Yesterday I trekked down to Lavender Lake (fun fact #0: not actually a lake!) for a happy hour hosted by Open New York. ONY advocates for building more housing in New York City. A lack of housing is one of the biggest barriers to achieving abundance in this city, so I think ONY is a pretty good group to support. Even though I’ve been a member since the start of the year, this happy hour was my first ONY event. I met some cool people last night so I wanted to share some conversation tidbits:
On the question about the parking building, I take the view that the city should allow property owners to construct any residential or commercial structure that is safe. I’m not a fan of cars in NY or parking, but if it’s private land and the building/use isn’t unduly disruptive to the neighborhood (like a noisy manufacturing facility) then it should be allowed.
At the same time, we should impose high taxes on cars in the form of city-wide congestion charges and higher gas taxes. As many intersections as possible should have red light cameras and speeding cameras that automatically send tickets. All buses should have cameras that ticket cars nearby that violate any road rule. We should reduce city speed limits.
So: I’m in favor of property rights, but for public space (like streets) there should be rigorous and reliable enforcement of rules that force drivers to bear the costs to society of their actions.
Good comment. Yep, I had a similar thought about property rights in this instance -- and in general, local government tendencies to veto construction projects.
Other people pointed out building more parking leads to more car use on the margin, but maybe the congestion tax offsets this.
Interesting summary!
On the question about the parking building, I take the view that the city should allow property owners to construct any residential or commercial structure that is safe. I’m not a fan of cars in NY or parking, but if it’s private land and the building/use isn’t unduly disruptive to the neighborhood (like a noisy manufacturing facility) then it should be allowed.
At the same time, we should impose high taxes on cars in the form of city-wide congestion charges and higher gas taxes. As many intersections as possible should have red light cameras and speeding cameras that automatically send tickets. All buses should have cameras that ticket cars nearby that violate any road rule. We should reduce city speed limits.
So: I’m in favor of property rights, but for public space (like streets) there should be rigorous and reliable enforcement of rules that force drivers to bear the costs to society of their actions.
Good comment. Yep, I had a similar thought about property rights in this instance -- and in general, local government tendencies to veto construction projects.
Other people pointed out building more parking leads to more car use on the margin, but maybe the congestion tax offsets this.