George Lucas Building Low-Income Housing Next Door To Millionaires

Well done! by Frivas · 2015-04-20 05:17 · Score: 5, Insightful

Well done George! if you have the money, and you can help other people, specially poor people, just do it!

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Re:Well done! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 05:26 · Score: 3, Insightful

very little his fellow Bay Area residents can do about it
It is also a massive FU to that group. He spent 20+ YEARS trying to make that same land a movie studio. They stonewalled him on every turn because they didnt 'want the noise'.
He can also turn it into straight income. At 224 units at a *very* low rate of 500 a month that is 1.4 million a year. Not a bad ROI. I am sure he can charge much more for it. Or when he grows bored of it sell it off.
This is him spending some of that starwars money to piss off the people who got in the middle of his real dream of making a movie studio on his land.
Re:Well done! by SydShamino · 2015-04-20 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

Poorer people have to live everywhere, because the jobs they fill are everywhere.

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Re:Well done! by CastrTroy · 2015-04-20 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

It's not really just about annoying the neighbours. If you stick all the poor people in the same neighbourhood, then all the poor kids will go to schools with poor kids, and all the rich kids will go to school with rich kids. Since schools are funded by property taxes, the poor kid schools always end up having less money. If you mix poor and rich kids in the same areas, and they attend the same schools, and benefit from the same property taxes, then things end up much more even. Instead of one school having everything, and another having nothing, you'd have all the schools with similar amounts of resources.

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Re:Well done! by jellomizer · 2015-04-20 05:38 · Score: 5, Funny

<sarcasticly>But what about all those wealthy people, having low income houses will lower their property values and they will be less rich!</sarcasticly>
Part of the problem that we have is the physical separation of the Rich and Poor.
Poor people can learn a lot from rich people. As well rich people can learn some sympathy with the poor people and realize how much of their success was actually given to them, or by blind luck.

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Re:Well done! by NotDrWho · 2015-04-20 05:43 · Score: 2

if you have the money, and you can help other people, specially poor people, just do it!
Not to be cynical, but it sounds more like a bargaining ploy to me. I suspect he's more interested in having the city back down in fear and let him build a studio than actually helping the poor.

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Re:Well done! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 05:44 · Score: 3, Informative

> At 224 units at a *very* low rate of 500 a month that is 1.4 million a year. Not a bad ROI.
You're right. It's not bad... It's HORRIBLE. He's putting 200$ million into it.
Re:Well done! by NotDrWho · 2015-04-20 05:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

That's a nice idea, but the reality is usually that the rich people just move away when the poor people come in (especially the ones with families). No way are rich daddy and trophy wife letting their little girl go to school with that rabble!

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SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Re:Well done! by morgauxo · 2015-04-20 05:46 · Score: 4, Interesting

Meh... everywhere I have seen low income apartments built they start out nice but vandalism, crime and tennants who just generally are very rough on things have brought the places down in quality very quickly.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are some very deserving good people who need that housing. It just only takes a few bad apples... Unfortunately I don't think you can really help people very well that way.
On the other hand.. Nice! If they thought they didn't want a studio in their neighborhood let's see how they deal with this! If only there was a George Lucas for every HOA!
Re:Well done! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 05:50 · Score: 2, Informative

yes and that 200 million is not being burned, it remains in the building which will likely appreciate over time, the whole while making a substantial dividend off it
Re:Well done! by OhPlz · 2015-04-20 05:56 · Score: 3

The rich kids go to private school.
Re:Well done! by toadlife · 2015-04-20 06:00 · Score: 5, Informative

In CA, the disparity in property taxes is not why some public schools have more money than other public schools. While there are some problems with how it is implemented, in CA, school funding is mandated to be equal, regardless of the local property tax revenues.
The inequity comes in when you factor in private fundraising.

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Re:Well done! by sycodon · 2015-04-20 06:06 · Score: 5, Insightful

The real irony is that his neighbors would probably be the first ones to support a tax and confiscating someone's land for low income housing ...as long as it wasn't their land or built close to them.

