8 ms·

A large influx of people into your area is almost guaranteed to lower your quality of life, either by increased crime, or just by increased congestion, increase

A large influx of people into your area is almost guaranteed to lower your quality of life, either by increased crime, or just by increased congestion, increased noise, decreased property values, and possible demographic shifts that marginalize your culture. To minimize these concerns in the way you do seems non-productive and can only lead to more polarization. These types of initiatives stem from Agenda 21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agenda_21 proponents that, while advocating many admirable things, tend to completely ignore the feelings of the populations they are intent on engineering a radically different future for. I am saddened that the dream we all shared of allowing small towns to once again flourish, because knowledge workers could be located anywhere on the planet, are being quickly forgotten in favor of ultra-dense citiscapes.

jessaustin 9y ago
...guaranteed to lower your quality of life... This is why many people (not me!) support draconian immigration restrictions.
- robotrout 9y ago
  I assume you are talking about Japan and Israels immigration restrictions. I support their right to them, personally, but I know there are many Americans who riot and march because those countries restrict their immigration so carefully.
  - jessaustin 9y ago
    No, I was thinking of an American politician who has been in the news quite a bit, who is a big opponent of immigration. He really represents the values of his NIMBY supporters.
Arbalest 9y ago
If you're worried infill will cause cultural degradation, then perhaps your culture is not well suited to centralisation. That is, not suited to city living. Why else use Tokyo as an example of the success of infill? Japan is famous for it's low (petty at least) crime rate The point of decreased property values is even mentioned in the article as desirable and here you are saying it isn't. The objective here is to make housing affordable, not the preservation of wealth centres.
spoonie 9y ago
If the lot your house sits on in rezoned to allow for taller buildings your property’s value will very likely go up. It is definitely less conveneient to have to move out of your house and wait for something bigger to be built.
xracy 9y ago
This is the definition of "vaguely racist": "increased crime... and possible demographic shifts that marginalize your culture" Don't want none of them other demographics moving here to increase the crime, and marginalize the culture.
- robotrout 9y ago
  If you look at any crime heat map of a city, you will note, hopefully with no surprise, that crime rate is inversely proportional to income distribution. If low income housing enters an area, the crime will go up. You may be fine with that, but you have to imagine that the already established residents of that area might not wish their crime rate to increase. Calling those concerns selfish is just name calling.
  - xracy 9y ago
    Yeah, You'll notice I called what you said racist, specifically because your statement didn't tie what you were saying to income, but instead to "demographics".
    - xienze 9y ago
      “Demographics can refer to any subdivision of a population, it’s not a synonym for “race”.
- ggg9990 9y ago
  Is that bad? If someone lives in a community that is 90% their race, with their neighbors listening to their kind of music, engaging in their kind of activities, going to the same kind of events, not wanting to become a 10% minority? It would be like a Chinese person not wanting to move to India or vice versa.
- Mononokay 9y ago
  . . . It wasn't, though? He could easily be talking about Midwesterners moving there, too. He never brought up race, and thinking "Increased crime rates!? Demographic shifts by [Anything can go here, try "Neoconservatives" or "Neoliberals" or "Social Conservatives" or "Fiscally Conservative Liberals"]??!? HE MUST BE THINKING ABOUT [RACE]!" I think they're not the racist one here.
arebop 9y ago
Cities are built on network effects. It's the suburbs specifically that are conceived and designed such that growth and diversity destroys value.
devopsforlyfe 9y ago
> I am saddened that the dream we all shared of allowing small towns to once again flourish, because knowledge workers could be located anywhere on the planet, are being quickly forgotten in favor of ultra-dense citiscapes. It was always a futile dream, mostly propagated by people who themselves enjoy small towns and certainly not "shared by all". It turns out that many knowledge workers actually like big cities for the leisure options, health services, people and neighbourhood diversity, much bigger selection of potential life partners, and high availability of jobs.
- JoeAltmaier 9y ago
  Circular? Remote workers means, there aren't more jobs just because you're in a city. As for neighborhoods, an expanding cityscape of just more apartment blocks means no neighborhoods at all. As for leisure options, a beach shared by 1M other people is not much of an option. Living in Colorado has orders of magnitude more leisure options for instance.
  - lotsofpulp 9y ago
    Isn’t that why Colorado cities are some of the hottest markets to be in right now? I’ve heard a lot of complaining from people in Denver, Boulder, Aspen, etc.
pcwalton 9y ago
> A large influx of people into your area is almost guaranteed to lower your quality of life Speak for yourself. My quality of life has been very positively correlated with population density. It's why I'm settling down on the east side of San Francisco, and I'm eagerly awaiting the new development there.

