It’s one of those lines conservatives have been using for a decade, maybe two; the “progressive” left wants to move people out of single-family homes with yards and driveways, and into high-density housing.
Only it’s not a “line”. It’s here, and it’s in Minneapolis right now.
Without warning, on Friday March 7th, 2014 the Minneapolis City Council passed a Moratorium(a full stop) on all new construction and certain remodeling projects EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY in the Southwest Minneapolis neighborhoods of Linden Hills, Fulton, Armatage, Lynnhurst, and Kenny. This Moratorium prohibits anyone without a completed permit from starting construction on a project for up to one year from the effective date.
They passed it unanimously.
The moratorium hurts everyone (except progressive planners), especially taxpayers in Minneapolis:
The reduced potential property tax base and permit revenue lost from the moratorium will cause property taxes on residents to go up yet again. So the question you should ask is, “Why should I pay the same tax rates now with a moratorium that I paid when I could fully use my property?”
Dear (mostly) relentlessly PC liberals of South Minneapolis:
This was the sort of thing that, 240 years ago, impelled a bunch of other impeccable liberals to throw a…
…dare I say it? A Tea Party.
I can’t wait for RickDFL and Doggy Doo’s spin on this!
The long and short of it is that you are incompetent to decide where you should live. The Minneapolis city council, aka “The Group of Thirteen”, is wise enough to know where each citizen shall live. Social science academics have determined that four square meters of living space per individual are entirely sufficient.
And I thought I escaped that shit! More goobernement control for EVERYONE! Except for liberat elite, of course…
All hail the Group of Thirteen!
The new economy, based on a 30-hour work week, $10.10/ hr. wage, mandatory Obamacare (and God knows what else), increasing taxes for schools, trains, immigrants, and whatever else the king chooses to use his PP (pen and phone) on will make owning a single-family house unmanageable.
Of course the wealthy and politically connected will be fine. So will the MPLS voting majority of hipsters, activists, artists, and bums who are happy to share a too small Uptown walk-up, subsidized housing, or Dorothy Day.
However, it will be interesting to see what happens to the small but nice single-family houses, once all the grown-ups die off or move south, and their offspring still can’t afford to move out of the basement.
Joe wrote:
” . . . and their offspring still can’t afford to move out of the basement.”
A four letter word:
Cannibalistic
Humanoid
Underground
Dwellers
You have the private sector eliminating older, drafty homes with a lot of lead and asbestos in them–removing some HUGE environmental exposures and revitalizing neighborhoods at no net taxpayer cost–and the city comes out against it. Go figure.
Walter Williams is so right about many things, but rarely so much as when he commented that the political agenda of the left is built around violation of “Thou Shalt not Covet.” I love the beauty of old wood homes as much as anyone, but I’ve got news for the left; wood grows on trees. Really. Any good millwork store will have exactly what you want.
I guess that Nicole Curtis, the Rehab Addict on DIY Network, will have to go back to her native Detroit to save condemned old houses there instead of Minneapolis. I mean, hell, we wouldn’t want to restore an old house from eyesore/dangerous status with modern electrical, plumbing, insulation and high effeciency HVAC systems, would we now? That would mean the city wouldn’t have to pay their union slaves to tear it down, cart it away and deal with the waste, instead of selling it to a person that would keep it up and pay taxes for years.