Saved by Mark Fishman
Community Input Is Bad, Actually
A big part of the reason America can’t build like we used to is that we’re victims to the tyranny of the minority. A small group of people with strong opinions, and a lot of free time, can block things that are supported by the majority of the population. The people who are willing to show up to community meetings have an outsized say in what gets
... See morePacky McCormick • How to Fix a Country in 12 Days
Keely Adler added
We must recognize that if we try to make one neighborhood greener by stopping new building, we can easily make the world browner, by pushing new development to someplace far less environmentally friendly.
Edward Glaeser • Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
Why the Lab failed is a story of grand plans cast into turmoil by the disgrace of the grand planner himself. Among other things, it reveals how difficult it is to hold on to a place at the table, once you’ve got it (assuming you’d even want to). In the end, it boils down to a question: Is local government really the best place for public interest d... See more
Amanda Kolson Hurley • One Mayor’s Downfall Killed the Design Project That Could’ve Changed Everything
Sam Liebeskind added
Story of San Diego Civic Innovation Lab (2015)
one of the basic challenges of local governance is that it is structurally tilted to the preferences of a small group of busybodies and cranks who will show up to every meeting against the preferences of the vast majority of sane normal people
Harshith Iyer added
Modern development, where the public sector leads and everything is built to a finished state, is a bad party. When someone buys that new house on the cul-de-sac, they don’t want more development around them. To the contrary; new development merely means more traffic, more people using the park, more taxes.
Charles L. Marohn • Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity
Keely Adler added