Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
A lot more land. Law of supply and demand. Also many fewer jobs, as the good people of Lordstown are finding out. The jobs are in major cities, which is where housing prices are also sky high.
Ken wrote:
Zoning laws actually have a deeply connected roots to racism and segregation in this country. After overt segregation was outlawed in much of the North, zoning laws and redlining were implemented to achieve the same effect by different means.
You got that right, and not just race, but economic discrimination as well. It is called “snob zoning” and it largely is a northern solution to what gated communities do in the south.
The mandate for single family detached houses causes sprawl, and forces more land to be chewed up for lawns, and more transportation issues. If you look at a German town, you will notice a rather hard line at the end of town, separating rural from urban. I have seen far fewer suburban sprawl homes like my own.
By the way, my daughter, who lives and works in San Jose is with us for Christmas. She says most of the people in the homeless camp near her home are actually working full time. They just can’t afford housing. My daughter has to share with another gal to get by. She works for Apple in engineering. Go figure.
J.M.
I think it is a very legitimate question to ask what are the Christian responses to things like homelessness? And whether we just address the symptoms with things like soup kitchens and shelters, or we also address some of the root causes like restrictive housing policies.
Yes, I completely understand an issue like homeless is immensely complicated and riddled with issues like mental illness and substance abuse. But it is also rooted in economic policies that restrict housing. San Jose and silicon valley is perhaps ground zero for this. What would Jesus say about government policies that outlaw every form of affordable housing for the poor and even not so poor? Which is essentially what silicon valley has done.
My brother in law just sold his medium sized house for 1.7 million. Cupertino.
My daughter just said the 330,000 townhouses in the neighborhood near church were downright affordable. Even selling my current house I can't afford that. I doubt if I could afford my current house......
In eastern cities the townhouse reigns supreme, commonly called a row house in baltimore and Philadelphia. Not a "communist apartment block" but a whole lot more housing per square mile than single family homes, yet I tend not to see these out west.
With all due respect a "communist apartment block" is a whole lot better than living on the street or in a tent. Homelessness in San Diego has gotten so bad that they are having a Hepatitis A outbreak, no doubt due to poor sanitation.
Snob zoning has got to go, or tents may be coming to a neighborhood near you.
Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
Snow.
I don't get why some of the west (or east, for that matter) coast companies don't transfer some of their operations to a place like Detroit, where they could pay lower wages to employees who would be able to afford decent housing and have money left over, either in the suburbs with their vile single family zoning, or closer to the city center where there's vacant land that the city would love to have redeveloped regardless of what reasonable density is proposed.
0 x
I grew up around Indiana, You grew up around Galilee; And if I ever really do grow up, I wanna grow up to be just like You -- Rich Mullins
I am a Christian and my name is Pilgram; I'm on a journey, but I'm not alone -- NewSong, slightly edited
Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
Snow.
I don't get why some of the west (or east, for that matter) coast companies don't transfer some of their operations to a place like Detroit, where they could pay lower wages to employees who would be able to afford decent housing and have money left over, either in the suburbs with their vile single family zoning, or closer to the city center where there's vacant land that the city would love to have redeveloped regardless of what reasonable density is proposed.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released a report stating that there was a 2.7 percent increase in homelessness in the country, and much of it was driven up by California, according to multiple reports.
According to the Associated Press, the number of homeless people back in January 2018 was 553,000, and at the beginning of 2019, that number had risen to around 568,000. In the report, that increase of homeless people was attributed to the 16.4 percent increase in California’s population of homeless people “entirely,” the Associated Press reported.
“As we look across our nation, we see great progress, but we’re also seeing a continued increase in street homelessness along our West Coast where the cost of housing is extremely high.
In fact, homelessness in California is at a crisis level and needs to be addressed by local and state leaders with crisis-like urgency,” said Ben Carson, the Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary, according to the news outlet. .. ..
.. Among those states that had the highest homeless population were New York, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington, according to the Associated Press.
