The Rules of Skateboarding: James from Labor about skateshop lurking

[ibrowning]

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I know you tried man, but what in the shit was he talking about!?

[close]

Thanks for trying. It's an interesting topic for sure. It doesn't seem possible for a place to be both a skate mecca and have the highest rent in the U.S. (or at least, top three. top two?).

Anyway, San Francisco always seemed like the best skate town to me. I haven't been there since 2009, but I get the impression it's no longer what it was.

Anyway, all you can do is ask interesting questions, I guess.

It is currently the most expensive city for a one bedroom in the US. Prices spiked in the first dot com boom, dropped when that fell apart and have been skyrocketing again in the past decade. It seems like it's still unfolding; I can't imagine the scene ever completely drying up because of the sheer appeal of the geography, but it also seems like it's nearly impossible to sign a lease there now unless you've got a lot of cash to drop and possibly a guarantor.

It'll be interesting to see what the future holds. I don't know if people are getting driven out of skate houses so that landlords can rent them to google dweebs, but a shortage of places for skaters to move seems like it would invariably put a dent in the scene eventually. Maybe it'll end up like New York City, where a good chunk of the skaters that know the city and its spots best are from New Jersey and Long Island.

I suppose to that effect, you can't really blame Phelps for not having all the answers. Speaking ill on Gil Perrault on the other hand...

[lk130]

When that's invariably ass

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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I know you tried man, but what in the shit was he talking about!?

[close]

Thanks for trying. It's an interesting topic for sure. It doesn't seem possible for a place to be both a skate mecca and have the highest rent in the U.S. (or at least, top three. top two?).

Anyway, San Francisco always seemed like the best skate town to me. I haven't been there since 2009, but I get the impression it's no longer what it was.

Anyway, all you can do is ask interesting questions, I guess.

[close]

It is currently the most expensive city for a one bedroom in the US. Prices spiked in the first dot com boom, dropped when that fell apart and have been skyrocketing again in the past decade. It seems like it's still unfolding; I can't imagine the scene ever completely drying up because of the sheer appeal of the geography, but it also seems like it's nearly impossible to sign a lease there now unless you've got a lot of cash to drop and possibly a guarantor.

It'll be interesting to see what the future holds. I don't know if people are getting driven out of skate houses so that landlords can rent them to google dweebs, but a shortage of places for skaters to move seems like it would invariably put a dent in the scene eventually. Maybe it'll end up like New York City, where a good chunk of the skaters that know the city and its spots best are from New Jersey and Long Island.

I suppose to that effect, you can't really blame Phelps for not having all the answers. Speaking ill on Gil Perrault on the other hand...

A lot of what holds everything together are the legacy skate houses. SF has really strong rent control, so its hard to evict and you can't really raise rent too much. The skate houses that are still around have relatively cheap rent, and just rotate in new skateboarders. The problem is that no new houses are coming, and slowly but surely those houses fall apart, new people come in, and rent skyrockets. A bunch of skateboarders definitely live at the edge of bart service though

[tkp]

I've wondered this as well. Been in the same spot in the Outer Sunset since 2009. Landlord just put the property up for sale about 9 months ago. There was a lot of interest at first, even had one guy come by and immediately ask the realtor: "So how much can I raise the rent?". Thank goodness for living in a rent-controlled house.

The price of housing has definitely gone up over the years, but there are still exceptions. The city has changed, but I've also gotten older. When the downtown library wasn't skate stopped that was a hub for heated sessions at night. Now that night sesh spot doesn't exist so much. You've got the Island, but it's not the same. Soma park is its own beast, but it's a park.

As previously mentioned in this thread, the geography of the city is what attracts most people and it's damn near impossible to skate stop that.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

If your landlord sells the house, the new owner is allowed to raise rent or evict. Its one of the most well-known loopholes in rent control in the city

[Grind King Rims]

What's up with the spot Frank Gerwer krooked grinded in 411 VM issue 57? It looks sick.

[Grind King Rims]

Also, I'm wondering if Phelps is alright between hitting his head on that hill bomb a while ago and getting decked at GT's wedding. Maybe it was just the booze.

[Headcrusher]

I'm 38 and just learned wallride nollies and they feel awesome.  Puleo needs to focus on something else maybe?

[tkp]

If your landlord sells the house, the new owner is allowed to raise rent or evict. Its one of the most well-known loopholes in rent control in the city

Not sure where you are getting your sources from, but they can't raise the rent besides the legal % per year if the building is rent controlled.

