Interesting moment in "what's a YIMBY" history:
The ALX arena will likely replace some planned housing with regional-appeal amenities, and as an amenity will definitely raise nearby housing prices.
Is YIMBY about just building more anything, or building more housing to make it affordable?
@bikepedantic good question. I’m YIMBY af but I’m also of the mindset that housing and other elements of our built environment need to be liberalized but also *coordinated* much better than they are today (in North America). The driving focus at the root of my own YIMBYism is to design around people vs people’s *private* stuff (ie cars and related stuff). Focus on the people part and the rest gets moved out of the way to make it better all around and…
@bikepedantic somewhat ironically it’ll get better for the private stuff too; from the cars to the bikes to the one wheels or whatever.
The cost element largely needs to be managed IMHO at a policy level about job pay, benefits, rights of citizens (ie to healthcare) and the focus to drop housing prices to meet low wages is just not gonna work.
It's about deciding something is good or bad for society based on its merits, and not based on whether it perpetuates your personal privilege.
Here in Cambridge, dominant advocacy seems to be leaning to the latter: Broad pro-development support for curtailing lab development that is crowding out housing starts.