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Re:Well done! by Dorianny · 2015-04-20 06:14 · Score: 4, Insightful

That's a nice idea, but the reality is usually that the rich people just move away when the poor people come in (especially the ones with families). No way are rich daddy and trophy wife letting their little girl go to school with that rabble!
They do not move away instead they have the Politicians and Police departments enact laws and policies that turn the Poor areas into virtual prison colonies. This is what happens in NYC with policies like "Stop and Frisk" which lets cops effectivly harrass poor people that step outside of their zones and "Broken Windows" which allows them to haoul them in for minor infractions. For schooling the solution is of course private schools and voucher programs.
Re:Well done! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 06:21 · Score: 5, Funny

George Lucas. He could use it for low-income housing.
Re:Well done! by Tokolosh · 2015-04-20 06:24 · Score: 4, Informative

You understand that there is essentially no correlation between school spending and student achievement?
https://www.americanprogress.o... or try some googling.
The inflation-adjusted cost of schooling has tripled since 1970, with no discernible improvement in education outcome.

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Re:Well done! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 06:25 · Score: 5, Interesting

Pretty sure that's what happened at Columbine.
Nope, that had nothing to do with Columbine. That entire high school zone is pretty much middle/upper-middle class, and neither Harris nor Klebold were from particularly poor families. What they were is high IQ kids (with less than average common sense) in a school system (Jeffco) not known for dealing well with gifted/talented students, the prevailing attitude being "we'll help out the less-capable kids, the smart ones can deal on their own". (There was also a significant pro-jock, anti-nerd bias.)
I lived in and had a kid going to school (not high school) in the area when Columbine happened. There's a fair bit that never made it to the national media, because it upset various applecarts or was "too complicated" for the nightly news.
Re:Well done! by Mr+D+from+63 · 2015-04-20 06:30 · Score: 3, Insightful

But spending more is easy. Addressing the root cause is hard, particularly in a accountability averse culture.
Re:Well done! by Moridineas · 2015-04-20 06:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

You're right about what happens, of course, but vastly over simplifying.
I live in Raleigh, NC. My wife and I have two kids, one of whom will be starting kindergarten next year.
The public school we were zoned for is ~75% African American and Hispanic. I'm ok with this, I grew up in the area and went to a "majority minority" school (though there were not many Hispanics in the area back then) as well. This school also has over 50% of the students who score lowly on the English proficiency charts. 60% of the students are on free lunch. The end of grade test scores are...abysmal. When visiting the school, the teachers were just overwhelmed with having to deal with so many non-English and other remedial students.
I want my kids to be happy at school and get something positive out of it. I just could not see sending my kids to that school. This was a very hard decision, but we moved from our 150k house to a 250k house 8 miles north. The new school is still very diverse--about 35% African American and Hispanic, but has much better test scores, an actual PTA with engaged parents, etc.
It's easy to criticize those 1%%er fat cats and their slutty wives, but really, everybody wants the best for their kid. You can't blame parents for doing whatever they can--moving, paying an arm and a leg for private school, etc--to help their children out. It's really just human nature.
Re:Well done! by Immerman · 2015-04-20 06:34 · Score: 4, Informative

I believe the typical rule of thumb when buying/building a house (bubble aside) is that it's worth ten years rent - more than that and your money is better spent elsewhere. At 1.4 million/year this thing won't be able to pay for itself in a century. So lets just be happy that some rich guy is throwing his money away in a way that benefits the little guys, even if he is doing it for all the wrong reasons.
I've got to wonder though - how exactly do you go about spending almost $1M/unit to build affordable housing?

