Re:The Great American Single-Family Home Problem
by dionidium on Saturday December 02, 2017 @12:29PM
(#15832927)
Sure, yes, fine, but it’s not OK that most Americans have been priced out of the nation’s largest, most productive urban centers. It’s not OK that even the “middle class” is spending an unsustainable portion of its income hanging out to these areas with what are basically speculative and ill-advised real estate investment schemes. And it’s not OK that we’re still letting the automobile dominate regions where fixed public transit is the obviously better choice.
The world doesn’t owe anybody anything. You’re right about that. The few white families lucky enough to buy cheap subsidized housing at just the right time in history as new highways ripped through existing (many times conveniently black) neighborhoods didn’t deserve to get rich off that decision.
But here we are.
It’s almost as if deserve’s got nothin to do with it.
Re:The Great American Single-Family Home Problem
by nasredin on Saturday December 02, 2017 @02:17PM
(#15833471)
TLDR version: "Fuck you, I got mine" is not good for anybody.
Re:The Great American Single-Family Home Problem
by closeparen on Saturday December 02, 2017 @01:02PM
(#15833105)
Parks and recreational areas aren’t really NIMBYist, more like “this should be everyone’s backyard.” Regardless, I should be more specific, NIMBYism is bad for society when it effectively locks people away from economic opportunity. If you want an exclusive resort town in the wilderness, knock yourself out. (As long as your staff have somewhere to live).
I disagree. I think that NIMBY has its place. Maybe not in Berkeley or 101-corridor Marin or in (insert miles and miles of shitty two story residential in SF) ... but I can quickly think of examples where NIMBY created tremendously valuable outcomes that were worth fighting for.
Here are a few, from places I live or have lived:
- West Marin County, with the accompanying Pt. Reyes National Seashore, is an incredible, awe-inspiring example not just of nature, but of the foresight and the hard work that a small community of people had to keep out development and large roadways.
- Boulder, CO, with all of its flaws and idiosyncrasies, is a quite impressive achievement that has grown up over many decades - starting with the original open space ring circling the city and continuing with height and density restrictions, etc.
Those are very expensive places to live with a fairly high bar for entry (and certainly for home ownership) ... and that is OK. It's OK that not everyone can live in Aspen. It's OK that we can't afford a home in Gstaad. It's OK that ranches in West Marin are expensive.
The world does not owe you these things.