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Comment by mothsonasloth | Hacker News Reader

Glaswegian here.

I would love to support the merry picture this article is painting but most of the examples are happy accidents.

The diet aspect is cultural and will be around for many generations. You can try and "chip" away at it by education and social mobility but it will still be around. In fact I could murder a fish and chip supper right now.

In terms of open spaces and such, Glasgow council is selling land like its going out of fashion to developers. The joke being "oh theres more student accomodation being built". Plus the city's infrastructure is under strain as Glasgow approaches the 1 million mark.

The weather will always be crap.

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> Glasgow council is selling land like its going out of fashion to developers

Guessing the sentiment here is that this is bad? Why exactly? Is Glasgow not growing and ever more people needing roofs over heads?

I've never once heard a person hate on farmers for producing too much food for consumption but the moment developers come even close to meeting demand for housing they are considered on par with criminals.

Both are essentials for life. Yet an abundance of one may reduce an individuals personal wealth.

In my country developers are banned from political donations, bikie gangs (organised criminals) are not.

Because private developers only build housing for a profit, which does not make it possible to satisfy everyone's needs and is therefore not in line with the supposed purpose of the council. If it truly cared about the needs of its constituents, the council could contract out to develop the land itself and provide housing at a cost accessible to everyone. Instead there is a lot of money sloshing around for the wealthy and powerful, and a lot of poor people with inadequate housing. This is why these people are considered "on par with criminals" and why your farming analogy is not really relevant.

I don't know if I'm preaching to the choir here, but if you've never seen the shows Chewin' the Fat or Still Game... you must.

>The joke being "oh theres more student accomodation being built"

Ha, we have the same here in Aberdeen.

> Plus the city's infrastructure is under strain as Glasgow approaches the 1 million mark.

Why are you concerned with that?

Why are they worried about something being under strain? Because it won’t work as well and is more likely to break. Why wouldn’t you be concerned about that?

I don't think there will be much strain

Ok? But they do, so that’s why they’re concerned.

There won’t be much strain as Glasgow’s population used to be much larger, and many commuter trains are practically empty compared to places like London. The city also has lots of central accommodation compared to places like London, and the traffic is nowhere near as bad. Maybe a bit of lifestyle change as people vary commute hours, and less driving as the motorway is apparently very bad at peak hours.

Source: used to live and work in Glasgow, have friends in council planning, have been back there and taken commuter trains over the last few years.

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