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Re:Well done! by jeffmeden · 2015-04-20 06:50 · Score: 2

Yes, that's the problem. Once it starts it tends to build on itself. That is why it is better to spread it out more. Not 200+ units in one development.
200 units on 54 acres is a breeze, really. 1/4 acre per unit is a TON of room, you won't have any problem telling who the good neighbors are and who the shitheads are. 800 units on 54 acres? Then you are into some downward spiral trouble unless you pour a lot of money into managing it.
Re:Well done! by ahaweb · 2015-04-20 06:56 · Score: 2

The plot makes more sense than The Phantom Menace.
Re:Well done! by kamapuaa · 2015-04-20 07:15 · Score: 4, Interesting

In California, schools get equal public funding, it's not derived from local property taxes. On the other hand, rich school districts can expect to earn more in private fundraising, and can more realistically require students to pay for "outside resources" like money for field trips, a computer, etc...
97% of the difference between good schools and bad schools is family background (education, income levels, parent availability). If the student bodies of a poor school and a rich school exchanged campuses/teachers, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the educational results of the students would remain basically unchanged.

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Re:Well done! by lgw · 2015-04-20 07:19 · Score: 4, Insightful

The rule of thumb is lower - 100 months rent maximum (and lower in times of high interest rates). Anything above that is land price speculation, not investment. Rental stuff gets built in Cali precisely as speculation on rising house prices, not as a sound rental investment.
That 100-month rule is based on cost of money, property taxes, maintenance, property management, etc. You're doing well to keep your long-term-average ongoing costs down around 1% a month. At 100 months you can expect to break even for some years, so if you think conditions will improve it's a way to "get in early" without losing money every month to do so. In sensible markets you can usually do better, however.
Lucas is just using his "fuck you money" as such, not to make a profit here.

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Re:Well done! by unimacs · 2015-04-20 07:34 · Score: 3, Insightful

There's a definite correlation between money and academic achievement. You're looking in the wrong place. Kids in more affluent areas do better in school.

In the study you linked it's pretty clear that school districts with higher levels of poverty have a lower return on investment. In other words, they spend more per kid but get poorer results. However, it is not an apples to apples comparison. Neither is comparing 1970 to today. The early 1970's represented an historic low in the number of people in poverty.

You have to look at what the schools are spending money on now vs 1970 and what poor districts spend money on vs affluent ones. In my school back in the 1970s there were no ESL students (English as a 2nd language). There was very little attempt to mainstream kids with significant disabilities. There weren't the onerous testing requirements created by "No Child Left Behind" and other well intentioned but flawed ideas. There weren't the outlandish health care costs that are crippling many of our public institutions. There weren't nearly as many kids getting "free and reduced price lunch" if there were any at all.

That's not to say that all money given to school districts is spent wisely and that giving them more money will automatically lead to better results.
Re:Well done! by shutdown+-p+now · 2015-04-20 07:55 · Score: 3, Insightful

They are a pleasant family, don't complain about stuff people do on their own property, are good to have a beer with, and the father shares a hobby with me even if I don't care for Fords. They are here legally and the father and mother goes to work, and their kids don't throw wild parties that result in my mailbox being run over with a mess of trash in my yard.
Suppose that everything was true, except that they were there illegally (because there is no way for them to immigrate legally, which is the case for most Mexicans). Would your opinion of them change?
Re:Well done! by guises · 2015-04-20 08:13 · Score: 2

This is a very poor characterization of the policies in New York. Nothing about "stop and frisk" or "broken windows" was localized to only poor areas, those were city-wide. You could point out some systemic racism if you want to criticize the targets of stopping and frisking, fine, and if you really stretched it you could possibly make the claim that racism might have been a motivator for implementing the policy rather then the more typical, and more likely, power grab by law enforcement, but stopping and frisking was certainly not a way to contain people in certain areas. Especially since stopping and frisking was happening within the poorer areas of the city with greater frequency then outside of those areas.

