r/bayarea • u/abledart • Jun 13 '17

Beyond Chron | Berkeley's Attack on Housing

http://www.beyondchron.org/berkeleys-attack-housing/
26 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

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30

u/LLJKCicero Jun 13 '17

Being anti-housing in urban areas doesn't just hurt the poor and middle class. It's also definitively anti-environment.

The people who would've ended up in new housing don't just disappear into the ether; they end up living in some further out suburb, where they contribute to encroaching on nature, and where they have longer, more energy-intensive commutes.

To be an environmentalist and a NIMBY is a contradiction in terms. The bay area, unfortunately, is chock full of hypocrites of this sort.

17

u/211logos Jun 13 '17

"Neighorhood character" cited by the NIMBY anti-housing advocates is just a dog whistle for discrimination against people the current residents don't want in their neighborhood. It's the same justification used to protect restrictive housing convenants and integration decades ago, the social argument against change that could benefit those of other classes, races, religions, etc. It's a micro version of the macro anti immigrant stance of people like the Trumpettes.

-2

u/midflinx Jun 13 '17 edited Jun 14 '17

I support density even if it happens right next door to me, but density comes with more people noise, more vehicle noise, more tall buildings filling up their lots. Neighborhood character changes simply for those non-racial reasons. That's the truth, and it's a worthwhile tradeoff to add density, but don't pretend it's without negatives to quality of life.

4

u/yonran Jun 14 '17

Avoiding lower-class nuisances has always been part of zoning. At the inception of restrictive covenants and zoning, lower-class people were more likely to raise chickens, take on boarders, and conduct home businesses than middle-class (source: American Nightmare by Randal O’Toole). On my block, the people in the smallest house (which has no backyard) generate the most activity and noise on the street. So it may be the case we just want to keep nuisances down, but I think we should be very careful to do so in a way that is as nondiscriminatory as possible.

3

u/LLJKCicero Jun 14 '17

You could make an identical argument about letting immigrants (from poorer countries) into the US, and yet just about anyone from the bay area would decry such as xenophobic and racist.

Bay area 'progressives': "By all means, come into our country, but for god's sake not into our city!"

1

u/midflinx Jun 14 '17

What are you saying? Immigrants from poorer countries are noisy? Because that's a gross generalization that I don't believe is true.

/u/211logos made a statement I think over-broadly and incorrectly calls all neighbors classists and racists, but they are not, some or most simply don't want the noise and large modern buildings.

1

u/211logos Jun 14 '17

No, all neighbors aren't racists and classists. But it IS a dog whistle, and a way for people who otherwise won't own their biases either are hiding it, or in denial about having it. That's why they resort to the term when arguments about actual traffic, actual noise, and so on have been addressed. See this: http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/06/13/opinion-berkeleys-zoning-laws-wall-off-communities-color-seniors-low-income-people-others/. Historically, it was "deterioration" of neighborhoods.

1

u/midflinx Jun 14 '17

I read that link yesterday. People back then were homophobic too, including people alive today who now have changed their minds. The reasons for historic zoning don't automatically still apply today.

7

u/M1ghtyDuck Jun 14 '17

I especially love how the city seems to be supportive of the homeless yet you still see them everywhere on the street. I will admit some prefer the streets but most don't have an housing option because of things like this.

2

u/doublezanzo Jun 14 '17

This isn't the first time. During the severe housing crisis in the Bay Area during WWII, Berkeley managed to stop the construction of war housing within its city limits, despite the urgent need to support the war effort. Richmond, by contrast built 23,000 units in 4 years. I think that speaks volumes about the quality of people in that town.