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Comment by data_spy | Hacker News Reader

I hate it when people claim jobs or work trump citizens rights. A minor example of this, why should developers and construction sites close sidewalks and car lanes?

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The jobs argument can be made for just about anything. People use it when nothing else is valid.

Everything creates jobs. Car crashes, wild fires, drug dealing, sex trafficking, aerial bombing campaigns, it means nothing. Exxon Valdez was the greatest job creator of any ship that sailed that year.

When people say "jobs jobs jobs" just stop listening. Seriously, just walk away. They're saying it's of no value whatsoever and they have to fall back on perennial truisms

The argument for closing roads and sidewalks is not "jobs, jobs, jobs" It is "You must perform on going maintenance of our infrastructure, or it is going to crumble and become unusable" Do you think people just close roads so someone has a job?

Nah. Closing roads is perfectly valid. Infrastructure is super important. Large construction can be dangerous and it's a great idea to block the public from hazardous risks (like moving giant beams suspended from cranes, an accident of that slipping and killing people sounds like a legitimate risk)

I live in LA, roads get shut down for silly TV shows all the time and that's fine with me as well. Entertainment is important for people's happiness.

Jobs arguments are scams though

What is the alternative? Sometimes you must close a road or sidewalk in order to perform maintenance. This is an out of touch stance.

The alternative, the business pays a fee per day for lane and sidewalk closures. I guarantee they will close the lanes and sidewalks less often and for shorter durations.

I don't know how it is where you live, but that's the way it works here. You pay a daily fee.

Because the fee isn't paid to them they don't notice or care.

Much of the "solutions" provided for apparent existing problems already exist. Some kind of analogy to the Dunning-Kreuger effect is going on - any problem I don't understand is simple.

This is already how it works. Also, in the process of applying for a permit, the city will make sure your construction plan is reasonable and you're doing everything you can to minimize impact to the public. I think anywhere in the world with a functioning local government will be similar.

> anywhere in the world with a functioning local government will be similar.

Boston does not have a functioning local government. A developer in my old neighborhood blocked a sidewalk for three years without a permit. Public works issued them one $50 fine. The same developer also abandoned the site in an effort to pressure the zoning board to allow them to add floors to their plan.

Most places in the US do not have functioning governments, to be fair, including at the national level.

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