As for eviction, they then have to offer relocation payments per tenant.

https://www.sftu.org/sale/

Reverting back to SF skating... GX, Brute / Create kids, and many others (SF Skate club crew, FTC, DLX, Mission) keep it going strong in the streets.

[Fongstarr.]

^^^^Yup. You are right. It's called Tenant Relocation Allowance. My friend rented in the Sunset and the home owners sold their house and cut a check for them to move out. They were a family of 5 and got like $10-15K or something like that. That is the one good thing for renters is renter's rights is decently good out here. Building owners that are trying to cash out actually have a hard time doing so.

[stevedave]

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If your landlord sells the house, the new owner is allowed to raise rent or evict. Its one of the most well-known loopholes in rent control in the city

[close]

Not sure where you are getting your sources from, but they can't raise the rent besides the legal % per year if the building is rent controlled.

As for eviction, they then have to offer relocation payments per tenant.

https://www.sftu.org/sale/

Reverting back to SF skating... GX, Brute / Create kids, and many others (SF Skate club crew, FTC, DLX, Mission) keep it going strong in the streets.

the thing to be careful about, is that single family homes are NOT protected by rent controlled.  I live in a house with 4 other people, but it's a single home that is rented to (technically) 1 person (or family).  ONLY multiple unit residences are afforded the protection of rent control.  My landlord can literally hit us up and say "I'm doubling the rent" just to get us out and we have no legal recourse in the situation. 

[Noioso]

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If your landlord sells the house, the new owner is allowed to raise rent or evict. Its one of the most well-known loopholes in rent control in the city

[close]

Not sure where you are getting your sources from, but they can't raise the rent besides the legal % per year if the building is rent controlled.

As for eviction, they then have to offer relocation payments per tenant.

https://www.sftu.org/sale/

Reverting back to SF skating... GX, Brute / Create kids, and many others (SF Skate club crew, FTC, DLX, Mission) keep it going strong in the streets.

[close]

the thing to be careful about, is that single family homes are NOT protected by rent controlled.  I live in a house with 4 other people, but it's a single home that is rented to (technically) 1 person (or family).  ONLY multiple unit residences are afforded the protection of rent control.  My landlord can literally hit us up and say "I'm doubling the rent" just to get us out and we have no legal recourse in the situation. 

There are exceptions to that, too. https://www.sftu.org/rentcontrol/

I know they probably aren't that common, but every bit of information helps when dealing with fucked SF landlords. I can't even think of the number of people I know who have lost their apartments, and more than a few had it done to them in a very shady way. Realtors will also help the seller find ways not to pay you or give proper notice.

Every place I've lived in the last 9 years has raised the rent yearly. It just gets more and more expensive, and even though people are saying the bubble is going to burst I don't think it's ever going to get that much cheaper. Facebook just took 50 floors of the Salesforce dick in the sky and AirBNB took the in-law units/spare bedrooms. If you're not making a lot of money, I hate to admit it, but I don't think it'll ever get easier. Maybe all the goons will start renting out all those empty condos built for them that none of us can afford (maybe also the source of the crash?).

A family of 4, making over $100,000 a year qualifies for low income housing. How fucked is that?

[new_york_shitty]

I can't tell if the header that Phelps took on that hill bomb has improved his command of the English language....or.....

[mattdlx]

boy am I glad that my house isn't really skateable.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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If your landlord sells the house, the new owner is allowed to raise rent or evict. Its one of the most well-known loopholes in rent control in the city

[close]

Not sure where you are getting your sources from, but they can't raise the rent besides the legal % per year if the building is rent controlled.

As for eviction, they then have to offer relocation payments per tenant.

https://www.sftu.org/sale/

Reverting back to SF skating... GX, Brute / Create kids, and many others (SF Skate club crew, FTC, DLX, Mission) keep it going strong in the streets.

[close]

the thing to be careful about, is that single family homes are NOT protected by rent controlled.  I live in a house with 4 other people, but it's a single home that is rented to (technically) 1 person (or family).  ONLY multiple unit residences are afforded the protection of rent control.  My landlord can literally hit us up and say "I'm doubling the rent" just to get us out and we have no legal recourse in the situation. 

[close]

There are exceptions to that, too. https://www.sftu.org/rentcontrol/

I know they probably aren't that common, but every bit of information helps when dealing with fucked SF landlords. I can't even think of the number of people I know who have lost their apartments, and more than a few had it done to them in a very shady way. Realtors will also help the seller find ways not to pay you or give proper notice.

