They aren't honest. Architecturally they are boring. Each new house has the unmistakable look of every other new Mediterranean-style house. Adorned with half-hearted columns, they strain to look like mansions. The narrow color range also smacks of the mass merchandising behind them.
Buyers choose something between the color of wet sand and dry sand.
The bulldozers and the faux-mansions that follow mark the end of affordable housing and the start of something offensively expensive. In Cupertino, that could buy a spot close to the railroad tracks. Renters are under enormous pressure as well. The cost of a one-bedroom apartment in the county jumped nearly 20 percent between the first and second quarters this year. Some 24 units will be built behind the new fire station on Stevens Creek Boulevard and possibly another 50 across the street adjacent to a new hotel.