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Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

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Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#61

Post by 1veteran »

dangrossman wrote: post #51
1veteran wrote: post #48

I love this HTML.* If only all the web could follow this simple way to convey information. CONTENT. Heck, that's what makes HN interesting. It's the lack of web developer fluff. Just text. CONTENT. *But why the reference to tags.js? Javascript is not used.

It's a web stats program. Tags.js is sending the document URL and referrer back to some server, and injecting a click tracking script into the page.

That's assuming the user has js enabled. What I like about this is that it's just one line. No inline script (that would be just bloat for the user with js turned off.)

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#62

Post by bhickey »

dkasper wrote: post #32
michaelochurch wrote: post #29

High house prices are a moral and economic disaster, as the post-2008 recession has shown us. The problem at the root of NIMBY is that real estate prices and behaviors have a few positive-feedback loops: 1. Because real estate "always goes up", and because Americans are delusional in general and seem to have a housing fetish, people have the deluded belief that they aren't paying for housing but investing in somethin…

>> Housing should be worth about $100-125 per square-foot, with about a 50-100% premium for top locations (urban areas) due to increased construction costs and reduced transportation costs (proximity to desirable places) How'd you arrive at this number? Citation needed?

He made it up along with the rest of his low content blather.

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#63

Post by CamperBob2 »

luser001 wrote: post #35

I actually support "vicious" speedbumps. People regularly drive 40 mph on my road which has official speed limit of 25 mph. Instead of spending money policing main streets, I support draconian camera-driven enforcement on side streets. Make unmarked google-maps-like cars with high quality cameras and software. Park it on streets and watch for traffic. Send tickets remotely to speeders (equivalent to running a red lig…

I actually support "vicious" speedbumps. People regularly drive 40 mph on my road which has official speed limit of 25 mph.

Translation: I actually support giant SUVs doing 40 mph on my road. It's those goddamn Miatas that I want to slow down to 25.

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#64

Post by chris_wot »

guylhem wrote: post #4
guylhem wrote: post #3

Excellent analysis of the situation - very interesting and could be with other consequences and applications, whenever the minority can be the one to both benefit on, propose, and vote on a change that the majority will have to bear and pay - all the while using a false pretense like safety. The proposed solution to study the consequences could also be returned and simplified - to mesure the impact of the proposed ch…

Wow that's luck - just when I was browsing around I found the perfect analysis on overcoming bias : senior voters and their healtcare - paid for by the majority, but since seniors vote more, they favour the candidate serving their interest - at the expanse of the majority http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/09/us-politics-of-medicin... Very interesting indeed- it seems to be the simplest pitfall of democracy : when th…

In Australia, this isn't such a problem. Voting is mandatory. I'll now await to hear the almost universal condemnation or be downvoted by American participants...

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#66

Post by liber8 »

michaelochurch wrote: post #60
liber8 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also curious why you claim that "'star' locations have barely dipped (yet)." In southern California, many of the highest priced areas have seen property values literally fall by half. I know many other such areas around the country have been similarly affected by the housing collapse, though I haven't seen any data measuring just top-end properties.

New York and Northern California are still extremely high, even relative to incomes. Purchase prices are declining but rents are actually increasing in Manhattan. My theory is that this is an artifact of the damage done to job markets everywhere else by the recession. The few places where the job market remains strong are seeing rents hold ground or even increase, on account of what is effectively supply destruction…

Yes, NY and CA are still high, but the "star" locations (as OP calls them) were absolutely hammered during the recession. We've already seen them start to come back from their lows. Anyone who managed to scoop up property in one of these areas is going to see the price of their property double in the next 5 years.

I agree with your theories about rent in these areas.

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#67

Post by rbranson »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #11
cturner wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP and your post have the word 'stealing' in. It's an incorrect use of the word. It's not hard to find respectactable nimby cases. What if someone wanted to pub a pub at the end of your street? You are not a drinker, and you object to the prospect of people stumbling down your street shouting at strange hours, leaving mess on your property and more chance of intoxicated drivers.

>The OP and your post have the word 'stealing' in. It's an incorrect use of the word. I'm not interested in the "is copyright infringement theft" debate. Words mean what people understand them to mean. "Stealing" encodes a moral condemnation of the activity, which can be objectionable when it is used to frame the debate. But it's also a lot easier to say than "acquiring a relative net benefit" or the like. Moreover,…

Actually this is much closer to theft, because it transfers value without consent. Copyright infringement does not transfer value.

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#68

Post by kenko »

"The origin of the NIMBY ("not in my back yard") is honorable. People would buy a home, planning to live and raise children in reasonable safety, when some agency of government decides to locate a halfway house or nuclear power plant nearby. When that happens, the homeowners' property value is reduced, so much so that they cannot even get their investment out and relocate to a safer place. Local residents needed to band together to fight the intrusion that would take from their assets and distribute the benefit among large numbers of other people."

How in the world is that honorable? "No halfway house in my backyard" means "halfway house in someone else's backyard, please" (or "no halfway house at all, please").

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#69

Post by guylhem »

kghose wrote: post #13
guylhem wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No- healthcare is an investment with a negative interest rate, ie you can only try to maintain your capital if you keep investing more and more - with a diminishing return since it ends in death anyway (with the current technology) In this specific case, a better investment strategy is to put the money where you will get the most of it, i.e. on the health of people still young, and reduce the investment as the people…

I don't know about the economic soundness of the argument, but it is so cold hearted that I would immediately emigrate from any country where this was the driving force behind government policy.

It's not about being cold hearted - it's a fact of life. We die. And before we die we cost a lot of money - for unfixable problems.

We also have health problems when we are young. All things being equal, we are also more likely to take advantage of healthcare "done" at a young age than at an older age - if only because of the longer lifespan.

I can't see any logic behind medicare - money should be spend on young adult so that they can become productive again, not on old retired people.

If we had technology to make death avoidable or just far away enough than say being 80 became being young, it would be wise to spend healthcare money on 80 years old.

At the present time it is not.

If you feel like emigrating from a country where this became government policy, I would feel like immigrating to that country, if only because of the better economic prospects removing part of the healthcare "tax" would bring - and hopefully the other good policies that might come from such a country.

And BTW I'm not at all against spending money for healthcare of 80 years old people (and I hope I'll be 80 years old someday!) as long as it is their money. Not tax money, not my money ? Then it's not my problem either.

You know the saying - it is far too easy to spend other people money.

Re: Attack of the Fifty-Foot NIMBYs

#70

Post by notatoad »

wisty wrote: post #53
Anechoic wrote: post #30

I've been on both sides of public project hearings, representing proponents who want to build or expand a project, and project opponents who want to block or reduce the expansion of a project. NIMBYism is very real, from folks who may just oppose a project on principle unrelated to actual negative effects (I see this a lot on transit projects from folks who are just opposed to public transportation) to folks who may…

> If you have ideas, get them out there. Trial by jury works pretty well. Instead of a public hearing by interested parties, a random bunch of citizens could be tasked with reviewing the process, with a skilled arbitrator (like a judge) ensuring submissions by special interest group are done in a fair way.

Forcing better public input would be one strategy, I would suggest that public input should simply be ignored. Traffic flow patterns and safety are a science. It isn't a question of taste, there is an empirical 'best' way to design infrastructure. Public input belongs on things like public art projects, and what type of flowers to plant in the community gardens. How fast traffic should flow is not something that should be decided by anybody's uninformed opinion, regardless of whether or not they stand to gain.
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