Any time there is an election, volunteer. Get people to vote, canvass, post up flyers. Local elections can have the difference of a couple dozen votes.
Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
171–180 of 346 posts
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean this in the most objective way possible. The risk with urban improvement is making the area more desirable eventually prices people out of the community. So, the real question is do you help the land or current residents? When you own property it’s seriously worth considering local improvements for several reasons, but it’s also easy to confuse the two. Further, if most people in the community own property the…
I think your concern is valid but unfounded. This is fortunate - otherwise the way to help the poor would be to vandalize their neighborhoods, which is a strange conclusion. It's true that increasing quality of a neighborhood will increase its housing price. This will have disparate impact: (1) it will help people who enjoy higher quality, but (2) it will hurt people who would prefer low quality and lower price. Howe…
It’s likely a net positive for the world, but a net negative for the people displaced. That’s why gentrification is a dirty word in many communities. However, like most things it’s complex.
One often overlooked benefit is the knock on effects of gentrification are real improvements in local school systems. Looking across decades you often see gay communities which care less about local school systems acting as a catalyst by increasing local revenue while reducing the demands placed on local schools. The improvement in local schools precedes people’s awareness that the schools have improved. Similarly, many people can leverage the improvements in the local economy to keep up with the transition.
That said, relatively few people can keep up with significant changes and those people are simply worse off having lost an affordable community which they had social or economic ties to. A restaurant for example is generally different to relocate. A local handyman may have a steady stream of existing customers, which don’t follow them etc.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean this in the most objective way possible. The risk with urban improvement is making the area more desirable eventually prices people out of the community. So, the real question is do you help the land or current residents? When you own property it’s seriously worth considering local improvements for several reasons, but it’s also easy to confuse the two. Further, if most people in the community own property the…
Also in a very objective way, I don't understand this reasoning. I've never brought up the question before and hoping that HN can explain it in a logical way that I might understand. Let's say that a neighborhood is rated 3 out of 10 - not very good. There is a mix of people that live in this neighborhood. Some people own property and some do not. Then the community makes the neighborhood better and it rises to a 7 o…
The community also depends on the people living in it - a diversity of the types, and incomes, of people benefits the neighborhood. People churning in and out is harmful -- I'd argue more harmful than the increased property value accounts for.
I don't have a good solution for this. Rent control helps a bit, but has bad externalities. Property ownership helps a lot but any measure to drive up ownership immediately prices out lots of people because it's captured very well by the housing market.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#174Would you mind linking to the list you’re referring to? My off-the-cuff thought was, “join Transportation Alternatives and push for more bike lanes, public transit, etc.”, as I see automobiles as one of the most significant dangers to both urban areas and even the planet. But when I google "ten most dangerous cities," they seem to list places whose danger is more poverty-driven.
Automobiles (and their drivers) kill, maim, or injure significantly fewer people than intentionally aggressive individuals in major cities. For example, in 2017 there were 343 murders in Baltimore [0] (which I knew would be on the list before looking for one) vs. 38 fatalities due to car accidents [1]. Here's an example of a list: https://www.statista.com/statistics/217685/most-dangerous-ci... These lists are based o…
I'm not sure it's right to generalize the danger of murder to have equal chance for everyone, in the same way that it is for the danger of the car
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean this in the most objective way possible. The risk with urban improvement is making the area more desirable eventually prices people out of the community. So, the real question is do you help the land or current residents? When you own property it’s seriously worth considering local improvements for several reasons, but it’s also easy to confuse the two. Further, if most people in the community own property the…
Also in a very objective way, I don't understand this reasoning. I've never brought up the question before and hoping that HN can explain it in a logical way that I might understand. Let's say that a neighborhood is rated 3 out of 10 - not very good. There is a mix of people that live in this neighborhood. Some people own property and some do not. Then the community makes the neighborhood better and it rises to a 7 o…
Your model is mostly useful and shared with the people with the 'harm' view. To reach the conclusion that the 'harm' group are reaching, set your move transaction cost¹ to a large value and add a local-relationships parameter that depends on time-spent-at-current-location and weight it very highly as well.
Should you so desire, you may want to add in a cost to capture the notion of how a person moving contributed to the improvement. This will usually need to be inflated above the true economic contribution (IKEA effect, etc.).
The local-relationships parameter may be effectively quadratic (since a person moving diminishes their relationships and relationships are two-sided).
¹ It is clear you know this but for other readers that may not, that's not just the monetary cost.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#176Raise a family, own your home, pay your taxes, and work hard to get to know all your neighbors. Be politically active; get on a committee or two and get to know the local boards and elected officials.
Years ago I read of several Boomers who settled in north Boston in a rather bombed out neighborhood, invested themselves into this area and became politically active. The city was more responsive to them because of the fact that they were known and active and vocal.
Of course also support business investments and reasonable taxes & zoning regulations in your city, because without money, nothing else will succeed.
Also support your local public schools, take an active interest, get on the school committee, volunteer if possible at the school, and just be involved. Schools are vital to attracting solid families to an area to anchor it and reduce crime and negligence.
Good luck and keep in mind that it's a decades-long pursuit, not something that is solved in a month, or even a year. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also in a very objective way, I don't understand this reasoning. I've never brought up the question before and hoping that HN can explain it in a logical way that I might understand. Let's say that a neighborhood is rated 3 out of 10 - not very good. There is a mix of people that live in this neighborhood. Some people own property and some do not. Then the community makes the neighborhood better and it rises to a 7 o…
Too logical. Here's what non-owners might see: "The neighborhood is improving, things will get more expensive". Bad. "I have to move now." Bad. "This new neighborhood is worse than my old one." Only half true (they started at 3 and ended at 3), but perceived as bad .
> but perceived as bad
There is no good or bad except in terms of someone's perceptions.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#178The single best thing you can do is pick a neighborhood - not the whole city - and invest deeply. Get to know everyone in the neighborhood and understand what they want and need, then try to find ways to bring that. When you have a strong network of neighbors and a little bit of cash, you can ramp up investment by cleaning up dirty corners and getting the basic services that a neighborhood is missing. Here’s an examp…
You should listen to the NYT podcast “Nice White Parents”.
Neighbourhood improvement with good intentions can cause systemic problems in a community
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/podcasts/nice-white-paren...
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#179Actively participate in government budgeting meetings, and attempt to prevent staffing creep. Bloat/bureaucracy will kill any community ownership that inhabitants might have. Ensure that employees that are not performing are being fired. Speak in meeting about the need to adhere to performance reviews with metrics. If you do not keep our city departments heads in check they will break your city, because their job dep…
How do you implement that “easiest way” you mention? That sounds more like the hardest way.
Those programs have existed for awhile(Federally run), easiest in terms of faster and higher efficacy, but low adoption rates make them difficult, they also only encourage the individual/family to socially participate.
The side effect is those that don't leave are/become generally even more anti-community, so generally makes the situation in urban centers get worse over time. Unless you remove some critical mass of people quickly.
Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?
#180As a public policy and budget wonk, advocate, lobbyist, and five-year veteran of city government (Washington, DC), as well as a social worker by training, I LOVE the question and am stoked 1) by the responses and 2) by the number of responses. I am a firm believer in doing something. As others have said, get informed, get connected, and then get and stay active. This can be personal stuff or political stuff. It all n…
This advice is so vague. Are there frameworks or best practices? What resources could help? Or is it purely incremental and case-by-case?