Laserfiche WebLink
Mr . Norris said that some way to highlight major statements of fact should be <br /> found to make the report more easily readable . Planning Director Schroeter said <br /> that in the final report summary statements in the left-hand margins would <br /> accomplish that . <br /> Looking at Page Four , "Present Stock, " Mr . Norris wondered if the fact that <br /> "the incorporated and unincorporated areas around the City have basically &_milar <br /> distributions of unit sizes" shouldn ' t be highlighted , since it showed that <br /> unincorporated areas aren ' t necessarily always depressed areas with a lower- <br /> class of housing stock , Housing Aide Ransom pointed out that, while many <br /> people tend to think of the "unincorporated " areas of Redwood City as simply <br /> East Redwood City , they include Emerald Hills and much of the area between <br /> Woodside Road and Atherton, some of which contains middle - and upper-income <br /> housing . He also pointed out that the statement in the Report only concerns <br /> unit size and not other housing characteristics such as condition . <br /> On Page Six, "Present Stock, " the Committee considered the question of why <br /> large units are " strikingly missing" from the housing stock of the central <br /> neighborhoods , particularly the Downtown neighborhood-- --wasn ' t this what one <br /> would expect from the Downtown? Housing Aide Ransom said that in fact the <br /> Report ' s graphic presentation would show larger units in short supply in <br /> neighborhoods around the Downtown- -Middlefield , Central , Palm, Oakwood , and <br /> most of East Redwood City . Planning Director Schroeter said that he thought <br /> that this showed , not that there were smaller structures in these neighborhoods , <br /> but that many of them had been subdivided into smaller living units . Housing <br /> Aide Ransom said that he knew that the large , old Victorian house on the corner <br /> of Middlefield and Cassia contained some eight small apartments , renting <br /> primarily to old people for from 875 to over $100 a month . While the house <br /> might be a single structure of eight rooms or more , it would show up in the <br /> statistics as eight separate one - or two-room units . <br /> The Committee decided that it was not surprising that larger units should be <br /> missing from these neighborhoods and that "strikingly missing" should therefore <br /> be modified . <br /> On Page Ten , "Housing Characteristics : Number of Units , " Mr . Moriguchi asked <br /> whether it wasn ' t politic to omit reference to the Vietnam War : "Though the <br /> boom for new housing carried on througathe first half of the 1960s , during the <br /> latter half of the decade it slowed , hamstrung by the scarcity of available <br /> land and by the high cost of money that accompanied the Vietnam War . " He said <br /> that he thought it should be left out . Planning Director Schroeter said that it <br /> should be left out because the report was a housing report , and the Vietnam War <br /> is a symptom of a basic problem which is left unstated . Housing Aide Ransom <br /> said that he would be glad to state the problem. He said that he had included <br /> reference to the War , not to bring up a topic which was festering in the City, <br /> but because it was a short-hand way to describe the reasons behind the high <br /> cost of money, and that if the Report were to enable people to make good <br /> decisions concerning housing , they would have to consider those reasons . He <br /> said that had the same statement been made about WWII , no one would have raised <br /> objections , and that it was the controversial aspect of the Vietnam War that <br /> made people want to avoid seeing its effects . Chairman Keckley said that <br /> bankers might give other explanations of the high cost of money , and ' that he <br /> wondered if we could really explain it . The Committee recommended that the <br /> MINUTES HOUSING CONCERNS COMMITTEE MAY 10 , 1972 PAGE 2 OF 3 <br />