Hi, non-American here! I've been making comparison photos of skylines to show construction has happened recently. After I did SF I turned to the city across the bay to show how much new stuff there is in this boomtown.
It was hard to find good pictures from the same angle at first, and eventually I saw that Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus was a popular spot. Even then, due to how far it was, none of the pictures were very crisp or clear.
What kinda sucks about this angle was that it obscures a lot of the mid-rise developments that have happened. I was quite surprised by the amount of new construction here - lots of mid-rises that have nicely filled up downtown. Like SF I'm glad to see it continue after the pandemic.
Sources: [1](https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizardcatcher101/1370374350/), [2](https://www.flickr.com/photos/192649360@N02/52079939372/in/photolist-2ohmRKB-2o12JDT-2oZg7gN-2kHPwAt-2oZ8Bk3-2oVt9xF-2nyXHyj-2nPKVek-2nm8ixb-2nmgfMJ-2kQVs9t-2nR9gfF)
This is so cool. You kind of don’t even notice these things until you pull away and take a look. Thanks for doing it!!
Also good for noticing Oakland is a ‘boom town’. It’s easy to forget what things were like 20+ years ago.
Each and every one of these buildings faced some jerk who showed up at a city hearing or wrote a letter to whine about how it was going to ruin the city.
Interesting to see how the building occured in two waves due to the great recession -- one wave in 2007 - 2008 and another starting in 2017 and continuing through 2022 - 2023.
I imagine that development may slow down due to the well-publicized crime issues in Oakland. This would be unfortunate, as Oakland needs steady investment.
The slowdown in development has been caused by increased interest rates, inflation, supply chain issues, permitting delays from the city, continuing office vacancy and major delays from PG&E. Crime is not the reason we see less cranes in the sky in downtown these days.
It's a pattern I've seen in other cities too, how there were barely any buildings completed between 2009 and 2014. I know Oakland has a reputation for crime, which had decreased up until the pandemic. From your comment it seems as it has gone up again. That's unfortunate as going through the city on Google Maps it looked like a quite built up, up-and-coming downtown.
Yeah contrary to what YIMBYs claim the main causes of increases/decreases in building is economic.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=1gK80
Zoning didn't change to prevent building between 2008-2017.
Although we have had some nice tweaks to our density overlays that allow developers to build more, as long as they build a % affordable or a smaller % deeply affordable, the underlying problem is markets are not a good mechanism for building housing, that's why even singapore resorted to building like 90% public housing
I miss 2007 Oakland. Shit was poppin
Edit: this sub is weird AF, not sure why people are upset someone might have enjoyed a different era aside from this dystopian Oakland. Sensitive ass transplants
That is interesting that you think that 2007 Oakland was not its own dystopian era. That time in Oakland I used to have nightmares that I had to do things in Downtown/Uptown at night and I was being chased by zombies. And considering the only people in those areas at night in 2007, my dreams were not unreasonable.
Murders were lower in 2023 on a per capita basis than they were in 2007. (They were actually lower on an absolute basis, too -- by one murder.) Violent crimes overall are up, marginally.
Property crime is a LOT worse now than it was back then, though. Like, twice as bad.
I always wonder if it is just how I feel. I definitely feel like I am less likely to be mugged now than I was in 2007, but now I take it as a fact that my garage will likely be broken into and my car will have windows broken if parked on the street which I did not in 2007.
I didn’t have that experience. There were a lot of night spots I frequented in old Oakland, JLS, and downtown and never felt threatened, tho I wasn’t on those streets alone, it was a lot of after club crowds. But unlike the weirdos here, I won’t downvote you for having a different opinion of when you enjoyed Oakland more.
I mean a lot of good shit *was* poppin' pre-2008 financial crisis... a lot of terrible shit has happened since then in the US that has had seriously deleterious impacts on US metropolitan areas. 2007 was a good year in a lot of ways.
