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> This is the main reason for sprawl. It's not racism, politics, or any other bs agenda. People like having a yard, a garage, quiet neighbors, small schools, et

> This is the main reason for sprawl. It's not racism, politics, or any other bs agenda. People like having a yard, a garage, quiet neighbors, small schools, etc... West Berekely has (last time I checked) a 45 ft limit on building heights. They also have deliberate dead ends to discourage driving on side streets. Piedmont forbids multi tenant buildings and has a time limit of two or three days before a citation can be issued for a resident's parked car staying in the same spot. My buddy was openly criticized by his neighbor in Piedmont for the way he managed his lawn, which was not neglected. These are absolutely issues of politics and discouraging undesirables to live elsewhere. This is in East Bay, where we tend to consider ourselves progressive, and it's called NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). The Berkeley tactics are a blatant example of, "It's ok when we do it because we're special."

mercutio2 11y ago
I'm unclear why you include Berkeley's traffic calming (blocking off side streets) in your litany of NIMBY issues. Discouraging people from driving on side streets is a pedestrian-and-density friendly strategy. There absolutely are hordes of NIMBY tactics used in Berkeley politics, with nearly zero coherency, attempting to stop dense development especially downtown.
- brashrat 11y ago
  assume for the sake of argument there is a constant amount of traffic. You can spread it evenly or lump it together. So... Berkeley has a large number of extra-busy boulevards carrying traffic farther than it would ordinarily have to go? otherwise, what is happening is traffic is being discouraged/encouraged overall which has economic consequences. TANSTAAFL
CalRobert 11y ago
Those "deliberate dead ends" often include throughways for bikes and pedestrians, which means Berkeley is one of the most pleasant places in the bay to get around.

mercutio2 11y ago

I'm unclear why you include Berkeley's traffic calming (blocking off side streets) in your litany of NIMBY issues. Discouraging people from driving on side streets is a pedestrian-and-density friendly strategy. There absolutely are hordes of NIMBY tactics used in Berkeley politics, with nearly zero coherency, attempting to stop dense development especially downtown.

brashrat 11y ago
assume for the sake of argument there is a constant amount of traffic. You can spread it evenly or lump it together. So... Berkeley has a large number of extra-busy boulevards carrying traffic farther than it would ordinarily have to go? otherwise, what is happening is traffic is being discouraged/encouraged overall which has economic consequences. TANSTAAFL

CalRobert 11y ago

Those "deliberate dead ends" often include throughways for bikes and pedestrians, which means Berkeley is one of the most pleasant places in the bay to get around.