It was incredibly contentious, but the (4000+ pages of) the official records and letters from the public are a gold mine for people who want to catalog and index the past statements of people who continue, to the present day, to oppose new buildings. I am glad they teach it.
My favorite bit is that one well-known local shows up to oppose every new building with the same statement: these apartments will cost $X, nobody can afford that! But in this case, in 2009, he is on the record saying nobody can afford $1000, a rent that everyone would be glad to have now.
Indeed! That would be $1500 in today's dollars!
And about $3000-4000 in today's local rent.
Reminds me of this anti-gentrification video from 2012 criticizing a realtor for claiming that $400k 2 bdrm houses in NW Oakland were “affordable”. Seems extremely quaint now. youtu.be/JneAYdmDGCE?...