As for broken windows... I can not understand why some people are advocating selective law enforcement as a way to decrease police misbehavior. Selective law enforcement is a fast route to a corrupt police force.
Re:Well done! by I4ko · 2015-04-20 08:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

Yes, as a legal H1 Expat from EU who came here on request of my company, and having heavily invested my in education, and basically spending and paying more in taxes than my American neighbors, and having to through thousands of hoops to get a green card and be able to live like a normal person I fully object against (especially low qualified) illegals given a parole. I'm sorry, but I can live in uncertainty, refrain from establishing long term relationships and such, because I may have to pack up and leave, but these guys can come and stay disregarding all the laws of this country? I think I can't agree with that. Same goes to most of the legal H1 Indians who after spending 30 minutes with them leave me completely confused on how they can possible have all the qualification that they claim. So, even I as being a legal foreigner, am for a much tighter control on the border. No one should be allowed to illegally pass the border and get away with it, and leave in complete disregard with the law and the "native" inhabitants of the land. At least they can learn English. And I'm sorry - but if you can't afford to raise a child, simple don't make it. It's not like they happen on their own.
Re:Well done! by viperidaenz · 2015-04-20 08:57 · Score: 2

If you have the money and can use it to piss off other rich people who pissed you off, just do it!
Re:Well done! by Archangel+Michael · 2015-04-20 09:07 · Score: 2

because there is no way for them to immigrate legally
There is always a legal way, it just isn't as quick as the illegal kind. Which seems to be the real problem with illegal immigrants, they don't want to wait like everyone else.

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Re:Well done! by shutdown+-p+now · 2015-04-20 09:24 · Score: 2

I am an H1B as well, so I can relate. But ...
Let me make this clear: you are being abused (the terms of H1 visas are effectively abusive for would-be immigrants due to the way they tie you to a specific employer with a very complicated switching process, and reset your green card application if you switch while it's still ongoing), and so you don't like it when other people - who don't get even the abusive option that you do - dodge that?
(And of course being in US as an illegal immigrant is still a very subpar experience to being legal ... hell, just try opening a bank account that way!)
The point is, people tout the illegal status of an immigrant as some kind of huge moral character flaw or failure, sufficient in and of itself to treat them as scum. I'm merely point out that it's not true in general, and specifically depends on how easy it is to immigrate legally for the same person, and how strong are the reasons that prompt them to immigrate. As I'm sure you know full well from your own experience, it's not a light decision to take in the first place, and US immigration system in particular is a mess of gigantic proportions with no coherent immigration policy whatsoever - just a confusing mish-mash of random decisions made over the last few decades.
Re:Well done! by pLnCrZy · 2015-04-20 09:54 · Score: 2

Or a film studio!
Re:Well done! by kamapuaa · 2015-04-20 10:50 · Score: 3, Insightful

Oh come on, there were about 500 scapegoats for Columbine, and a "pro-jock, anti-nerd bias" was definitely one of them. Simplifying it to that is just more of the same old shit.

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Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.

1 million dollars per family? by ffoiii · 2015-04-20 05:18 · Score: 3, Insightful

$200 million dollars for 224 low income family homes. I get that there are lots of construction costs other than just the houses, but that still seems like a pretty steep price per home.

Re:1 million dollars per family? by MachineShedFred · 2015-04-20 05:20 · Score: 4, Informative

It is the Bay Area, so $892,000 per house isn't too far off...

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Re:1 million dollars per family? by RKThoadan · 2015-04-20 05:51 · Score: 2

I was under the impression that the housing prices are mostly due to the cost of land there. Since he already owns the land and is just having to pay construction costs I am surprised by this.
Re:1 million dollars per family? by GameboyRMH · 2015-04-20 06:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Every house is a fancy underground complex, and each above-ground entrance will look like a trailer, and each one will come with a muscle car body on blocks and a patchy lawn with tacky lawn ornaments on it and an assortment of kids' toys strewn about. Also there will be a hair salon that gives free mullet cuts to residents XD

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Re:1 million dollars per family? by peragrin · 2015-04-20 06:08 · Score: 2

That same lot and house 10 miles from Boston $500k. 25 miles from Boston $300k
yet we expect people in such cities to survive on minimum wage so we can get our morning Starbucks.

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i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.

$200M for 224 homes? by hawguy · 2015-04-20 05:19 · Score: 3, Insightful

Nearly $1M per home sounds like a lot even by Marin standards, assuming that the cost of land is not included in that $200M figure.

