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A comment on We’d rather have the iceberg than the ship. Parent comment

Re:We’d rather have the iceberg than the ship by Qwertious on Friday July 23, 2021 @02:15PM (#27933911)
>If people want to live in a single family home in the suburbs, why not let them? It's not like the US is short on space.

1. The main complaint you hear is R1 zoning, which doesn't just permit single family homes but MANDATES single family homes. This is wasteful lunacy.

2. If single family homes can pay for their requisite infrastructure without external subsidy, then by all means. If they can't pay and expect others to pay for them, then we need to have a conversation on the topic.

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Re:We’d rather have the iceberg than the ship by notacoward on Friday July 23, 2021 @06:09PM (#27936188)
> If single family homes can pay for their requisite infrastructure without external subsidy

...and they basically don't, over time. The initial boost in property-tax revenue is eventually overwhelmed by the maintenance costs for all that sprawling infrastructure. It's one of the drivers behind the churn that OP is all about. A fuller exposition was discussed here recently.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27727133

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