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Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

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Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#241

Post by dionidium »

8note wrote: post #169
James_Henry wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it is more desirable, then you build more housing, it should be as simple as that. If you build enough housing, rents won't rise.

To build more housing, you have to destroy the old housing. This still displaces people, and likely pushes them into smaller apartments where they would have been in a house

What studies show is that poor people move around a lot, whether there's "gentrification" near them or not, for what I think are pretty obvious reasons, and that they aren't any more likely to leave "gentrifying" neighborhoods than they are neighborhoods that aren't gentrifying.

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/8/1/untangling-gent...

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#242

Post by atwebb »

burlesona wrote: post #44

The 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…

Thanks for linking that article, I'm not sure if you're native to the area but there have been a lot of good changes in a city that needs them. It feels more community oriented than investment/cash driven from some other cities I've seen but that may be the lens I choose to put on it.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#243

Post by edmundsauto »

Retric wrote: post #172
tedsanders wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cata…

Whether it's a net negative for people who get displaced probably depends on their capital gains from the increased property values, no? Not everyone loves their neighborhood, especially if they aren't in great condition.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#244

Post by Kluny »

I think one of the highest ROI things you could do would be to create a free program for disadvantaged kids - just a place where they can come and exist, for free, without anyone hassling them. If they can also get enrichment activities, play sports, and get some positive mentorship, that's a bonus. But just giving them a crime-free third place would be a great start.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#245

Post by Ericson2314 »

esilverberg2 wrote: post #231

If you live in New York City - consider joining a community board. They are the first level of civic engagement and cover everything from transportation, open streets, liquor licensing, quality of life, environmental protection, and education. My boyfriend is on our local community board and has found it very valuable, especially during covid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_boards_of_New_York_C...

You can get an calendar subscription of the meetings of the CBs with the new websites with:

.cityofnewyork.us/cb/meetings/list/?tribe_paged=0&tribe_event_display=list&ical=1&tribe_display=list" rel="nofollow">https://cb.cityofnewyork.us/cb

(HN truncates rendered URL so copy the link dst and then fill in the madlib.)

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#247

Post by Retric »

edmundsauto wrote: post #243
Retric wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cata…

Whether it's a net negative for people who get displaced probably depends on their capital gains from the increased property values, no? Not everyone loves their neighborhood, especially if they aren't in great condition.

It’s assumed these people are renting. Homeowners only really face property taxes which take extreme shifts to become unaffordable. Even then owners can generally remove equity to pay them for years to decades.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#248

Post by tathougies »

NDizzle wrote: post #152
tathougies wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't understand why you are being downvoted. Why can we not agree that single party rule in any city, state, or nation, is simply a recipe for corruption? Look, I'm a registered republican, but I too would be uncomfortable if literally every office in my state were held by the republicans for decades. Meanwhile, most cities have decades of rule by the same party. Many times the races are not even contested meaningfu…

I like the downvotes every now and then. I think people (like maybe you) might enjoy the comfort of knowing there are others out there. How dare I suggest that places like Chicago, Detroit, and Philly are corrupt. HOW DARE YOU!! (put on your best fake child environmentalist face)

Yes that is why I comment here too. So that people know there are others like them. Don't care if I lose the karma.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#249

Post by nikolaj »

Consider joining a Code for America Brigade (brigade.codeforamerica.org)!

I am a member of Open San Diego (opensandiego.org), where we work on projects in partnership with local gov and non-profits to improve election transparency, maximize policy and funding for school meals, and advocate civic history. There are lots of opportunities to get involved at a small scale, and motivated experienced tech focused people are in high demand!

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#250

Post by bichiliad »

d3ntb3ev1l wrote: post #226
bichiliad wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think building stronger ties with your neighbors is a great way to recruit people to help you move 500 lb barbells. You don't have to be able to lift them by yourself, and why would you want to? You'd just become a single point of failure. Get to know your neighbors, organize with them, and do the work together to make your neighborhood better. Some reading never hurts, either. If you're in a city, I've found "The…

What if most of your neighbors are cooking meth

Then I suspect you don’t know your neighbors well enough yet.
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