Every place I've lived in the last 9 years has raised the rent yearly. It just gets more and more expensive, and even though people are saying the bubble is going to burst I don't think it's ever going to get that much cheaper. Facebook just took 50 floors of the Salesforce dick in the sky and AirBNB took the in-law units/spare bedrooms. If you're not making a lot of money, I hate to admit it, but I don't think it'll ever get easier. Maybe all the goons will start renting out all those empty condos built for them that none of us can afford (maybe also the source of the crash?).

A family of 4, making over $100,000 a year qualifies for low income housing. How fucked is that?

A week or two ago mayors of SF, SJ, Oakland, and a couple other cities got together to come up with a housing blitz plan. The goal is to reduce barriers to make construction of new homes easier. The goal is to expand housing by 90k units across the entire bay area over the next decade, which is an increase of like 1-2% overall in ten years, across the entire region. That's not going to make a $500/month room in the city come back any time soon. If tech collapses like in '01, things could improve, but the tech sector is building differently this time- companies don't go public as easily, and a contraction of venture capital took place, and the industry managed to absorb companies that couldn't hack it. The bay is transforming, its becoming a new capital for American industry. Until housing and business growth become stable, its going to be a long haul

[Brent212]

Also, I'm wondering if Phelps is alright between hitting his head on that hill bomb a while ago and getting decked at GT's wedding. Maybe it was just the booze.

Go on....

[max power]

A week or two ago mayors of SF, SJ, Oakland, and a couple other cities got together to come up with a housing blitz plan. The goal is to reduce barriers to make construction of new homes easier. The goal is to expand housing by 90k units across the entire bay area over the next decade, which is an increase of like 1-2% overall in ten years, across the entire region. That's not going to make a $500/month room in the city come back any time soon. If tech collapses like in '01, things could improve, but the tech sector is building differently this time- companies don't go public as easily, and a contraction of venture capital took place, and the industry managed to absorb companies that couldn't hack it. The bay is transforming, its becoming a new capital for American industry. Until housing and business growth become stable, its going to be a long haul

Another problem is the insane NIMBYism and 'fuck you, I got mine' attitudes many property owners here have. It is extremely difficult to get something built in this city. So, while they can say they are going to expand housing, it's going to be slow as shit.

[Grind King Rims]

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Also, I'm wondering if Phelps is alright between hitting his head on that hill bomb a while ago and getting decked at GT's wedding. Maybe it was just the booze.

[close]

Go on....

I actually don't know any details. Somebody posted who punched him but I didn't recognise the name. There was a picture of Konston sitting next to a bleeding Phelper posted the other day. Anyone else know more?

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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Also, I'm wondering if Phelps is alright between hitting his head on that hill bomb a while ago and getting decked at GT's wedding. Maybe it was just the booze.

[close]

Go on....

[close]

I actually don't know any details. Somebody posted who punched him but I didn't recognise the name. There was a picture of Konston sitting next to a bleeding Phelper posted the other day. Anyone else know more?

The rumor is Thomas Taylor, Grant's dad, based on a post from Koston on instagram.

Worrying about whether Phelps' brain is ok after getting knocked at this point is like worrying that Marc Johnson's diet might be bad for his hair.

[stevedave]

it was Thomas Taylor. 

[Fongstarr.]

A family of 4, making over $100,000 a year qualifies for low income housing. How fucked is that?

Below market rate housing is even hard to get in SF. The hardest part is you need cash in hand to pay for the down payment. My coworker did it 4 years ago and got super lucky. She has 2 kids and never got married to her baby daddy and qualified as 3 family for a 2 bedroom BMR. I think she paid about $400K for it but she got a new job shortly after and got paid more on top of her old salary and her baby daddy helps pay for half for the mortgage. Crazy to think this is what you have to do to own a place in SF even though she'll never make money off of it but she'll probably live their for the rest of her life.

[ibrowning]

This month I talked to James Rewolinski from Labor about a topic near and dear to my heart: lurking at the skateshop.
http://www.villagepsychic.net/blog/rules-of-skateboarding-3-james-labor

[calvinsdream]

That was great.

"I understand when people are like “Oh, back in the day”, but it’s not back in the day. If you can make my rent what it was back in the day, I’ll start doing your trades. Until I can pay my rent to my landlord in bags of crap that no one wants, you can keep the trades."

[Little Debbie]

haha i'm still dying from the phelper interview. an audio recording would really be the icing on the cake. I was laughing so hard, Phelps is truly on one for life

[Carrolls Chesthairs]

Labor is pretty much the best shop
Ripping James clips too.