The DMV needs a YIMBY revolution

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Curiously, the failures of Communism are more often treated as a joke than as a tragedy

No one has ever tried real Communism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curiously, the failures of Communism are more often treated as a joke than as a tragedy

No one has ever tried real Communism.

Oh boy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curiously, the failures of Communism are more often treated as a joke than as a tragedy

No one has ever tried real Communism.

Do you mean the kind that only works in a computer simulation?

[Anonymous]

So many people who are unhappy with America. Perhaps they should leave to make room for those who want to come to America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curiously, the failures of Communism are more often treated as a joke than as a tragedy

No one has ever tried real Communism.

Do you mean the kind that only works in a computer simulation?

The kind where everyone is happy with what the government decides you need. After all, the government hires the best and brightest. These people are smarter than you. Why are you questioning their decisions?

[Anonymous]

So with the increasing density, where are all these people supposed to work? In the six or seven stores at the base of the mixed use apartment building?

[Anonymous]

With all this increased density, how will you handle the next pandemic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all this increased density, how will you handle the next pandemic?

Everyone dies, less need for dense housing, problem solved I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So with the increasing density, where are all these people supposed to work? In the six or seven stores at the base of the mixed use apartment building?

DC and NoVa have net in migration each day. Suburban Md has net out migration. This is more of a problem for suburban Md (and the leading reason that housing production is slow) than it is for DC or NoVa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are DCYimbys, the Coalition for Smarter Growth and GreaterGreaterWashington - if you are a YIMBY, then support these great groups!

I do. And I appreciate their advocacy but none of their piecemeal approaches is going to accomplish what really needs to happen.

Think about it this way. Have you traveled around Europe? What is so appealing to Americans about Europe? Other than history buffs and foodies, why do people enjoy European cities and towns? Because of the urban planning. Everything accessible by transit, effective planning that centers around historic buildings, compact amenities, walkable streets. You don’t to go Europe to drive down a stroad to a wasteland of parking lots dotted with McDonalds and Walmarts.
In between these dense European cities you get cute little towns and scenic countryside.

You don’t get a 355/Wisconsin Ave or a Georgia Ave or a 29/Columbia Ave etc.

Most Europeans cities and towns were laid out before the advent of the automobile - which is why they are walkable because they had to be. And so they planned public connective transit because they had to and did that very well.
But there are many areas of Europe that are not connected by transit and are not walkable. The poster above is referencing major towns.
They do have some wastelands of parking and strip mall areas, not as much as the US, but they do exist. They are ugly and tucked in the back away from town centers.

There is a difference between advocating for multi-family dwellings and arguing against urban planning centered around the automobile. Don't conflate the two as they are completely different issues.

The poster you're responding to sounds like a college kid that's just returned from a two week eurorail trip. Europe and Asia both have big box retailers and fast food. They just aren't in the downtown upscale touristy areas that the pp insta'd.

They are ironically right about one thing. There are very few places like 29 in the world. The mix of international diversity on that road doesn't happen anywhere but the United States. East Asians, South Asians, SE Asians, West Africans, East Africans, North Africans, Central Americans, South Americans, and run of the mill white and black Americans all in one place. There's almost nothing like it anywhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of people advocating for upzoning and density do not often live in the places that are dense. I have noticed a number of them live in single family homes in the suburbs.

Right, but that means they're advocating for upzoning their own neighborhoods, which is better than if they were advocating for changing only someone else's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of people advocating for upzoning and density do not often live in the places that are dense. I have noticed a number of them live in single family homes in the suburbs.

Right, but that means they're advocating for upzoning their own neighborhoods, which is better than if they were advocating for changing only someone else's.

Orrrr…they live in places that are exempt, or they are real estate agents (a surprising number of YIMBYs are), or they live in lower value areas and are looking for cash in. It’s far more likely that it isn’t altruism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most Europeans cities and towns were laid out before the advent of the automobile - which is why they are walkable because they had to be. And so they planned public connective transit because they had to and did that very well.
But there are many areas of Europe that are not connected by transit and are not walkable. The poster above is referencing major towns.
They do have some wastelands of parking and strip mall areas, not as much as the US, but they do exist. They are ugly and tucked in the back away from town centers.

There is a difference between advocating for multi-family dwellings and arguing against urban planning centered around the automobile. Don't conflate the two as they are completely different issues.

The point is, all of those "pre-car" walkable places are the ones that everyone loves to visit Clearly more livable and human scale. So why not make that the norm, rather than auto-centric dreck that we have in every cookie cutter suburban area in the US?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sad for Americans.

Your jobs were shipped overseas and your schools are psych wards.

Now you think putting families in teepees and yurts or stuffing four people into 500sq. ft. is going to save our society.

+1. Most americans have silly jobs involving nothing but paper these days. Men, and women, need to build stuff and work with their hands. Instead they would rather import millions of low wage workers to do the few physical jobs that exist.

Enjoy your anti depressants, ADHD medication, cannabis, and internet scrolling, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find a lot of people advocating for upzoning and density do not often live in the places that are dense. I have noticed a number of them live in single family homes in the suburbs.

Right, but that means they're advocating for upzoning their own neighborhoods, which is better than if they were advocating for changing only someone else's.

Orrrr…they live in places that are exempt, or they are real estate agents (a surprising number of YIMBYs are), or they live in lower value areas and are looking for cash in. It’s far more likely that it isn’t altruism.

Quite often they are immune to the impacts of their policies by other means, including residing in a “historical” district.