Re:$200M for 224 homes? by KeithJM · 2015-04-20 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

There is a decent chance the cost of the land is included, since he's providing it to this project as well. If you're putting together a press release proclaiming your good work (and I don't mean that as a criticism -- he definitely deserves the right to take credit for his work) you might as well make the numbers as complete as you can.

Re:Should be rezoned agricultural by gstoddart · 2015-04-20 05:20 · Score: 5, Funny

Bah, just screen every scene involving Jar Jar Binks on a continuous loop on a 50' tall screen.

That'll really piss them off.

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Lost at C:>. Found at C.

Define "affordable" by pushing-robot · 2015-04-20 05:21 · Score: 4, Insightful

$200 million bill

proveide homes to 224 low-income families

I'd like to see the low-income families that can buy $0.9M homes.

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Re:Define "affordable" by Fire_Wraith · 2015-04-20 05:28 · Score: 2

Guess that's just how bad Bay Area housing prices have gotten. :)
Re:Define "affordable" by Lumpy · 2015-04-20 05:30 · Score: 5, Funny

In the Bay area anyone making under $350,000 is considered low income.
It's so bad they have bread lines at Panera Bread stores.

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Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Re:Define "affordable" by steelfood · 2015-04-20 05:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

1) Nobody says the tenants are buying the homes.
2) Nobody says Lucas is trying to recoup the costs of construction.
3) The total cost per unit is probably much higher if you factor in the value of the land.
FYI, low income housing is usually rentals. Many low income people have trouble saving for a down payment, much less get a loan from a bank, no matter how small the amount borrowed is.
The main problem with cheap rentals is the building's maintenance costs. Government subsidies are used to help with that usually. If Lucas isn't willing to bleed in the long term, at best, he's going to have to price the rentals for middle income, working class people. Which may still constitute "low income" in that part of California.

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pretty funny by argStyopa · 2015-04-20 05:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

As "fuck you"s go, that's about as morally commendable as it gets.

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-Styopa

Re:pretty funny by Tablizer · 2015-04-20 06:54 · Score: 2

May The Force be with George.

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Table-ized A.I.

Missing one detail ... by techstar25 · 2015-04-20 05:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

The linked article leaves out one important detail. This isn't about retaliation... Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey told the station: 'George Lucas said, "if I’m not going to do what I wanted to do there, what can I do that would be really beneficial to this community?"

Don't divide 200m by 224 by Cederic · 2015-04-20 05:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Don't forget the houses need support infrastructure - roads, sewerage, utilities, but also 224 homes will need a community hall, a couple of shops, a decent pub, a medical centre and/or dentist and (given this is America) at least seven churches.

Only a portion of the spend will go on houses.

Utilities by wikthemighty · 2015-04-20 05:29 · Score: 3, Insightful

That cost probably includes adding water/electrical/phone/sewer/roads/etc. which all cost quite a bit.

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Re: Should be rezoned agricultural by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 05:32 · Score: 2, Funny

Low Income Housing... You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.

Nobody notice it's the daily mail writes... by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 05:33 · Score: 2, Informative

In the UK this newspaper is infamous and synonymous with made up far fetched fiction,,

File next to Soviets have a base on the dark side of the moon and the queens an alien

Sounds like upper middle class housing development by drnb · 2015-04-20 05:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

At $200M for 224 homes it sounds like he is building an upper middle class housing development. This does not sound like habitat for humanity-like helping the poor.

Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · 2015-04-20 05:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

This guy....everything he touches turns to shit.

No, while his is sticking it up to his peers, the outcome is that 224 low income families will have affordable housing.
Sometimes you do the right thing for the wrong reason. Kudos to Mr Lucas.

Re:Not a revenge plot by gstoddart · 2015-04-20 05:40 · Score: 5, Funny

Lucas claims this is not a revenge plot.

Look, we know it can't be a plot.

Lucas has demonstrated with the prequels that he doesn't understand 'plot'. ;-)

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Lost at C:>. Found at C.

Translation by tomhath · 2015-04-20 05:40 · Score: 4, Insightful

"What can I do that would suck more than a studio and that you can't block?"

