Coastsider

Letter: Something is wrong

Letter to the editor posted by Gael Erickson on Feb 28, 2008 at 12:02 pm in  Real Estate
3 comments • Click to email this story

Recent Half Moon Bay events and court cases are making national news.  After reading about the following land use decisions and transactions, one can make an interesting observation:

• Wavecrest Partners sold 208 acres to Peninsula Open Space Trust for 13.1 million.  That’s $63,000 per acre.

• Nurserymen’s Exchange sold 22 acres to the City of Half Moon Bay for $3.1 million.  That’s $155,000 per acre.

• In the Yamagiwa lawsuit against the City of Half Moon Bay, Judge Walker’s decision awarded Yamagiwa $38 million for 24 acres.  That’s $1.6 million per acre – 1.6 million!

Judge Walker’s decision seems out of proportion to any sense of reality.  Land values aren’t rising that fast.

Gael Erickson
P.O. Box 2905
El Granada, CA 94018

Comments

Comment 1 by John Lynch  on  Mar 04  at  2:27pm  •  All my comments • 

It is my understanding that Gael Erickson had given the HMB Review the first crack at publishing this letter. They either decided to "sit on it" or just not publish it.

Thank you Coastsider for proving to be a true open forum on the Coastside,

Yesterday's SF Chronicle in Matier & Ross's column that again demonstrates just outlandish was Judge Walker's decision was in the Yamagiwa decision.

In a highly urban area, the State is considering selling the 68 acre Cow Palace property to the City of Daly City for 70-100 Million. That pencils out to 1 million to less than 1.5 million per acre.

Beechwood, in little ole Half Moon Bay, still exceeds that amount at $1.6 million per acre.

Comment 2 by Carl May  on  Mar 04  at  4:44pm  •  All my comments • 

John,

Worrying about millions is so mid-20th Century Everett Dirkson.

Where would the underground interstate at Devil's slide be if people fretted over millions? Or even hundreds of millions?

Some of us imagined the new-millenium adult hereabouts would perk up when the issue involved billions, but the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge proved us wrong. (Much to the delight of those flying under the radar and scamming us for mere antiquated millions.)

If you want to get widespread attention down there in HMB for the realities of ol' Judge Walker's giveaway, you'll probably have a better chance if you can wangle a connection to abortion, gun rights, embryonic stem cells, commute traffic, pumpkins, or high school sports. The poor can't count up and the rich can't count down to millions.

Carl May

Comment 3 by Joel Farbstein  on  Mar 07  at  5:35pm  •  All my comments • 

I totally agree with your point: It's at least 10 times worse for cities to treat residents in such a manner. (I'm sure other cities have taken note.)

Hey, any comment on these recent rulings by Judge Walker? They don’t seem unreasonable: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/20/MNRKV52MP.DTL&hw=Vaughn+Walker&sn=002&sc=356

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/17/BA57SQV9F.DTL&hw=Judge+Vaughn+Walker&sn=002&sc=612 -Joel Farbstein


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