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This case is exceptional, though, as it's not a big city in demand for its big-city-ness (where NIMBYs living there are going against the spirit of what makes the place successful); but rather, this is an out-of-the-way place, in demand for its out-of-the-way-ness, where NIMBY interests are aligned with what makes the place successful. The people and developers interested in building there, are only interested because of the rate-limiting being applied to new construction there — which guarantees them (and everyone else who moved there previously) the cachet of exclusivity, and the inherent privacy of big-secluded-SFH-lot zoning. But if those same people and developers were allowed to come in and build whatever they liked, as fast as they liked, they'd just flood the market with new construction — which would make a quick buck for them, but would destroy the only thing that makes anyone want to live there. People certainly don't live in a place like this for the vibrant community, nor for the amenities, nor — as should be evident from the article — for the jobs. They live there as a Veblen good. Making a Veblen good cheap defeats the purpose. These sorts of rich privacy-oriented NIMBY communities — Beverly Hills is a well-known example of one — are certainly a bit ridiculous when they're taking up space in the middle of a big city, space that could otherwise have been put to use to densify that city and serve far more people who want to live in the greater area. But in this case, there's no big city. Just a small town, in the middle of nowhere, full of NIMBYs. I'm not sure densification is the right solution. Maybe just let them have it, and choose somewhere else to live? |
It's bad enough in SF with service workers commuting. The rich NIMBYs are going to find their idyllic paradise a lot less pleasant when they realize service workers aren't going to commute 3 hours each way from the nearest city just to bus their tables.