3 ms·

Yeah, the political motivation makes sense. What I'm sick of is all of the suburbs doing their level best to try to convince businesses to not locate in the ci

Yeah, the political motivation makes sense. What I'm sick of is all of the suburbs doing their level best to try to convince businesses to not locate in the city while also complaining about the "housing crisis" and "traffic crunch" that their own policies caused. Everybody griped that Seattle wasn't zoning for housing at the rate it zoned for offices, so the city has started upzoning and now the 'burbs are doing the exact opposite of what they lobbied the city to do for a decade.

bluGill 6y ago
NiMBY... Everyone agrees with what you say except in their own particular neighborhood.
- dagw 6y ago
  Yea. That is the sad truth. I used to be a hard core YIMBY believer and advocated for more urban densification and taller buildings etc. etc. Then one day I found out that the city was planning on building new student housing on the park where my daughter and I went to play every day. All of a sudden I found my unbridled YIMBYism becoming a lot more circumspect and nuanced and it turns out I was actually just a massive hypocrite. Urban densification is Great! and I still believe it is the right solution (just not in _my_ back yard). PS: Now that I've moved 2 miles down the road and no longer go to that particular park I'm far more open to the long term benefits of it being used for student housing.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    I think what is helpful is to define values. I think most people would value a park nearby - but how much park. A 500 acre park per apartment is obviously too much - you couldn't have a city, and I'm not sure if there is enough land in the world. You wouldn't want 1 square cm per apartment either - the few parks you would keep wouldn't hold all the people who want to use them. Someplace in the middle is a compromise - but I'm not sure what. For the most part I don't think that the law should limit what buildings can be put up - factories/stores/housing can all share a neighborhood. However even if chemical factories don't release anything, there is still enough fire danger that they should be separated from anything else. Worse some chemicals are safe on their own but if they leak to a neighbor the combination is dangerous so such things need to be kept apart. I don't really feel like trying to come up with a proposal of what the rules should be, but what we have isn't right.

bluGill 6y ago

NiMBY... Everyone agrees with what you say except in their own particular neighborhood.

dagw 6y ago
Yea. That is the sad truth. I used to be a hard core YIMBY believer and advocated for more urban densification and taller buildings etc. etc. Then one day I found out that the city was planning on building new student housing on the park where my daughter and I went to play every day. All of a sudden I found my unbridled YIMBYism becoming a lot more circumspect and nuanced and it turns out I was actually just a massive hypocrite. Urban densification is Great! and I still believe it is the right solution (just not in _my_ back yard). PS: Now that I've moved 2 miles down the road and no longer go to that particular park I'm far more open to the long term benefits of it being used for student housing.
- bluGill 6y ago
  I think what is helpful is to define values. I think most people would value a park nearby - but how much park. A 500 acre park per apartment is obviously too much - you couldn't have a city, and I'm not sure if there is enough land in the world. You wouldn't want 1 square cm per apartment either - the few parks you would keep wouldn't hold all the people who want to use them. Someplace in the middle is a compromise - but I'm not sure what. For the most part I don't think that the law should limit what buildings can be put up - factories/stores/housing can all share a neighborhood. However even if chemical factories don't release anything, there is still enough fire danger that they should be separated from anything else. Worse some chemicals are safe on their own but if they leak to a neighbor the combination is dangerous so such things need to be kept apart. I don't really feel like trying to come up with a proposal of what the rules should be, but what we have isn't right.