jessaustin 9y ago

...guaranteed to lower your quality of life... This is why many people (not me!) support draconian immigration restrictions.

robotrout 9y ago
I assume you are talking about Japan and Israels immigration restrictions. I support their right to them, personally, but I know there are many Americans who riot and march because those countries restrict their immigration so carefully.
- jessaustin 9y ago
  No, I was thinking of an American politician who has been in the news quite a bit, who is a big opponent of immigration. He really represents the values of his NIMBY supporters.

Arbalest 9y ago

If you're worried infill will cause cultural degradation, then perhaps your culture is not well suited to centralisation. That is, not suited to city living. Why else use Tokyo as an example of the success of infill? Japan is famous for it's low (petty at least) crime rate The point of decreased property values is even mentioned in the article as desirable and here you are saying it isn't. The objective here is to make housing affordable, not the preservation of wealth centres.

spoonie 9y ago

If the lot your house sits on in rezoned to allow for taller buildings your property’s value will very likely go up. It is definitely less conveneient to have to move out of your house and wait for something bigger to be built.

xracy 9y ago

This is the definition of "vaguely racist": "increased crime... and possible demographic shifts that marginalize your culture" Don't want none of them other demographics moving here to increase the crime, and marginalize the culture.

robotrout 9y ago
If you look at any crime heat map of a city, you will note, hopefully with no surprise, that crime rate is inversely proportional to income distribution. If low income housing enters an area, the crime will go up. You may be fine with that, but you have to imagine that the already established residents of that area might not wish their crime rate to increase. Calling those concerns selfish is just name calling.
- xracy 9y ago
  Yeah, You'll notice I called what you said racist, specifically because your statement didn't tie what you were saying to income, but instead to "demographics".
  - xienze 9y ago
    “Demographics can refer to any subdivision of a population, it’s not a synonym for “race”.
ggg9990 9y ago
Is that bad? If someone lives in a community that is 90% their race, with their neighbors listening to their kind of music, engaging in their kind of activities, going to the same kind of events, not wanting to become a 10% minority? It would be like a Chinese person not wanting to move to India or vice versa.
Mononokay 9y ago
. . . It wasn't, though? He could easily be talking about Midwesterners moving there, too. He never brought up race, and thinking "Increased crime rates!? Demographic shifts by [Anything can go here, try "Neoconservatives" or "Neoliberals" or "Social Conservatives" or "Fiscally Conservative Liberals"]??!? HE MUST BE THINKING ABOUT [RACE]!" I think they're not the racist one here.

arebop 9y ago

Cities are built on network effects. It's the suburbs specifically that are conceived and designed such that growth and diversity destroys value.

devopsforlyfe 9y ago

> I am saddened that the dream we all shared of allowing small towns to once again flourish, because knowledge workers could be located anywhere on the planet, are being quickly forgotten in favor of ultra-dense citiscapes. It was always a futile dream, mostly propagated by people who themselves enjoy small towns and certainly not "shared by all". It turns out that many knowledge workers actually like big cities for the leisure options, health services, people and neighbourhood diversity, much bigger selection of potential life partners, and high availability of jobs.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
Circular? Remote workers means, there aren't more jobs just because you're in a city. As for neighborhoods, an expanding cityscape of just more apartment blocks means no neighborhoods at all. As for leisure options, a beach shared by 1M other people is not much of an option. Living in Colorado has orders of magnitude more leisure options for instance.
- lotsofpulp 9y ago
  Isn’t that why Colorado cities are some of the hottest markets to be in right now? I’ve heard a lot of complaining from people in Denver, Boulder, Aspen, etc.

pcwalton 9y ago

> A large influx of people into your area is almost guaranteed to lower your quality of life Speak for yourself. My quality of life has been very positively correlated with population density. It's why I'm settling down on the east side of San Francisco, and I'm eagerly awaiting the new development there.