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by lgessler 1798 days ago
Is it really right to equate a tourist's interest in accommodation with a resident's interest in a strong community?
4 comments

Or a person's interest to have the means to be a part of production without spending their entire life commuting?

I'm sorry - I don't think we should build a million skyscrapers in Kethum, Idaho and Jackson Hole, Wyoming so that tourists can enjoy it more cheaply.

I do think we should build more housing in major cities.

Where's the threshold of badness here, though? Sure, if 75% of residential units are up for short term rental, it's gonna be really hard for the remaining residents to form a strong community. But if it's more like 5%, or even 10%[0], is that really a big detriment to a "strong community"? That just seems like an easy "no" to me.

[0] And I would expect those units to not be evenly distributed around a city; there will probably be higher concentrations in the more touristy spots where this community stuff matters less, and lower concentrations in the more "sleepy" residential areas.

Yeah, like, residents never travel. Tourists come from Mars. /s

Why ban just AirBnB and not Waze for bringing unwanted traffic in previously quiet neighborhoods?

I’m not sure what exactly you mean by “strong community” here, but that is a phrase often invoked for nativist and exclusionary impulses which I would rate as quite a bit less legitimate than a desire to see the world.