In answer to ArLyne Diamond’s sensible question “Why don’t we do what people do in other states, develop housing of all sizes?” It’s because the people who put immigrants in the Bronx welcomed the cheap labor which was intended to build industrial might , but in California, the ruling Anglos were the immigrants and wanted to get rid of the poor Mexicans, like my husband’s great grandparents, who owned the land, which they did by assessing them a tax bill based on what the land would be worth if more enterprising owners used it for farm and dairy instead of hides and tallow. This worked so well they kept on doing it, until Prop. 13, and some cities built money- making offices and factories without worker housing so as to save on school expense Santa Clara did that when Agnews closed, never asking where all those poor sick people would go. They’ll change only when we make them.
