4 ms·
"The "drive till you qualify" and "rather a longer commute" assumptions are wrong. You don't have to work in Palo Alto. You can have a short commute if you work
by travmatt 10y ago
"The "drive till you qualify" and "rather a longer commute" assumptions are wrong. You don't have to work in Palo Alto. You can have a short commute if you work elsewhere."
The literature I just posted wasn't from the point-of-view of the people who would benefit from affordable housing, it was from the point of view of municipalities and states self-interested in seeing returns on investments in affordable housing.
Moreover, how does your logic make any sense at all? If you work in Palo Alto and don't need to travel far, you can be said to have a 'short' commute. If you live further away, then the commute is necessarily 'longer'. If you change jobs -> then the job you left will probably be replaced -> if the job is replaced at the same wages, the person being hired either has to live in an area their wages can't afford or they'll have to commute into it, a 'long' commute and the cycle continues. Your logic really only works if you are only worried about _your_ interests, not the interests of the town itself.
"This industry is totally relocatable. It's not like mining, shipping, petroleum, or even farming. Computers are available everywhere."
Isn't this arguing my point for me? Unless Palo Alto was incorporated solely for the benefit of computer programmers, there are other people who have lived there and are afforded the right to vote on it's future - teachers, cops, firemen, postal workers, janitors or other professions, and these programmers surely don't operate in a bubble but utilize some type of support staff? Governments shouldn't base policy on the singular peculiarities of one profession.
"Cramming everybody into a little spit of land is crazy."
I'd argue encouraging urban sprawl ('drive till you qualify') is less sustainable (i.e., more crazy) than encouraging more densely concentrated living/working areas - but that's not research talking, only my intuition.