Huge fee hike sought for new S.D. homes | The San Diego Union-Tribune

Note that this would come on top of already astronomical housing prices. The median home in San Diego now sells for $580,000, as I noted in a previous post.

San Diego officials are calling for a nearly tenfold average increase in a fee for new-home construction to keep pace with park and recreation needs. The proposal faces opposition from builders, affordable-housing advocates and the city's advisory Park and Recreation Board, which rejected the idea 4-1 yesterday. The average city park impact fee would increase from $2,637 per unit to $24,755 as outlined in a March 9 report by a deputy director of the Park and Recreation Department. In the report, April Penera said no waiver should be granted for the proposed increase in areas targeted for affordable housing.

Feds' antitrust inquiry targets Ariz. builders, telecom firms
Fred Pilot has been sending me links to great stories, but I've been sick and if that weren't bad enough somebody hacked the UIC webmail system and I couldn't get access to my mail. When it rains it pours.

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether exclusive agreements between Arizona developers and communications companies, such as Cox and Qwest, violate antitrust laws... In a so-called preferred-provider agreement, a developer grants a firm, such as Cox or Qwest, exclusive rights to market its services inside a subdivision's model-home offices and gives it other advantages that may discourage competitors.In some cases, home buyers are locked into paying for Internet or telephone service through homeowners association dues, so if they want a competitor's service, they have to pay on top of the dues or, in effect, pay twice.
[more]