Developments and developers
I had a thought a while back and ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith recent post reminded me of it.
A complaint often seen is the developers keep building stuff for the high end and ignoring stuff for the lower end.
Also, complaints about all the unused business spaces around.
Besides zoning, and the arguments pro and con over it, I think cities and towns need to take different measures.
Get a local "census" of both people and housing/businesses. If there's an oversupply of stuff at one price point, developers trying to get approval for more of that get given a *firm* "No".
They should instead be directed at areas where there are shortfalls. Cheaper housing, smaller businesses and above all refurbishing/repurposing all that unused stuff.
Of course, development for development's sake needs to stop as well.
Which reminds me. It's long past the point where we should have stopped converting farmland to suburbs. Ditto for many kinds of forest.
Our local "urban growth boundaries" annoy the hell out of developers. [playing world's smallest violin] Gee, too bad folks.
We need more greenspace. We fewer mega business centers. We need *lots* more affordable housing.
We also need to do something about buildings and houses sitting empty.
ysabetwordsmith recent post reminded me of it.A complaint often seen is the developers keep building stuff for the high end and ignoring stuff for the lower end.
Also, complaints about all the unused business spaces around.
Besides zoning, and the arguments pro and con over it, I think cities and towns need to take different measures.
Get a local "census" of both people and housing/businesses. If there's an oversupply of stuff at one price point, developers trying to get approval for more of that get given a *firm* "No".
They should instead be directed at areas where there are shortfalls. Cheaper housing, smaller businesses and above all refurbishing/repurposing all that unused stuff.
Of course, development for development's sake needs to stop as well.
Which reminds me. It's long past the point where we should have stopped converting farmland to suburbs. Ditto for many kinds of forest.
Our local "urban growth boundaries" annoy the hell out of developers. [playing world's smallest violin] Gee, too bad folks.
We need more greenspace. We fewer mega business centers. We need *lots* more affordable housing.
We also need to do something about buildings and houses sitting empty.