to do this work. Thus, a 2,700 cooling.

Government: 1.03 million workers – up 11,600 in a year vs. 12,500 annual gains in 2015-19. This 900 dip is status quo.

The ups

Ponder the five industries where the hiring pace rose in the past year, ranked by the size of the gains …

Social assistance: 512,300 workers – up 28,200 in a year vs. 18,300 annual gains in 2015-19. The 9,900 addition comes as more folks need help at home for healthcare and child care.

Healthcare: 836,700 workers – up 30,100 in a year vs. 20,900 annual gains in 2015-19. The 9,200 growth parallels the region’s aging population and its need for medical services.

Retailing: 748,300 workers – up 8,300 in a year vs. 300 annual cuts in 2015-19. This somewhat surprising 8,600 improvement may be consumers tiring of online commerce and wanting to get out to shop.

Financial: 364,100 workers – up 4,400 in a year vs. 3,900 annual gains in 2015-19. The minor 500 improvement is a return to normalcy. Super-heated hiring came in the pandemic days thanks to a brief drop in mortgage rates to historic lows.

Private education: 215,700 workers – up 5,500 in a year vs. 5,100 annual gains in 2015-19. This 400 uptick reflects the growing interest in alternatives to public schooling.

Bottom line

While it’s rare for all industries to be growing at the same time – minus, say, just after an economic downturn – this 2024 edition of the winners vs. losers list raises an important issue.

It appears much of the past year’s job creation is coming from industries that historically pay meager wages. That’s an especially worrisome trend in high-cost Southern California.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

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California

California Lottery Powerball, Daily 3 Midday winning numbers for Nov. 27, 2024

Published

20 hours ago

November 28, 2024

Press Room

The California Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big. Here’s a look at Nov. 27, 2024, results for each game:

Powerball

01-06-07-13-40, Powerball: 05, Power Play: 5

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Daily 3

Midday: 7-1-0

Evening: 4-9-6

Check Daily 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Daily Derby

1st:11 Money Bags-2nd:3 Hot Shot-3rd:8 Gorgeous George, Race Time: 1:47.44

Check Daily Derby payouts and previous drawings here.

Fantasy 5

03-10-12-29-33

Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Daily 4

6-1-3-2

Check Daily 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

SuperLotto Plus

03-05-15-16-42, Mega Ball: 24

Check SuperLotto Plus payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Desert Sun producer. You can send feedback using this form.

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