4 ms·

This desire of urban planners to regulate virtually every aspect of city life is precisely why I live in the suburbs. I like to remind budding conservatives an

This desire of urban planners to regulate virtually every aspect of city life is precisely why I live in the suburbs. I like to remind budding conservatives and libertarians that the free market is an ideal, not a mandate. The situation you describe is one that it perfect to be handled by the market. It's a cliche but it's also true that what matters is "Location, Location, Location". If you locate a business in an area where the people who would normally patronize it do not often travel or where they can't obtain adequate parking, that business will suffer.

davidw 10y ago
> regulate virtually every aspect of city life is precisely why I live in the suburbs. You could easily get the same thing out of a HOA in a city with fewer city-wide rules and regulations.
- LordKano 10y ago
  You are absolutely right about that, I also would never buy a home in a community with a HOA.
  - davidw 10y ago
    Ah, I see what you are saying: you think that suburbs are not planned down to the most minute of details? I don't know where you live, but I bet if you read a copy of your local zoning code, and have a look at the zoning map, you will probably find that yes, your suburb is very, very heavily regulated, including parking minimums, minimum floor/area ratios, setbacks, uses, and so on and so forth. Probably less than some HOA's demand, but still a lot of details. I too am not the kind of person who relishes that level of control, but I suppose some people like it.
    - LordKano 10y ago
      You raise a valid point. I just looked at my local code book of ordinances and they do cover a lot, including the number of parking spaces by square footage. In my experience, in a smaller town, these things are primarily used as a weapon to punish otherwise bad businesses. For example, we had a bar whose patrons became a neighborhood nuisance. They began to enforce the letter of the law for every violation until the bar closed.
      - davidw 10y ago
        There's an alternate universe where these kinds of problems are entirely dealt with through nuisance and noise laws and that kind of thing: the bar is permitted wherever people want to build it, however, the local authorities come down hard on people being a PITA. So if it's a wine bar where middle aged people sip quietly and chat about business, it's not going to bother anyone. The rowdy biker bar probably won't last long in a residential area.
      - WWLink 10y ago
        That sounds pretty bad. If you make everything illegal then only selectively enforce the laws...
        LordKano 10y ago
        In the USA, that seems to be the model at all levels of government.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
ocschwar 10y ago
> This desire of urban planners to regulate virtually every aspect of city life is precisely why I live in the suburbs. That's a bizarre thing to say. Construction in the suburbs is far more tightly regulated in the suburbs than in the city.
bobhall1981 10y ago
The argument that suburbs are some kind of liberty-loving small-government haven is 100% insane. I'm not here to say suburbs are good or suburbs are bad -- that's a value judgement. But there are facts: suburbs rely on federal dollars, central planning, lots of regulations (try opening up a corner store on the lot next to your suburban home), and limit individual choice.

davidw 10y ago

> regulate virtually every aspect of city life is precisely why I live in the suburbs. You could easily get the same thing out of a HOA in a city with fewer city-wide rules and regulations.

LordKano 10y ago
You are absolutely right about that, I also would never buy a home in a community with a HOA.
- davidw 10y ago
  Ah, I see what you are saying: you think that suburbs are not planned down to the most minute of details? I don't know where you live, but I bet if you read a copy of your local zoning code, and have a look at the zoning map, you will probably find that yes, your suburb is very, very heavily regulated, including parking minimums, minimum floor/area ratios, setbacks, uses, and so on and so forth. Probably less than some HOA's demand, but still a lot of details. I too am not the kind of person who relishes that level of control, but I suppose some people like it.
  - LordKano 10y ago
    You raise a valid point. I just looked at my local code book of ordinances and they do cover a lot, including the number of parking spaces by square footage. In my experience, in a smaller town, these things are primarily used as a weapon to punish otherwise bad businesses. For example, we had a bar whose patrons became a neighborhood nuisance. They began to enforce the letter of the law for every violation until the bar closed.
    - davidw 10y ago
      There's an alternate universe where these kinds of problems are entirely dealt with through nuisance and noise laws and that kind of thing: the bar is permitted wherever people want to build it, however, the local authorities come down hard on people being a PITA. So if it's a wine bar where middle aged people sip quietly and chat about business, it's not going to bother anyone. The rowdy biker bar probably won't last long in a residential area.
    - WWLink 10y ago
      That sounds pretty bad. If you make everything illegal then only selectively enforce the laws...
      - LordKano 10y ago
        In the USA, that seems to be the model at all levels of government.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

ocschwar 10y ago

> This desire of urban planners to regulate virtually every aspect of city life is precisely why I live in the suburbs. That's a bizarre thing to say. Construction in the suburbs is far more tightly regulated in the suburbs than in the city.

bobhall1981 10y ago

The argument that suburbs are some kind of liberty-loving small-government haven is 100% insane. I'm not here to say suburbs are good or suburbs are bad -- that's a value judgement. But there are facts: suburbs rely on federal dollars, central planning, lots of regulations (try opening up a corner store on the lot next to your suburban home), and limit individual choice.