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Ah but zones have always existed. Even in don't-tread-on-me Texas you aren't free to just do anything just anywhere. If you don't like that we all have to shar

Ah but zones have always existed. Even in don't-tread-on-me Texas you aren't free to just do anything just anywhere. If you don't like that we all have to share the space and that some places get earmarked for particular uses, and no you aren't free to build a pig farm or even a human farm just anywhere, even if you buy the land, sucks to suck. Buy all the land in the entire municipality and populate it with people who all vote to change the zoning. Or don't. But complaining that the current residents won't let you in is just not very defensible.

s1artibartfast 4y ago
first off, zone have not always existed, and in practice, have always been subject to reclassification, which occurs routinely. You dont have to go back far to find that most areas that are now single family zoning were something else, often agriculture outside of large metros. You raise a fair question regarding what the appropriate level of government and consensus should be to make or change zoning back in reality. However, it doesnt address the question of how to the reality of populations with mixed opinions on zoning change. Are you talking about a 51% vote threshold, 100% consensus, or simply based on the whim of an unelected official. I don't like complaining as much as the next guy and dont think anyone has a defacto right to "get in". Rather, Im talking about what rights I have if I'm already in, and maybe always have been.
0xBDB 4y ago
"Even in don't-tread-on-me Texas you aren't free to just do anything just anywhere." Texas has "normal" zoning laws everywhere but the city of Houston. You will often see people say that Houston has de facto zoning because of deed restrictions and neighborhood covenants, and this is sort of true, but a lot of Houston does allow for more mixed use than other places and the city seems visibly different than L.A. (or Dallas). Lots of restaurants in industrial areas, etc. Houston is ugly to my eye but I don't think this is why. On the other hand, I don't want pig farms in residential neighborhoods. On the third hand, the in the U.S. the state government (depending on the state constitution) has the legal right to take those decisions away from municipalities and neighborhoods and probably should. It really is too easy to be in favor of building things that are genuinely necessary and beneficial (not pig farms) in the abstract as long as you can't see them.

s1artibartfast 4y ago

first off, zone have not always existed, and in practice, have always been subject to reclassification, which occurs routinely. You dont have to go back far to find that most areas that are now single family zoning were something else, often agriculture outside of large metros. You raise a fair question regarding what the appropriate level of government and consensus should be to make or change zoning back in reality. However, it doesnt address the question of how to the reality of populations with mixed opinions on zoning change. Are you talking about a 51% vote threshold, 100% consensus, or simply based on the whim of an unelected official. I don't like complaining as much as the next guy and dont think anyone has a defacto right to "get in". Rather, Im talking about what rights I have if I'm already in, and maybe always have been.

0xBDB 4y ago

"Even in don't-tread-on-me Texas you aren't free to just do anything just anywhere." Texas has "normal" zoning laws everywhere but the city of Houston. You will often see people say that Houston has de facto zoning because of deed restrictions and neighborhood covenants, and this is sort of true, but a lot of Houston does allow for more mixed use than other places and the city seems visibly different than L.A. (or Dallas). Lots of restaurants in industrial areas, etc. Houston is ugly to my eye but I don't think this is why. On the other hand, I don't want pig farms in residential neighborhoods. On the third hand, the in the U.S. the state government (depending on the state constitution) has the legal right to take those decisions away from municipalities and neighborhoods and probably should. It really is too easy to be in favor of building things that are genuinely necessary and beneficial (not pig farms) in the abstract as long as you can't see them.