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A comment on Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nation's Largest Cities. Parent comment

Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by seibelj on Sunday July 01, 2018 @06:54PM (#17438146)
Increasing density is the natural impulse when an area becomes more desirable. So much of our society is tied to the area you live - jobs, public schools, access to services. It’s immoral to kick the ladder down behind you and make entry into the area impossible, not because the market decides it, but because existing inhabitants have co-opted the government through NIMBY policies.

I can think of many pro-market initiatives that would alleviate society’s ailments. But allowing more, denser housing to be built is one of the easiest, least burdensome solutions placed on the taxpayer. The damage caused by more housing is to delicate sensibilities as a homeowner’s “view” is blocked by new towers and the “character” of a neighborhood is ruined by lower income newcomers.

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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by PretzelFisch on Sunday July 01, 2018 @07:39PM (#17438340)
>But allowing more, denser housing to be built is one of the easiest, least burdensome solutions placed on the taxpayer.

I hear this argument many times but what I don't hear is how the city will get the additional revenue needed to service this new density? An increase in the population requires more fire, police, swerer, water, roads, public transportation and schools. But a city can tax companies and collect sales tax.

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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by elgenie on Sunday July 01, 2018 @09:38PM (#17438778)
On a per capita basis, an increase in density requires less sewer, water, roads, fire and police (shorter response times). Schooling needs are the same, and there's only "more" public transportation because it's actually possible.

And what pays for it is … the property tax.

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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by wbl on Sunday July 01, 2018 @07:40PM (#17438349)
Property tax.
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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by seibelj on Sunday July 01, 2018 @07:41PM (#17438354)
...property tax?
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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by llukas on Sunday July 01, 2018 @07:27PM (#17438297)
If you don't build more schools, hospitals etc. (essentially everything) along with allowing more housing - then you shift problem down the line.
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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by seibelj on Sunday July 01, 2018 @07:34PM (#17438327)
Your argument - that increased population causes the support infrastructure to buckle - is 100% false. If supporting a growing population was an insurmountable obstacle, then no city would ever grow. We know how to handle growth, this is a solved problem.
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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by DrScump on Monday July 02, 2018 @02:28AM (#17439681) 

  Your argument - that increased population causes the support infrastructure to buckle - is 100% false.
It was certainly true in SV as it grew. For example, my high school had to go on double session as it had to handle more than double the number of students it was designed for. In wintertime, upperclassmen went to school in pitch dark, and freshmen walked home in pitch dark.
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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by EADGBE on Monday July 02, 2018 @09:52AM (#17441581)
Could they not erect schools fast enough? Surely the funding was there?
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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by DrScump on Monday July 02, 2018 @06:03PM (#17445741)
A high school takes a large plot of vacant land as well as a lot of development.

The eventual solution was the building of a huge new high school complex known as Ed Park, eventually renamed Independence High School, on much cheaper land well to the south.

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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by EADGBE on Tuesday July 03, 2018 @09:17AM (#17449878)
I remember attending most of my middle school (6th & 7th grade) in "modules". Which is really just a fancy term for a trailer. There were probably 5-10 of them adjacent to the parking lot. It's how they handled the fact that our town was growing too fast. Still use that method today in between builds.

But that's "wide open spaces" kinda land.

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Re:Homes 'Earn' Minimum Wage or More in Almost Half the Nati... by llukas on Tuesday July 03, 2018 @06:46PM (#17454180)
Solved problem? Doesn't look like one:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jul/03/all-humanity-...

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