{"id":1895,"date":"2007-09-06T05:19:45","date_gmt":"2007-09-06T12:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2007-09-05T22:39:46","modified_gmt":"2007-09-06T05:39:46","slug":"what-could-be-worse-than-our-current-capricious-zoning-laws-new-even-more-capricious-zoning-laws-imposed-by-zealots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1895\/what-could-be-worse-than-our-current-capricious-zoning-laws-new-even-more-capricious-zoning-laws-imposed-by-zealots\/","title":{"rendered":"What could be worse than our current capricious zoning laws? New even-more-capricious zoning laws — imposed by zealots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tipped again by Poor and Stupid<\/a>, novelist Orson Scott Card discovers everything that’s wrong with one-size-fits-all municipal zoning laws<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I’m not urging that the government mandate any more absurd mileage requirements for cars, or ration gasoline, or any other absurd proposals. Hybrids are great, for the things they’re great for. But even hybrids still burn gas, and if we could drive less, then hybrids would save even more<\/em> gasoline.<\/p>\n

In fact, all that I want government to do, locally and at higher levels, is to stop<\/em> with the regulations that force<\/em> us to use cars for everything, and replace them with regulations that permit<\/em> us to walk or bike.<\/p>\n

Right now, in most locations zoning laws force developers to create neighborhoods with houses of about the same size and cost, on roughly the same size lot, while forbidding any retail within walking distance.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, those same laws generally forbid the construction of new neighborhoods that mix income levels, house sizes, and densities.<\/p>\n

(In Greensboro, we do have mixed-use zones that permit some aspects of a walking neighborhood, but it is only used in specific new developments, not for regions of the city large enough to make a difference. Most of the city is still zoned in the old way.)<\/p>\n

It’s as if government looked at the beloved old neighborhoods that people drive through with yearning and nostalgia, and banned<\/em> them.<\/p>\n

The result is that the poor are shunted off into isolated islands, where crime thrives, employment is remote, and the poor have to own cars just to get a job. Meanwhile, most people can’t<\/em> walk or bike to any useful destination, because the law has forbidden retail or office buildings anywhere near where people live.<\/p>\n

I have no problem with allowing people to continue to live in pedestrian-hostile neighborhoods, if they want to. I just want the law to allow<\/em> the construction and adaptation of low-car-use neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

That means allowing low-parking retail to be built close to new and existing residential neighborhoods, like the old-fashioned “Main Street” town, where a commercial strip leads immediately to residential side streets.<\/p>\n

In a town the size of Greensboro, this doesn’t mean one downtown that Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tipped again by Poor and Stupid, novelist Orson Scott Card discovers everything that’s wrong with one-size-fits-all municipal zoning laws: I’m not urging that the government mandate any more absurd mileage requirements for cars, or ration gasoline, or any other absurd proposals. Hybrids are great, for the things they’re great for. But even hybrids still burn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16351,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/16351\/reason-magazine-how-established-homeowners-use-regulations-to-stop-new-low-cost-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1895,"position":0},"title":"Reason Magazine: “How established homeowners use regulations to stop new low-cost homes.”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not mentioned in the Reason article, but the real curse of zoning is the prohibition of innovation. By forbidding all projects, land-use tyrants exclude not just the dreck but also the sheer genius. Some builder coud have come up with the modern equivalent of Wright's Five-Thousand Dollar Home, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/42\/how-zoning-causes-sprawl\/","url_meta":{"origin":1895,"position":1},"title":"How zoning causes sprawl","author":"Odysseus","date":"January 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is from a wonderful op-ed that was published in the Hartford Courant. The argument, though particular to New England, in fact describes a pandemic: Our cities are dull because we have leigislated away all active human intelligence. Everything that would-be urban pioneers affect to love in older cities would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1939,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1939\/richard-epstein-on-zoning-kelo-and-the-takings-clause\/","url_meta":{"origin":1895,"position":2},"title":"Richard Epstein on zoning, Kelo and the “takings” clause","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Richard Epstein is my favorite never-happen candidate for the Supreme Court. An expert on the \"takings\" clause of the Fifth Amendment (\"nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation\"), in the linked podcast, hemakes the case that many current zoning restrictions are essentially \"takings\" and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4348,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/4348\/some-days-its-not-worth-chewing-through-the-restraints\/","url_meta":{"origin":1895,"position":3},"title":"Some Days It’s Not Worth Chewing Through the Restraints","author":"Thomas Hall","date":"September 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In addition to our discussions here at Bloodhound, if you've been reading the blogs lately, the commission debate continues.\u00a0 Jonathan Dalton's post on Agent Genius has recently spawned a long series of comments regarding how agents are compensated. One comment (below) got me thinking, \"... I fully believe that my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10133,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/10133\/what-makes-progressive-utopias-like-portland-seem-so-cool-to-the-cognoscenti-could-it-be-a-zoning-enforced-racism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1895,"position":4},"title":"What makes “progressive” utopias like Portland seem so cool to the cognoscenti? Could it be a zoning-enforced racism?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"October 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From newgeography.com:Among the media, academia and within planning circles, there\u2019s a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and mid-sized cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, and Denver. In particular, Portland is held\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/25\/antless-shrugged\/","url_meta":{"origin":1895,"position":5},"title":"Antless Shrugged","author":"Odysseus","date":"December 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Jonathan Higuera in the Arizona Republic asks: \"Are home costs scaring firms off?\" The article consists of the dutiful transcription of the unfounded fears of \"Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.\" If you are intrepid enough to read the article all the way to the penultimate paragraph,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}