First off, thanks to Dan Reed of JustUpThePike for a link. That particular blog focuses on East Montgomery County which is where I lived most of my life. The post in question leads off with a picture of a sign banning skateboarding and rollerblading and wonders whether anyone roller blades at this point. I don’t know, but I do have to wonder whether bringing old school roller skates would technically be allowed by the sign.
This also reminds me of the sign in the plaza by the north exit of the Silver Spring Metro which says “No Skateboarding” (With a circle with a cross through it standing in for the strike out). I’m not a stickler on grammar but even so the double negative in that sign always bugged me, it’s just poor graphic design.
On a more serious note, before everything was overshadowed by the great health care victory, there was continued debate between Kevin Drum and other bloggers. Ryan Avent also argues that the Washington suburbs are a great example of walkability outside of urban centers and further posits that zoning is primarily about exclusion for economic reasons:
Why are people so anxious to exclude newcomers? Well, homeowners are extremely risk averse, since they have a great deal of money tied up in one, undiversified, immobile asset. Rates of homeownership are highly (and negatively) correlated with density levels. Unsurprisingly.
But the notion that suburban sprawl wins out simply because it is so popular is belied by housing cost data. People live where they can afford to live, and if they can’t afford to live in a walkable area, then they’ll opt to live in sprawl rather than go homeless. And once there they’ll act to defend their investment by fighting development projects that may have unpredictable impacts on the value of nearby single-family homes.
I’m willing to take claims that many people prefer to live in sprawling suburbs at face value. Matt Yglesias cites Ben Adler who notes that about a third of the population wants walkability but only 10% or so get it due to regulations. This discrepancy occurs because as I noted there’s a coordination problem in building walkability and many of the regulatory incentives run toward sprawl despite the multiple negative externality. Yglesias does a good summary of a few things that could be done so that the third who want walkability can get it:
Federal transportation spending can and should be used as leverage to encourage more efficient (both economically and ecologically) use of land. Property taxes could be replaced with taxes on land. The lines of political authority over land use decisions could be rationalized so as to allow for some accountability—how many DC residents can name their ANC Single-Member District representative or even know what that means?
I’d add capping the mortgage tax credit to this list, but that really needs to come as part of a larger tax simplification effort so that people could get general rate reductions in exchange.
Finally, I’m off to the Purple Line fundraiser tonight in Silver Spring. I don’t think it’s at capacity so I suspect showing anyone showing up late with a donation would be welcome. I look forward to seeing some of Dan Reed’s videography when I get there.
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