4 ms·

You're ignoring the lions share of zoning which is really about safety and conforming to standards. People like the money they spend to mean stability. And that

You're ignoring the lions share of zoning which is really about safety and conforming to standards. People like the money they spend to mean stability. And that means nice neighborhoods of houses don't want certain businesses because of trucks, unfamiliar traffic which equal danger to pedestrians. Some don't care about lawns or flags or color as much but it turns out the most insufferable people end up being drawn to the hoa boards.

Throwaway23412 11y ago
What's interesting is that the word "safe" doesn't show up once in the "Zoning" Wikipedia article. However, words like "business interests", "income segregation", and "racial segregation" seem to show up quite a bit. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Functional_zoning_-_categories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Functional_zoning_-_cat... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Criticism_of_zoning_laws_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Criticism_of_zoning_law...
- PhantomGremlin 11y ago
  the word "safe" doesn't show up once in the "Zoning" Wikipedia article Then that Wikipedia article needs to be amended. Look at an example from the real world. This is happening right now, in Portland Oregon. http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/two-portland-glass-companies-lack-pollution-controls-on-their-chimneys/Content?oid=17577339 http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/two-portland-glass-c... The problem is that glass factories are "adjacent to a 100-child daycare facility, two public schools (Cleveland High School and Winterhaven K-8), and a city park." These factories have been emitting metals such as cadmium and arsenic into the air. As you can imagine, this being Portland, everyone is quite upset. And rightly so. You can argue about the quantities of emission that any given plant should be allowed. But you can't argue that, for any given emission level, society as a whole is much better off if these factories aren't adjacent to daycare facilities and schools. Keeping schools and factories separated is a very legitimate "safety" goal of zoning.
  - ajmurmann 11y ago
    A while ago someone posted a great article about Japanese zoning laws. Those make so much more sense: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html
    - michaelbuddy 11y ago
      People are constantly having issues with Japan building freeways over their populated areas, going right through their rice fields. The only difference is nobody can claim racism because Japanese are homogeneous.
jdavis703 11y ago
Zoning and building codes are usually totally separated. For example plenum cabling adherence is required in many localities for industrial, commercial and residential zones regardless of income level. As for safety you of course don't want a chemical plant next to say an elementary school, but generally that kind of zoning is not what leads to what urban planners refer to as "exclusionary zoning."

Throwaway23412 11y ago

What's interesting is that the word "safe" doesn't show up once in the "Zoning" Wikipedia article. However, words like "business interests", "income segregation", and "racial segregation" seem to show up quite a bit. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Functional_zoning_-_categories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Functional_zoning_-_cat... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Criticism_of_zoning_laws_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning#Criticism_of_zoning_law...

PhantomGremlin 11y ago
the word "safe" doesn't show up once in the "Zoning" Wikipedia article Then that Wikipedia article needs to be amended. Look at an example from the real world. This is happening right now, in Portland Oregon. http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/two-portland-glass-companies-lack-pollution-controls-on-their-chimneys/Content?oid=17577339 http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/two-portland-glass-c... The problem is that glass factories are "adjacent to a 100-child daycare facility, two public schools (Cleveland High School and Winterhaven K-8), and a city park." These factories have been emitting metals such as cadmium and arsenic into the air. As you can imagine, this being Portland, everyone is quite upset. And rightly so. You can argue about the quantities of emission that any given plant should be allowed. But you can't argue that, for any given emission level, society as a whole is much better off if these factories aren't adjacent to daycare facilities and schools. Keeping schools and factories separated is a very legitimate "safety" goal of zoning.
- ajmurmann 11y ago
  A while ago someone posted a great article about Japanese zoning laws. Those make so much more sense: http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html http://urbankchoze.blogspot.com/2014/04/japanese-zoning.html
  - michaelbuddy 11y ago
    People are constantly having issues with Japan building freeways over their populated areas, going right through their rice fields. The only difference is nobody can claim racism because Japanese are homogeneous.

jdavis703 11y ago

Zoning and building codes are usually totally separated. For example plenum cabling adherence is required in many localities for industrial, commercial and residential zones regardless of income level. As for safety you of course don't want a chemical plant next to say an elementary school, but generally that kind of zoning is not what leads to what urban planners refer to as "exclusionary zoning."