Letter to the Editor:
Covering the Apr. 24 public meeting held at the Buena Vista Branch of the Burbank Library for my recent article published in myBurbank Online Magazine I began thinking of how more people might support the project in its current design if it was intended to affordably house persons such as a questioner at the meeting who asked what will eventually happen to young families like his who now pay $1700 per month in rent in the neighborhood surrounding the proposed project on Riverside Dr. and Pass Ave. but inevitably see their rents going up by a lot?
Young people coming out of college today are burdened with crushing student loan debt which will likely take many years of their working lives to pay off, making it impossible to afford high priced modest homes. The older residents at the recent meeting might consider that the kinds of high paying lifetime career jobs available to them with generous retirement plans when they purchased homes in the area years ago, where real estate prices were affordable for young people starting out their lives and hoping to start families, are not nearly as attainable for today’s young people.
It also helped the college graduates of decades ago that Calif. State Universities were at the time virtually tuition free and living expenses were cheap, making it mostly unnecessary to take out huge student loans to get an education.
The proposed apartment complex, where only 15% of the units will be “affordable” on Riverside and Pass, with the remaining 85% too high priced for struggling young families, perhaps should be considered for 100% low cost housing, which I think could be far more easily supported by local residents.
Of course to be economically viable to build such low cost housing there would need to be a financial partnership between builders such as Mayer Brown Co., who are proposing the current project under consideration in Burbank, and the State of California, who could see the benefits of investing in the future well being of young families currently priced out of our area’s housing market. Such a plan, however, would likely be criticized by the older and more politically conservative members of the meeting I reported on last week as being “socialistic” and therefore opposed as vehemently as conservatives have also been against student loan forgiveness plans by the Biden Administration.
Doug Weiskopf
Burbank
Editor’s Note: Doug Weiskopf is a freelance writer for myBurbank, and his views and opinions expressed here do not convey those of myBurbank or the myBurbank staff.
Mr. Doug Weiskopf, it is apparent to me that you have a very serious bias and very little understanding of the economics at play here. Sure, why not make them all low income! It’s because the developer who’s building housing is doing so to be able to make a profit. Have you taken a minute to look at were this is located? Have you asked how many millions it’s going to take to complete the project. This is the second time I’ve commented on your writings, the first was on an article you wrote for myBurbank and now this letter to the editor. If you want an introduction to the folks working on this let me know and I’ll make the arrangements. It’s important that you understand the fundamentals.
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