> The idea that local municipalities get to decide, arbitrarily and subjectively, what is "compatible with the neighborhood," means that property rights do not

> The idea that local municipalities get to decide, arbitrarily and subjectively, what is "compatible with the neighborhood," means that property rights do not exist. I have a hard time reconciling this. Because I also can’t help but think local governments deciding what they want for their neighborhood is the most direct form of democracy and overriding that at higher levels of government seems to be not ideal. Given that we agree that some level of laws and regulations must exist, it seems that we’re just adjusting our goal posts. If you’re a property my rights absolutist then you have to also accept edge cases, like Trump flags and 4x4s tearing through someone’s backyard, or someone painting their house in pink stripes since it’s “their house”. What kind of NIMBY are you to deny someone selling their home to someone who wants to open an auto repair shop? You have to accept these the same as you accept a new condo tower. You can’t pick and choose here and then go back and claim “well this is reasonable and this other thing is not” because people can equally claim a condo tower isn’t reasonable. In the case of particularly desirable places I think it’s just a case of too bad, that’s life. Nobody is entitled to live anywhere in particular at an affordable rate regardless of their priors. The alternative that you would believe this is the case means someone can endlessly complain that they can’t live in Vancouver with a view of the sea for $500/month. Now on the more reasonable spectrum you can ok I’m not talking about all of that, I’m talking about a new high-rise in a downtown area. Sure, and that’s more likely to actually happen to so I’m not sure what the problem is. “But teachers and wage workers will be priced out”. Yep. And either wages will rise and residents will be paying $70 for a latte, or they won’t get to have those things because of their anti-development NIMBY points of view and they’ll either accept that life or they’ll give in to change. At the end of the day it’s all arbitrary and subjective. I think it’s arbitrary that we build highways for cars and subjectively believe that it’s a huge waste of money. That’s messy democracy.