4 ms·

> And you're worried about architectural drawings and building codes????? Building codes, like several other categories of regulations that can at times feel o

by pfooti 3y ago

> And you're worried about architectural drawings and building codes????? Building codes, like several other categories of regulations that can at times feel oppressive or arbitrary, tend to be written in the blood of accident victims. See, for example the ghost ship fire in my recent memory of why they are important even if (especially if) you are using an under utilized space

astrange 3y ago
Building codes are not a good example for this one, partly because the ones in America/Canada are clearly less safe than Europe and we don't seem to care, but also because you can just go back and read early 1900s planners talking about them and they will explicitly say "it is our goal to make safety rules stricter for apartment buildings than single family homes so they'll cost more to build because we want to stop black people from moving in."
- mionhe 3y ago
  Can you give an example?
  - astrange 3y ago
    "[D]o everything possible in our laws to encourage the construction of private dwellings and even two- family dwellings, because the two-family house is the next least objectionable type, and penalize so far as we can in our statute, the multiple dwelling of any kind... If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction; if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even where there are only three families; if we require fire escapes and a host of other things, all dealing with fire protection, we are on safe grounds, because that can be justified as a legitimate exercise of the police power... In our laws let most of the fire provisions relate solely to multiple dwellings, and allow our private houses and two-family houses to be built with no fire protection whatever (NHA Proceedings 1913, 212)." Another notable quote is Euclid v. Ambler, where SCOTUS legalized the US zoning system and in their opinion said it was good to ban apartment buildings because they were "parasites". Of course, this is partly about not liking poor people as well as minorities, but if you leave it in place this long it eventually becomes a ban on your own children living in the same state as you. These things were introduced at the same time as racial convenants (where a developer would construct a neighborhood and require its houses to only ever be sold to white people), and mostly for the same reason; they merely weren't repealed when that one was. For the racial details, see the book "The Color of Law".
- Slava_Propanei 3y ago
  [dead]

by pfooti 3y ago

astrange 3y ago

Building codes are not a good example for this one, partly because the ones in America/Canada are clearly less safe than Europe and we don't seem to care, but also because you can just go back and read early 1900s planners talking about them and they will explicitly say "it is our goal to make safety rules stricter for apartment buildings than single family homes so they'll cost more to build because we want to stop black people from moving in."

mionhe 3y ago
Can you give an example?
- astrange 3y ago
  "[D]o everything possible in our laws to encourage the construction of private dwellings and even two- family dwellings, because the two-family house is the next least objectionable type, and penalize so far as we can in our statute, the multiple dwelling of any kind... If we require multiple dwellings to be fireproof, and thus increase the cost of construction; if we require stairs to be fireproofed, even where there are only three families; if we require fire escapes and a host of other things, all dealing with fire protection, we are on safe grounds, because that can be justified as a legitimate exercise of the police power... In our laws let most of the fire provisions relate solely to multiple dwellings, and allow our private houses and two-family houses to be built with no fire protection whatever (NHA Proceedings 1913, 212)." Another notable quote is Euclid v. Ambler, where SCOTUS legalized the US zoning system and in their opinion said it was good to ban apartment buildings because they were "parasites". Of course, this is partly about not liking poor people as well as minorities, but if you leave it in place this long it eventually becomes a ban on your own children living in the same state as you. These things were introduced at the same time as racial convenants (where a developer would construct a neighborhood and require its houses to only ever be sold to white people), and mostly for the same reason; they merely weren't repealed when that one was. For the racial details, see the book "The Color of Law".
Slava_Propanei 3y ago
[dead]