Day Three....



Do you know the way to San Jose......?


.....I didn't either, but I somehow was able to go around it.


Christ......I do not care HOW comfortable your bike's seat is.....riding 350+ miles in a day WILL, repeat, WILL ram your spine into the top of your cranium!!

Had one of thee most stunning rides in my life through an ancient redwood forest. Sadly, however, after Eureka, most sections of Highway 101 just turned into a four-land divided Interstate. Well, so much for my road trip rules of avoiding interstates and freeways that are more than 30 miles outside an urban area. But I really couldn't take an alternate route......not with the time I hadta chase....

So, git to San Rafael (on the Northern edge of the San Fran - Oakland urban area), then jump East to Oakland and then straight South. Find a Comfort Inn (or Choice, or Quality Inn, or Clarion....or some shit like that) in a gross, ugly, sprawling ex-urb called Morgan Hill about 20 miles South of San Josie.

Walked outta a Safeway here and had an interesting conversation with a signature-gatherer for a petition. No, I was not registered to vote in Morgan Hill....but still.....just outta curiosity....asked him whass up?

"We're trying to provide more housing choices for middle-income residents of Morgan Hill"

Right then and there......the red flag went up.....

“There is no housing now for the middle-class to afford. It's all either subsidized housing or housing for the very wealthy. We feel that by reducing the subsidies that must be paid for subsidized housing, that we can create more reasonably-priced housing for the middle-class of Morgan Hill”!!

”Errrmmm........so, won't that have a detrimental effect on affordable housing”??

“Uhhh....well.....the fact that we're subsidizing all this housing.......it's eliminating the middle-class choices for housing here in Morgan Hill.”

“Right, but shouldn't market demand determine whether a developer gets greater profit MARGIN in building huge McMansions for the rich with a large return on a few properties, or whether it gets greater profit by a smaller profit margin building several middle-class housing units with a smaller return on multiple properties? And, thus, if the developer DOES get far greater net profit out of building McMansions, and decides to build very few $300,000 - $650,000 houses........won't the middle-class just vote with their feet and leave Morgan Hill until the developers figure out what's going on? Hell....the city government realised that was thee problem in Aspen, Colorado several years ago when the city's police force hadta reside 40 miles away!!!”


“..................”



I wanted to bring up the terms such as "oxymoron" and “non-sequitor” to this gentleman......but I didn't think he'd grasp it in this context.....

But he DID tell me ""God Bless you and have a good night" as I walked away....

Turns out, he was talking about Morgan Hill's MEASURE C. He never once mentioned Measure C during our conversation. Measure C allows developers to get half-arsed Mega McMansion subdivisions through city planners if they provide X percentage of below-market-rate (B.M.R.) housing for middle and lower income home buyers.

Developers here don't like this, and they're trying to get the measure changed to force them to build fewer B.M.R. in their new subdivisions in order to get them approved.....and that's what this petition was all about.

Soooo.....ironically, what this guy is trying to get signatures for will result in EVEN LESS middle-income earner housing, as there ain't a whole lot of profit in that (not nearly the profit margin that McMansions carry with them).

Funny how some people fall for that stuff.....although I really shouldn't say that: Oregon fell for Measure 37!

Still stinks.....but the fact that Morgan Hill actually HAS this measure and a LOT of Oregon cities do not should say something......

If you're into Planning and Affordable Housing topics, or just bored shitless, click here to see how pathetic this challenge really is and exactly WHO the people are who are behind it.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


Just for future reference.......

.....a VERY rough, ballpark guess as to what the future holds -

Los Angeles - Monday May 5th thru Wednesday May 7th


Denver - Sunday May 11th thru Thursday May 14th


Albuquerque - Saturday May 18th thru Friday May 23rd (sorry, Will and Cindy....you guys is stuck wiff me forra week)


Houston - Friday May 30 to Sunday June 2nd (Julie....I'm waaaaaay sorry!! Due to SEVERE time constraints and bad geography, I can't make it to Dallas. ANY chance you can swing down to Houston that weekend??)


Tallahassee - Friday June 6th thru Sunday June 8th


Tampa/St. Pete - Monday June 9th thru Wednesday June 11th


Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale - Thursday June 12th thru Saturday June 14th


Atlanta - Tuesday June 17th thru Thursday June 19th


Virginia Beach - Saturday June 21st thru Monday June 23rd


D.C. - Monday June 23rd thru Wednesday June 25th


Montreal - Saturday June 28 thru Monday June 30


Wilson - Tuesday July 1st to Wednesday July 2nd


Bruce Beach - Thursday July 3rd thru Sunday July 6th (or whenever Bink wants me there!)

After this, I'm in Buffalo for two weeks......

The way home (Ohio, Rapid City, Seattle, et. al.) with approximate dates of arrival will be E-Mailed shortly (like, in a month or so).

REMEMBER....ALL dates given herewith are STILL veeerrrry approximate and seriously subject to change.....given weather conditions, whether the skooter dies on the road....etc. etc.


More tomorrow....

-E-