Assuming.... by Roskolnikov · 2015-04-20 05:45 · Score: 4, Insightful

These new residents are all voters; he might get permission to build his studio shortly after they move into their new homes....needs of the many indeed.

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Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.

Re:Sounds like upper middle class housing developm by beelsebob · 2015-04-20 05:50 · Score: 2

Believe me, sub-million houses in the bay area are low income houses.

Re: Wow by JeffOwl · 2015-04-20 05:51 · Score: 2

You don't do "affordable housing" at cost. It is almost always below cost. He will lose money on this unless he makes it section 8, in which case he will get government vouchers. Not that making money is his goal.

Old Folks Homes by LeonPierre · 2015-04-20 05:52 · Score: 4, Informative

From what I read over at http://www.marincounty.org/mai...

It looks more like:

120 two- and three-bedroom residences in one four-story cluster

Two other two-story clusters

104 one- and two- bedroom residences for seniors in a four-story cluster

Community center

Pool

Terraced gardens

Orchard

Small farm

Barn

Interior roadways with two bridges

Golden Gate Transit District bus stop

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"If it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet"

Re:Old Folks Homes by linearZ · 2015-04-20 06:50 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm sure the first building he builds will be pretty good, with hype to boot.
The second building will be the best one he ever builds.
The third building will have Ewoks.
I'd really hate to be the poor baster that ends up in a building after the third.

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Revolution is the opium of the intellectuals.

Re:Sounds like upper middle class housing developm by Gavagai80 · 2015-04-20 05:54 · Score: 4, Informative

In Marin, the rest of the world's upper middle class is low income.

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Re:Epic Troll by Needs2BeSaid · 2015-04-20 05:54 · Score: 2

"1000x Internets to him" Only a 12 year old with no friends would post that.

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Some things need to be said...

Cost? What about the density? by swb · 2015-04-20 05:56 · Score: 2

That works out to 10,000 square feet per home.

Obviously there are roads and common areas to take into consideration, but that seems really huge. My entire lot size is 6500 square feet with about a 1100 sq ft. foundation house (2000 sq ft finished) sitting on it. That 6500 sq ft. includes driveway, garage, yard, basically everything I have title to.

These properties don't sound like "affordable" houses at all, it sounds like solidly middle class for most areas and probably luxurious for that area. I would generally expect an "affordable" development to have much higher density.

Re:A big fuck you by Needs2BeSaid · 2015-04-20 05:57 · Score: 2

You sound like an awesome neighbor. You are the reason Covenants exist.

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Some things need to be said...

Re:proposes to fund and design affordable housing by IMarvinTPA · 2015-04-20 06:06 · Score: 2

I'm reasonably confident that after he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, his interest in making a movie studio dropped greatly.

IMarv

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Re: Wow by g0bshiTe · 2015-04-20 06:09 · Score: 3, Insightful

If you had his money it'd probably be worth it to stick it to the neighbors and do low income housing.

I'm sure there will be massive tax breaks for him.

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Re:$892,000 houses for the poors by JustNiz · 2015-04-20 06:13 · Score: 3, Insightful

In that are, 892k IS low-income.

Re: Should be rezoned agricultural by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2015-04-20 06:22 · Score: 2

He may have done it for the wrong reasons, but in the end he still did a good thing with that money.

Good for you, George Lucas.

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#DeleteChrome

Re: Should be rezoned agricultural by cfalcon · 2015-04-20 06:31 · Score: 5, Interesting

He didn't do it for the wrong reasons. For YEARS he tried to put a studio there, but they wouldn't budge, and insisted on the residential tag on his land. Finally, he said, ok, fine.

So he could have capitulated- which would frankly be ludicrous- or find a way to actually be smart with it, which is what he did.

This, by the way, is like the third coolest thing he's done, with Star Wars at 2 and 2+ billion to charity at 1.

Re:I hope he doesn't build wood frame. by linearZ · 2015-04-20 06:44 · Score: 2

In CA, wood is the preferred material for buildings under 5 stories.

