Silicon Valley billionaire Marc Andreessen is known for winning venture capital in tech companies including Facebook, Skype, Lyft, Pinterest, Airbnb and Slack. However, one of his latest posts has caused more controversy.
In June, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz and his wife, philanthropist Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, wrote to local officials in suburban San Francisco, the most expensive zip code in the U.S., opposing allowing multifamily housing to be built in some locations by 2031. 130 housing units.
“I am writing this letter to convey our strong opposition to the creation of a multifamily footprint in Atherton,” the pair wrote. atlantic organization“Please immediately remove all multifamily coverage zoning projects from housing units that will be submitted to the state in July. They will significantly reduce the value of our homes, the quality of life for ourselves and our neighbors, and significantly increase noise Pollution and traffic.”
The housing proposal was ultimately rejected.
The apparent NIMBY stance is at odds with Mr Anderson’s public comments.He calls for increased housing construction in Bay Area in impactful 2020 prose It’s called “It’s time to build.”
In it, he lashed out at “the wildly soaring housing prices in places like San Francisco, making it nearly impossible for the average person to move in for the job of the future.”
He argues that “regulatory capture,” or opposition to new construction through official channels, is preventing San Francisco and other regions from building “the American city of the future.”
“We should have glittering skyscrapers and spectacular living environments in all of our best cities on a level far beyond what we have now; where are they?” he continued.
In April, he compared New York’s high rents to racially discriminatory covenants, a problem he found even more pronounced in a city she derided as “a ground zero for alleged concerns about inequality and privilege.”
Critics were quick to embrace the irony, calling the venture capitalist hopelessly out of touch.
He reportedly owns a $16.6 million “Tuscan mansion” in town, according to hollywood reporterand two separate mega-mansions in Malibu with a combined value of more than $200 million.
“I’m not sure there’s anything sadder than real billionaire Marc Andreessen, who complained that building a few multifamily homes in his town would ‘substantially’ reduce the value of his own home,” the writer Matt O’Brien said in a tweet Friday.
Others used the news to mock Anderson’s 2020 paper.
“Marc Andreessen: If it’s not in my backyard, that’s the only time to build,” jokes author and podcaster Paris Marx.
Some critics point out that the irony from Arrillaga-Andreessen, the daughter of a Silicon Valley billionaire land developer, is just as rich.
“Marc Andreessen is married to the family of one of the Bay Area’s foremost real estate developers, and he has decided now is not the time to build near his own home,” Twitter user Andrew Granato said.
independent Mr Anderson and Ms Alilaga-Anderson have been contacted for comment.
