4 ms·

>"There are hundreds of low-cost, low-effort ways to start making things better." I used to think this as well, until I started sitting in on HOA and city coun

>"There are hundreds of low-cost, low-effort ways to start making things better." I used to think this as well, until I started sitting in on HOA and city council meetings. Good lord, even the most seemingly simple proposals are drenched in red tape and artificial barriers imposed by busybodies. I'm not sure how to get around this, sadly.

piffey 3y ago
Easy: drop the public commentary portion of development. Random old people with nothing to do all day shouldn't be allowed to delay a project by months because they want to complain about the orientation of a window on a project. If you don't own the land, weren't democratically elected, and aren't funding the property you shouldn't get a say in local land use. Ridiculous that we've even set up these systems.
- brailsafe 3y ago
  Months is incredibly generous
- ArtemZ 3y ago
  That's ridiculous to prohibit residents from having a say about the area development, whether they are old or not.
  - p_j_w 3y ago
    They wouldn't be prohibited from having a say, they get to vote.
  - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
    They have a say when they vote for the city council members or whoever.
  - mdu02 3y ago
    Matt Yglesias had a good piece about this a few days ago. https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/community-meetings-arent-democracy https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/community-me...
- ragebol 3y ago
  What if that window is looking straight into your bedroom or bathroom? I'd want to at least voice some concern over that. It's then up to officials to ignore that complaint or not. Having no way to express such concerns is faster of course, but there's downsides too
  - notatoad 3y ago
    Move out of the city, or put a blind over your window Being able to see other people's windows from your windows is an inescapable consequence of living in a city. If that's not acceptable to you, then you buy an acreage in the woods somewhere. It's not a reasonable thing to be protesting a development approval over.
    - ragebol 3y ago
      Of course, in this case. It's up to the official to dismiss such constraints if unreasonable. But we got such laws and processes for a reason.
      - notatoad 3y ago
        The law and process is a zoning bylaw. If a development conforms to the zoning bylaw, there should be no need for public engagement. In no other scenario do we have a process of public meetings to decide whether or not to follow the law.

piffey 3y ago

Easy: drop the public commentary portion of development. Random old people with nothing to do all day shouldn't be allowed to delay a project by months because they want to complain about the orientation of a window on a project. If you don't own the land, weren't democratically elected, and aren't funding the property you shouldn't get a say in local land use. Ridiculous that we've even set up these systems.

brailsafe 3y ago
Months is incredibly generous
ArtemZ 3y ago
That's ridiculous to prohibit residents from having a say about the area development, whether they are old or not.
- p_j_w 3y ago
  They wouldn't be prohibited from having a say, they get to vote.
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  They have a say when they vote for the city council members or whoever.
- mdu02 3y ago
  Matt Yglesias had a good piece about this a few days ago. https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/community-meetings-arent-democracy https://open.substack.com/pub/matthewyglesias/p/community-me...
ragebol 3y ago
What if that window is looking straight into your bedroom or bathroom? I'd want to at least voice some concern over that. It's then up to officials to ignore that complaint or not. Having no way to express such concerns is faster of course, but there's downsides too
- notatoad 3y ago
  Move out of the city, or put a blind over your window Being able to see other people's windows from your windows is an inescapable consequence of living in a city. If that's not acceptable to you, then you buy an acreage in the woods somewhere. It's not a reasonable thing to be protesting a development approval over.
  - ragebol 3y ago
    Of course, in this case. It's up to the official to dismiss such constraints if unreasonable. But we got such laws and processes for a reason.
    - notatoad 3y ago
      The law and process is a zoning bylaw. If a development conforms to the zoning bylaw, there should be no need for public engagement. In no other scenario do we have a process of public meetings to decide whether or not to follow the law.