• intensely_human@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    IMO better than converting park land to space for housing is to just lift zoning restrictions that say you can’t build an apartment building over a certain height, or that every dwelling in a certain neighborhood needs at least 0.25 acres under it, that sort of thing. Density restrictions.

    Like, in Boulder CO there are limits to how high you can build, and also limits on how far out you can build. Boulder is surrounded by publicly-owned land. Cows graze there, but there are also trails running through it. It’s very nice to have around Boulder. But rent prices are impossible to keep up with for anyone other than the richest, because of the tight restrictions. I’d rather see Boulder just raise the height limit on new construction.

    I understand that it can be “unsightly” to have a big apartment building go in, in a neighborhood of houses. But I don’t think anyone is entitled to the government protecting their monetary investments, except insofar as the government protects everyone’s investments equally (like by providing fire department services, or a fair system of laws). Protecting house prices by preventing new housing from being built is basically a huge government thumb on the scales of that market, preventing the improvement of the many’s lives for the benefit of the few.