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Re: Wow by hack++slash · 2015-04-20 06:46 · Score: 5, Funny

If I had his money I'd be quickly scrambling to work out how to evade all authories on the entire planet, because I assume he'd want it back by any means?

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To do something right, you often have to roll up your sleeves and get busy.

Re: Wow by Paradise+Pete · 2015-04-20 07:06 · Score: 4, Insightful

He's playing a game of brinkmanship. And he can afford the consequences if he loses. But he won't lose. Either the neighbors will cave in on the film studio or they'll find a way to stop him. Those are the only two outcomes. The housing will never happen.

doesn't sound very low income by losfromla · 2015-04-20 07:52 · Score: 2

224 houses on 52 acres sounds like sprawling suburbs. Housing density is way too low and the amount of homes won't even make a ding, he should plunk down like 2,500 houses or condos or townhomes so that they price out closer to what a family can afford. What will soon happen is that the house will be sold at closer to their market value of $1 million dollars each and George Lucas will net a tidy profit and decide to become a real estate tycoon.

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Re:Wong. by Hognoxious · 2015-04-20 08:01 · Score: 2

kids have been getting exponentially dumber every year...

Especially in maths, it would appear.

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Re: Wow by BarbaraHudson · 2015-04-20 09:32 · Score: 2

He's said that he wants people who provide services to the community to be able to afford to live in the community - people such as police officers, teachers, and nurses. This is definitely not section 8 housing, and he doesn't care if it loses money - he's pledged to give at least half his money to charity before he dies.

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"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.

Some insider insight by mr.dreadful · 2015-04-20 11:05 · Score: 4, Informative

Background: worked at both Skywalker and Big Rock Ranches for over 15 years. There's a lot of misguided or snarky comments here and George deserves an advocate in this case:

GWL is not trying to make money on real estate. If he was, he would't be fooling around with apartment complexes, he'd be buying up more land in Marin because that property has been growing by leaps and bounds since 1990.
GWL has already donated a significant amount of the land he has bought in Marin to a group called MALT (Marin Agricultural Land Trust). It ensures that the land will remain farmland. *Significant* amounts of land.
GWL has always been committed to social justice issues. He doesn't make a big deal out of it. In fact, GWL is pretty low profile about a lot of the generous things he's done.
GWL has excellent taste in design and architecture. He's also put his money where his mouth is and built green buildings because it was the right thing to do, despite the cost. Both Big Rock Ranch and Letterman Digital were LEED Certified and they didn't really need to be. Big Rock and Skywalker are both models of how a complex can be integrated and fit into their natural surroundings. Both campuses are almost invisible from the road and even on campus, everything is well integrated into the environment. We should all be so lucky as to have GWL for a neighbor.

I'm not saying he's a saint or anything, but for a billionaire who has changed the shape of our culture, he's actually pretty down to earth. Don't get me wrong, we don't hang out or anything, but in my experience he's consistently gracious, well reasoned, and well intentioned. Mock him all you want for Star Wars decisions, but never question his integrity. He deserves better.

Pretty much by rsilvergun · 2015-04-20 12:15 · Score: 2

Yeah! Because using your own [massive disparity of] wealth to [give an unfair advantage to] your own children is EVIL!

FTFY.

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That's not really the problem by rsilvergun · 2015-04-20 12:25 · Score: 2

the problem is it's easy to get funding to build housing for disadvantaged people because it's a cash cow for developers. It's _much_, _much_ harder to get funding for the kinds of long term services that dirt poor people need to succeed, let alone get through the sorts of things they'd need to have secure and stable jobs (e.g. protection for local industries, Unions, workers rights laws, etc). We put people into homes without giving them any means to support themselves or the home we put them in. You saw this with the projects in the 70s when we moved a ton sharecroppers into the city and then Regan got elected and all the funding to help build them up got cut. You're seeing it today with those ghost towns built in China. It's the same thing. Cronyism builds the housing and demand for low taxes abandons it and the people in it.

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George Lucas Building Low-Income Housing Next Door To Millionaires

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