When a city zones for sparse land uses, it's forcing people in other municipalities with no say in the decision to subsidize this choice.
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The Housing Development Tool Kit released this week by the White House has some great ideas every city should implement. It also has some things that should stay in the ivory tower.
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American towns and states are subsidizing big businesses to the tune of billions of dollars a year. In exchange, we get crappy, big box developments and infrastructure we can't pay afford.
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Does anyone think the folks in the $700,000 suburban homes would be living there in anything like their current circumstances if they had to pave their own roads and pump water up to their own homes? Does anyone believe these homes would be worth $700,000 without the heavily subsidized public infrastructure?
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Our de facto national housing policy of drive-till-you-qualify suburban development works well enough for people with an education and a professional salary. It fails the working class entirely and that’s by design.
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Why do we invite big box stores into our our towns, enticing them with subsidies and infrastructure, competing for their attention, all so they can offer residents low-wage part-time jobs, pay minimal property taxes, then leave 15 years later?
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In the short term, you don’t want to lose the big box war. In the long term, the only thing worse than losing the big box war is winning it.
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Feel-good programs like inclusionary zoning are mostly a token response to a problem of much more substantial dimension.
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A Florida town is planning to subsidize Uber rides for its residents in the hopes of decreasing road maintenance and public transit costs. Do the numbers add up?
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The Governmental Accounting Standards Board now requires cities to disclose, as part of their financial reporting, the amount of money lost to tax subsidies. This is a significant development.
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Dear Milwaukee, learn from the mistakes you didn't make. Don't build an entertainment district. Instead, let your city develop incrementally.
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For municipalities that want to become Strong Towns, here’s a ranked list of the highest impact actions that would help restore a productive development pattern. This is a generic list, not tailored to any specific community, but the actions on this list would apply to the majority of US towns.
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The big box development model is designed to be transitory.
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Our current model of growth and development is fragile: Cities that don't grow, die. What does this say about the future of America's cities and towns?
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