Desperate for Housing, Austin Seeks Relief in Rezoning

bloomberg.com

5 points·vwoolf··4 comments

Do we really need zoning, at all?

Avoiding things like heavy industry, or weddings, concerts, etc, near a residence can be done with noise ordinances.

I wouldn't want to leave near a Chinese restaurant, but not because it's a Chinese restaurant, but rather because of the food smoke - so regulate smoke output, not the type of business.

Etc, etc, for other reasons people give for zoning - regulate the thing the bothers people, not the type of business.

> Etc, etc, for other reasons people give for zoning - regulate the thing the bothers people, not the type of business.

For a lot of people, more people around them is bothersome. This is problematic in cities that attract people when existing residents don't want any more.

That's a nice theory, but then you run into the people who think that all regulations should be abolished and that free markets will solve all problems.

They fail to understand that in this modern political Citizens United world, there are no free markets. All markets are inherently distorted by the companies trying to corner their markets so that they can charge whatever they want and suck up all the money in the universe.

Article is from April 29, 2022. Things can change quickly with regards to zoning, so make sure you're up-to-date on these things before you jump to conclusions.

I know what my own feelings on the subject are, but I am not convinced that I am fully up to date on this topic, so I will withhold my thoughts for now.

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