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Yak_Rodeo t1_j2bazf8 wrote

Reply to comment by Quirky_Butterfly_946 in This fight near Shawmut Station doesn’t bode well for easing Boston’s housing shortage - The Boston Globe by soxandpatriots1

its an understandable argument

most people on here didnt grow up here and dont have the same reference for their neighborhood as maybe you and i did, they just want their rent to go down, which is fair

i just dislike the notion around here sometimes that we need to become this super high density city for…some reason

−30

liberal_hack t1_j2cosgr wrote

Because there is huge demand to live in this city? We could continue to grow our economy and provide high quality of life to lots of people.

Dickheads that already got theirs and want the state to arbitrarily restrict housing to pump up their property values are a blight on this and every city.

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Yak_Rodeo t1_j2cp3zz wrote

my point being we dont need to be a massive metropolis city

we are and can be a good mid sized city, we dont need to be continually outpacing our housing stock by bringing in high paying tech jobs and squeezing out the middle class

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liberal_hack t1_j2cph62 wrote

Building housing helps the middle class. Restricted housing just leads to highest bidders getting limited stock, pricing out people down the income scale disproportionately.

We shouldn’t arbitrarily decide what size city we want, we should just build enough housing to meet the demand. Otherwise people end up priced out and suffering low quality of life with long commutes.

We could build 150,000 units and still be nowhere near a “metropolis”. If every one of those got filled we’d still only be the 18th most populous city in the country.

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Yak_Rodeo t1_j2cpv89 wrote

because city land is far smaller than most other cities in the country, we are like the 8th biggest metro

i never said that i am against building housing, just that a blanket “build” policy is not conducive to building neighborhoods and communities. the seaport is a perfect example of building soulless neighborhoods

take care of boston residents before enticing more and more biotech and life science startups here

−16

Codspear t1_j2d7es4 wrote

> i never said that i am against building housing, just that a blanket “build” policy is not conducive to building neighborhoods and communities. the seaport is a perfect example of building soulless neighborhoods.

Nearly all of Boston was built out under a blanket build policy. Ever notice how cities in the Northeast suddenly had housing shortages and stopped growing right after they instituted zoning laws? What if zoning laws were implemented in 1890 instead and Boston was stuck at half its current size but at twice the price? What if everything south of Melnea Cass was single-family housing only instead of the neighborhood you know now? Would that have been better? And if it wouldn’t be, how do you know that where your neighborhood is now is the best it could be? Why wasn’t it better when it was only farms?

Also, the Seaport was centrally planned by the city under community-directed zoning. Boston prioritized jobs back then because it was still largely working class in the 90’s. Seaport is intentionally a second downtown. That’s what was voted for.

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dtmfadvice t1_j2dy9zl wrote

You don't get to pick where other people live. You don't get to limit the population. You can't prohibit people from doing work and getting paid for it in the name of keeping your hometown from changing.

China's hukou system, which requires permits for rural people to move to cities, is a dystopian nightmare and it doesn't even stop people from moving to cities illegally.

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Yak_Rodeo t1_j2dz3xe wrote

deciding on the direction the city goes is literally what voting is for lol

ill keep voting the way i want, thanks though

−3

just_planning_ahead t1_j2du0e1 wrote

I grew up here though this shouldn't matter. You don't need a lifetime of living here to recognize "character of the neighborhood".

If your statement is "I don't want Boston to become Manhattan", I think most wouldn't disagree with that. The downvotes reflects not a desire to turn Boston into Manhattan, but to try to stop Boston from becoming San Francisco***.

I'm seeing more and more people in my life moving out to stupidly far locations out of Boston. I bet you would just say they are just "reaching that phase of life", but that ignores my friend's words that a lot would pick something closer - if they can afford it. The only people in my life who been avoiding that so far are people-living-with-their-parents or techies - and even some of the techies moving out

What good is "preserving the neighborhood" if the people you know and care about can't afford to stay in the neighborhood?

And that's the thing with your argument. Regardless of what your claims, the results mean you're advocating to become SF. A city where the 6-figure income techies only really afford apartments reminiscent to your college years and a constantly-under-siege class of essential workers essentially winning the lottery through one of the affordable housing programs.

***It is notable that latest news that Boston has surpassed SF in rent prices. But what the news haven't cover as much is SF's rent prices has been decreasing lately rather than we finally catch up.

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3720-To-One t1_j2e3ej9 wrote

“What good is "preserving the neighborhood" if the people you know and care about can't afford to stay in the neighborhood?”

As far as NIMBYs care, “I got mine, fuck everybody else.”

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Quirky_Butterfly_946 t1_j2bdmty wrote

This is the new Manifest Destiny attitude, and I bet most of the people are the ones who think they are so socially aware about everything.

Then of course there is the aspect that the proposed design of areas by Climate Changers, think we all need to live in high rise apartments on top of each other so they can get live their dream of everyone abandoning their cars and use public transportation.

Time to recycle this trash and tell them there are plenty of places in the country they can go to live out their utopian society

−38

ShawshankExemption t1_j2c6gol wrote

Half of your posts are about traffic in NH. Go move to your perfect utopia there if you think someone should move and if you hate the idea of more people moving into your neighborhood, practice what you preach and leave.

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3720-To-One t1_j2e3mo7 wrote

I swear to god, conservatives LOVE to complain about a problem, while also scoffing at the very things that would alleviate said problem.

And of course, it’s always everyone else that’s the problem that needs to leave or change, not them.

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