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View Full Version : Zoning Has Had a Good 100 Years. Enough Already.




Lucille
07-30-2016, 10:39 AM
http://www.backwoodshome.com/blogs/ClaireWolfe/2016/07/30/weekend-links-41/


Twenty years ago, libertarians were “lunatics” for wanting to end the drug war. Now … mainstream. Twenty years ago, libertarians were “crazy and irresponsible” for wanting to end zoning laws. Now … the idea’s being discussed on Bloomberg.com.

Has it been a good 100 years?

http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-27/zoning-has-had-a-good-100-years-and-that-s-plenty


On July 25, 1916, the New York City Board of Estimate voted to divide the city into residential, commercial and industrial zones. The measure, the New York Times wrote the next day, was “believed to be the most important step in the development of New York City since the construction of the subways.” It also appears to have been the first set of land-use rules in the U.S. that (1) covered an entire city and (2) used the word “zone.”

That was 100 years ago Monday. So happy birthday, zoning! OK if we kill you now -- or at least maim you?
[...]
You can go back further than that. In 1875, Prussia, the most important part of the newly formed German empire, adopted a Fluchtliniengesetz (probably best translated as “alignment law”) that set guidelines for urban growth. Kings, princes and other rulers had been steering the development of cities long before that, but the Prussian law seems to have been the first codification, and was followed by similar rules in other German regions. Forward-thinking Americans were in those days much enamored of German ideas and innovations, so these changes were watched closely in the U.S.

German ideas about urban order were combined here with distinctly American notions of the primacy and sanctity of the single-family home. German zoning rules generally allow for mixed uses such as shops in residential neighborhoods, apartments next to detached houses, etc. In the U.S., by contrast, early zoning apostles advocated strict separation of residences from businesses, and houses from apartments.

So that’s one major factor behind the rapid spread of zoning and other land-use rules across the U.S. in the early decades of the 20th century: Intellectuals allied with the Progressive movement were pushing their idea of an ideal society on the country.
[...]
After about 1970, though, zoning’s negative economic effects began to grow. Before then, housing prices were more or less the same across the country. Since then, prices in the metropolitan areas of the Northeast and West Coast have risen much faster than in most of the rest of the nation -- in the process increasing inequality, thwarting residential mobility and slowing economic growth. Ever-tougher zoning rules and restrictions on growth appear to be a major cause. Fischel has a long list of explanations for this intensification of zoning that I won’t go into here, other than to mention the one that drives me the craziest -- the dressing-up of self-interested economic arguments in the language of environmentalism and morality.

Zoning was probably inevitable, and it isn’t all bad. Lately, though, it seems to have gotten out of hand. So it’s not getting any birthday presents from me.

Prussia and American progs again. Quelle surprise. "Lately, though," eh? Government always gets out of hand, but progs are ineducable dumbasses. Whatareyagonnado?

JustinTime
07-30-2016, 01:52 PM
I support ending or relaxing zoning laws at the local level. My city has some crazy stuff on the books and even though the local powers that be always piss and moan about downtown becoming a ghost town, their nutty zoning drives everyone with an idea (with money to put behind it) away. Meanwhile people with an idea who have no money always get the red carpet rolled out, with a grant to boot, and the result is always another flop venture and more wasted money.

But that said I don't want higher levels of government getting involved, Ill just take the local crooks and dupes over the big time ones.

oyarde
07-30-2016, 08:35 PM
Zoning would only be done correctly if i was doing it .

fisharmor
07-30-2016, 08:55 PM
I'm surprised environmentalists aren't strictly against zoning. Zones reduce population density, increase commutes, which creates more cars burning less gas, creates more roads than are necessary, and causes undeveloped wildlife habitat to be paved over.