0 x
Most or all of this drama, humiliation, wasted taxpayer money could be spared -
with even modest attempt at presenting balanced facts from the start.
So I started at this address and scrolled for a mile or more in each direction. The only potential vacant lots I could identify were in the Catholic cemetery.
If the zoning restrictions were lifted overnight, how would this neighborhood change? It wouldn't.
Zoning might be part of the problem, but if it's part of the solution it's a remarkably small part.
0 x
I grew up around Indiana, You grew up around Galilee; And if I ever really do grow up, I wanna grow up to be just like You -- Rich Mullins
I am a Christian and my name is Pilgram; I'm on a journey, but I'm not alone -- NewSong, slightly edited
Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
A lot more land. Law of supply and demand. Also many fewer jobs, as the good people of Lordstown are finding out. The jobs are in major cities, which is where housing prices are also sky high.
J.M.
California has much more land than Ohio. (And a single plant closing doesn’t matter much when there are plenty of other jobs available.)
The question is why and how the jobs are all stuck in major cities, and if it’s worthwhile to structure public policy this way.
Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
Snow.
I don't get why some of the west (or east, for that matter) coast companies don't transfer some of their operations to a place like Detroit, where they could pay lower wages to employees who would be able to afford decent housing and have money left over, either in the suburbs with their vile single family zoning, or closer to the city center where there's vacant land that the city would love to have redeveloped regardless of what reasonable density is proposed.
United Airlines relocated from Houston to Chicago, supposedly one of the reasons was one of the executives liked the opera in Chicago (but not enough to hop a flight there?) Another reason was Chicago paid off massive subsidies.
Corporate consolidation without regard for the working class is one reason for these sky high land prices and poor quality of life in the large cities.
Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
A lot more land. Law of supply and demand. Also many fewer jobs, as the good people of Lordstown are finding out. The jobs are in major cities, which is where housing prices are also sky high.
J.M.
California has much more land than Ohio. (And a single plant closing doesn’t matter much when there are plenty of other jobs available.)
The question is why and how the jobs are all stuck in major cities, and if it’s worthwhile to structure public policy this way.
The reason cities exist in the first place. They are the crossroads of commerce, places where all of the things you need to run a business can be found. That is also where the talent is.
If I were starting a medical widget company, in Cupertino I could get components I need from Frye’s, surplus from Halted or Weird Stuff Warehouse, and find coders and contract assembly shops everywhere. Try finding those in Cumberland MD, or even Baltimore for that matter. You can’t make a technology business grow in the middle of a farm field. It takes at least overnight to get parts here in Baltimore for electronics, and that at a hefty premium. If I want the same thing in Los Gatos, I take a 15 minute trip to one of the two or three parts houses, and have it in hand....at a discount.
It is not tax policy or snow. It is the reason that cities have existed since the high Middle Ages.
Josh wrote:Ohio has a large population including big cities, yet average people can afford homes and there are plenty of jobs. Much less homeless population per capita than a place like LA or SF either.
Hmm, I wonder what a key difference between the two places might be?
Snow.
I don't get why some of the west (or east, for that matter) coast companies don't transfer some of their operations to a place like Detroit, where they could pay lower wages to employees who would be able to afford decent housing and have money left over, either in the suburbs with their vile single family zoning, or closer to the city center where there's vacant land that the city would love to have redeveloped regardless of what reasonable density is proposed.
This is precisely how North Carolina became a research center, renaming The Tobacco Triangle to The Research Triangle, investing in four university systems, and courting high tech with a low cost of living and desirable living conditions. Other places like Austin, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh have done the same. At least Minneapolis and Pittsburgh have done this without sacrificing snow.
For high tech, at least, this is hard to do without the right kind of help from research universities. And these research centers compete with each other and wannabe cities. Many more cities have tried to do this without pulling it off.
Last edited by Bootstrap on Mon Dec 23, 2019 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
0 x
Is it biblical? Is it Christlike? Is it loving? Is it true? How can I find out?
