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Is it really the combined views of the citizenry? Or is it primarily the views of a minority of wealthy landowners who have political influence more proportiona

• wpietri 13y ago
  It's combined through a complicated weighting function, and we can certainly argue about that function. But I'll note that just last year there were a pair of ballot propositions where circa 2/3rds of voters rejected raising height limits for a big new project: http://ballotpedia.org/8_Washington_Street_Development-Initiative,_Proposition_B_(November_2013) http://ballotpedia.org/8_Washington_Street_Development-Initi... And having lived here quite a while, I'm sure it's not only wealthy landlords who are opposed to unrestricted high-rise development.
  • mrgordon 13y ago
    I don't buy this argument at all. They were proposing to build 134 condos at $5 million each. That isn't increasing the housing supply (much), it is giving away the one-of-a-kind waterfront for some pied-à-terres for rich out of state buyers.
• wmil 13y ago
  It's actually the other way around. Major landowners want to build more units because there's plenty of money to be made. It's existing renters who are stopping new development. Long term renters have fantastic rates because of how rent control laws are written. And they want to keep their rent low (for themselves, new arrivals can get screwed), their streets sunny (instead of being overshadowed by high rises), and their neighborhoods not too crowded.