4 ms·

This will prevent developers from keeping old poor habits around of bad land use

ajmurmann 3y ago
If there is concern about underutilizing land, pass a land value tax and the market will figure out what's the best way to improve the value of the property itself beyond the windfall from the unimproved land going up in value due to surrounding economic activity. When it comes to housing the US seems to suffer some kind of disability that makes it impossible to not be tempted to steer towards a planned economy.
- ipaddr 3y ago
  Let the people with the most money decide?
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    That's not how markets work
    - Negitivefrags 3y ago
      Isn't that exactly how markets work? Isn't that exactly the whole point of capitalism? If people with money want strawberries, they buy more strawberries. Price of strawberries goes up. Farmers who could choose to grow strawberries or some other thing decide that they want to grow strawberries because the price is high. More strawberries are grown. The people who have the money to buy the strawberries indirectly caused more strawberries to be created. So yeah, the people with the money decide what gets created. This is a good thing.
      - astrange 3y ago
        It isn't how markets work because people with more money don't automatically want to spend more money on strawberries. Rather the inverse; they have more money because they haven't spent it on things yet. Although it's not a good general metaphor because strawberries are a consumption good and not used for your income like a car is.
  - kiba 3y ago
    The people with the most money pay the highest tax for the privilege of using the most expensive and most valuable land. If they're any good at it, they'll make a profit on it, the way it should be.
- madsbuch 3y ago
  While that is true in the abstract, it will take long to adjust. modern city planners have realized that car centric cities does not scale. ie. if you want to city that scales to Tokyo levels it needs mostly to rely on transit schemes. The US has an (alas, quite new) history of overindexing on cars. moves like this will drive the development faster than the market alone. however, parallel to this, tax for roads in cities should be increased and passed on to car owners. (in Denmark we pay 150% tax on cars. and that is on top of the 25% VAT we already pay) - right now car owners are being handed prime land almost for free in the US.
  - ajmurmann 3y ago
    Car-centricity is definitely a problem. In addition to what you point out, I'd love to see a move away from any kind of parking mandate and removal of street parking. If there is demand for parking, let someone build a parking structure which is more space efficient and honestly less frustrating as a driver as well. I think the problem goes further though, but maybe once the fears of "congestion" are gone the fear of shadows and "becoming Manhattan" won't need able to hold us back
infecto 3y ago
Developers build what people want that fits into local code. If parking spots are not desirable they will figure it out quick.

If there is concern about underutilizing land, pass a land value tax and the market will figure out what's the best way to improve the value of the property itself beyond the windfall from the unimproved land going up in value due to surrounding economic activity. When it comes to housing the US seems to suffer some kind of disability that makes it impossible to not be tempted to steer towards a planned economy.

ipaddr 3y ago
Let the people with the most money decide?
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  That's not how markets work
  - Negitivefrags 3y ago
    Isn't that exactly how markets work? Isn't that exactly the whole point of capitalism? If people with money want strawberries, they buy more strawberries. Price of strawberries goes up. Farmers who could choose to grow strawberries or some other thing decide that they want to grow strawberries because the price is high. More strawberries are grown. The people who have the money to buy the strawberries indirectly caused more strawberries to be created. So yeah, the people with the money decide what gets created. This is a good thing.
    - astrange 3y ago
      It isn't how markets work because people with more money don't automatically want to spend more money on strawberries. Rather the inverse; they have more money because they haven't spent it on things yet. Although it's not a good general metaphor because strawberries are a consumption good and not used for your income like a car is.
- kiba 3y ago
  The people with the most money pay the highest tax for the privilege of using the most expensive and most valuable land. If they're any good at it, they'll make a profit on it, the way it should be.
madsbuch 3y ago
While that is true in the abstract, it will take long to adjust. modern city planners have realized that car centric cities does not scale. ie. if you want to city that scales to Tokyo levels it needs mostly to rely on transit schemes. The US has an (alas, quite new) history of overindexing on cars. moves like this will drive the development faster than the market alone. however, parallel to this, tax for roads in cities should be increased and passed on to car owners. (in Denmark we pay 150% tax on cars. and that is on top of the 25% VAT we already pay) - right now car owners are being handed prime land almost for free in the US.
- ajmurmann 3y ago
  Car-centricity is definitely a problem. In addition to what you point out, I'd love to see a move away from any kind of parking mandate and removal of street parking. If there is demand for parking, let someone build a parking structure which is more space efficient and honestly less frustrating as a driver as well. I think the problem goes further though, but maybe once the fears of "congestion" are gone the fear of shadows and "becoming Manhattan" won't need able to hold us back

infecto 3y ago

Developers build what people want that fits into local code. If parking spots are not desirable they will figure it out quick.