3 ms·

How would you fix this?

• epistasis 8y ago
  I'm not a policy maker, and I don't have enough experience to create wise and smart policy. But my general goal would be to let these small groups have less power. In the most extreme, all plans that meet codes and zoning would have to be approved within a short amount of time (6 months, perhaps?), without any local input on what gets built. This idea is called "by-right" development, where you only need to meet local laws. By-right development terrifies the older homeowner bloc that controls local politics, however, and is probably completely infeasible, politically. Another venue might be to have this streamlined permitting imposed by the state onto any municipality that has a jobs:housing ratio greater than, say, 2:1, or something like that? But again, I'm only an amateur policy maker, and that's the last thing that California needs. California's biggest problem is that its direct democracy has lead to all sorts of amateur policies like extremely restrictive residential zoning, or the terrible property tax laws that have starved municipalities and created perverse incentives for homeowners.
  • SlowBro 8y ago
    Outcomes like these seem to be why the founders of the United States wanted to avoid setting up a direct democracy, instead opting for a constitutional republic.[1] [1] http://factmyth.com/why-did-the-founding-fathers-choose-a-republic/ http://factmyth.com/why-did-the-founding-fathers-choose-a-re...