"Not in my backyard!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Everyday something new happens to reconfirm my fears that the only people who care about “planning” are well, um, PLANNERS! I wish/hope/strive for this not to be the case, but….
It seems most citizens only care about “not in my backyard” planning and zoning issues, and most politicians only want to focus on planning and zoning issues that make their voters happy or put money in their brothers dry-wall company’s pocket. So where does that leave planning and zoning?
1) Most people seem to want every vacant parcel by their house to be a park, but wont write a check or wont raise money or taxes to pay for it.
2) Most people seem to want conservation land on the outskirts of the city, but won’t let medium or high density housing in their back yard so the cities keep sprawling on and on and on and on….
3) Most people seem to want less traffic but the wont take public transit or live close to commercial so they can walk, ride their bike or pogo stick.
More and more it seems that zoning is nothing more than a segregation tool for the areas where people don’t want to live next to people with less money than them (i.e. multi-family and apartments).
Last night a homeowner actually said, “I don’t want more apartments in the area (although it is part of the comp plan) because it will bring more of ‘those’ people in the area and they just sit in their pick-up trucks, listen to loud music and drink beer every night”. He got a standing ovation.
There is an enforced noise ordinance and I know the area and doubt this happens.
How can we change this attitude? Or can it be changed? I know the answer is education. However, it seems everyone is an educated smart growth advocate for the neighborhoods across town, but people wont listen if it is in their backyard.
Thoughts?
Everyday something new happens to reconfirm my fears that the only people who care about “planning” are well, um, PLANNERS! I wish/hope/strive for this not to be the case, but….
It seems most citizens only care about “not in my backyard” planning and zoning issues, and most politicians only want to focus on planning and zoning issues that make their voters happy or put money in their brothers dry-wall company’s pocket. So where does that leave planning and zoning?
1) Most people seem to want every vacant parcel by their house to be a park, but wont write a check or wont raise money or taxes to pay for it.
2) Most people seem to want conservation land on the outskirts of the city, but won’t let medium or high density housing in their back yard so the cities keep sprawling on and on and on and on….
3) Most people seem to want less traffic but the wont take public transit or live close to commercial so they can walk, ride their bike or pogo stick.
More and more it seems that zoning is nothing more than a segregation tool for the areas where people don’t want to live next to people with less money than them (i.e. multi-family and apartments).
Last night a homeowner actually said, “I don’t want more apartments in the area (although it is part of the comp plan) because it will bring more of ‘those’ people in the area and they just sit in their pick-up trucks, listen to loud music and drink beer every night”. He got a standing ovation.
There is an enforced noise ordinance and I know the area and doubt this happens.
How can we change this attitude? Or can it be changed? I know the answer is education. However, it seems everyone is an educated smart growth advocate for the neighborhoods across town, but people wont listen if it is in their backyard.
Thoughts?