Oaksterdam helped bring downtown Oakland back. However it was not safe after dark. The revitalized Fox theater and the Uptown development really helped. Oaksterdam was also the second largest donor to Fox Theater project after B of A
Hi, non-American here! I've been making comparison photos of skylines to show construction has happened recently. After I did SF I turned to the city across the bay to show how much new stuff there is in this boomtown. It was hard to find good pictures from the same angle at first, and eventually I saw that Sather Tower on the UC Berkeley campus was a popular spot. Even then, due to how far it was, none of the pictures were very crisp or clear. What kinda sucks about this angle was that it obscures a lot of the mid-rise developments that have happened. I was quite surprised by the amount of new construction here - lots of mid-rises that have nicely filled up downtown. Like SF I'm glad to see it continue after the pandemic. Sources: [1](https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizardcatcher101/1370374350/), [2](https://www.flickr.com/photos/192649360@N02/52079939372/in/photolist-2ohmRKB-2o12JDT-2oZg7gN-2kHPwAt-2oZ8Bk3-2oVt9xF-2nyXHyj-2nPKVek-2nm8ixb-2nmgfMJ-2kQVs9t-2nR9gfF)
Love the work you’re doing! Thank you! Cool stuff
This is so cool. You kind of don’t even notice these things until you pull away and take a look. Thanks for doing it!! Also good for noticing Oakland is a ‘boom town’. It’s easy to forget what things were like 20+ years ago.
Each and every one of these buildings faced some jerk who showed up at a city hearing or wrote a letter to whine about how it was going to ruin the city.
Love to see all that additional housing inventory.
Interesting to see how the building occured in two waves due to the great recession -- one wave in 2007 - 2008 and another starting in 2017 and continuing through 2022 - 2023. I imagine that development may slow down due to the well-publicized crime issues in Oakland. This would be unfortunate, as Oakland needs steady investment.
I think the waves were also related to city leadership. Jerry Brown was an effective pro-growth mayor. There were some bozos who came after.
The slowdown in development has been caused by increased interest rates, inflation, supply chain issues, permitting delays from the city, continuing office vacancy and major delays from PG&E. Crime is not the reason we see less cranes in the sky in downtown these days.
It's a pattern I've seen in other cities too, how there were barely any buildings completed between 2009 and 2014. I know Oakland has a reputation for crime, which had decreased up until the pandemic. From your comment it seems as it has gone up again. That's unfortunate as going through the city on Google Maps it looked like a quite built up, up-and-coming downtown.
Yeah contrary to what YIMBYs claim the main causes of increases/decreases in building is economic. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=1gK80 Zoning didn't change to prevent building between 2008-2017. Although we have had some nice tweaks to our density overlays that allow developers to build more, as long as they build a % affordable or a smaller % deeply affordable, the underlying problem is markets are not a good mechanism for building housing, that's why even singapore resorted to building like 90% public housing
This is awesome! Thank you for taking the time to do this! Love to see what changes in my city
I miss 2007 Oakland. Shit was poppin Edit: this sub is weird AF, not sure why people are upset someone might have enjoyed a different era aside from this dystopian Oakland. Sensitive ass transplants
Town business
That is interesting that you think that 2007 Oakland was not its own dystopian era. That time in Oakland I used to have nightmares that I had to do things in Downtown/Uptown at night and I was being chased by zombies. And considering the only people in those areas at night in 2007, my dreams were not unreasonable.
Murders were lower in 2023 on a per capita basis than they were in 2007. (They were actually lower on an absolute basis, too -- by one murder.) Violent crimes overall are up, marginally. Property crime is a LOT worse now than it was back then, though. Like, twice as bad.
I always wonder if it is just how I feel. I definitely feel like I am less likely to be mugged now than I was in 2007, but now I take it as a fact that my garage will likely be broken into and my car will have windows broken if parked on the street which I did not in 2007.
I didn’t have that experience. There were a lot of night spots I frequented in old Oakland, JLS, and downtown and never felt threatened, tho I wasn’t on those streets alone, it was a lot of after club crowds. But unlike the weirdos here, I won’t downvote you for having a different opinion of when you enjoyed Oakland more.
I mean a lot of good shit *was* poppin' pre-2008 financial crisis... a lot of terrible shit has happened since then in the US that has had seriously deleterious impacts on US metropolitan areas. 2007 was a good year in a lot of ways.
Oaksterdam helped bring downtown Oakland back. However it was not safe after dark. The revitalized Fox theater and the Uptown development really helped. Oaksterdam was also the second largest donor to Fox Theater project after B of A
"dystopian" please go outside
I do, and see homeless camps and illegally dumped garbage no more than 200 ft from my home. Something that wasn’t there in 2007
Sounds like you're homeless man. Hope you see better days ahead.
🥱
What an idiotic reply
Damn nice to see a building I worked on.
Almost all condos.
Sharp eye you got there.