This video from Reason.com does a great job in explaining what is happening in these big cities[1]. I see it as the major downside to utopian thinking, you miss the bigger picture for the small, less significant details.
They don't want an apartment project because of a litany of small, sometimes insignificant issues that get dragged out. I'm sure the activist feel righteous in thinking that they are keeping the big bad mega developer from building apartments that gentrify the community.
This line of thinking misses big picture, if you want more affordable homes, you need more supply. On the one hand you can say that this is in fact a complex multi faceted issue and the activists may not be understanding the way their actions will backfire. But on the other hand you think there is no way, there is no way someone does not see the most basic of economic principles at work: supply and demand.
It's shocking to me reading about some of the litigation involved in that case. While I can appreciate that there are interest groups that want to ensure affordable housing is built, all approvals should have come to a grinding halt until the special interest groups and the development company could come to a private contractual agreement. In the absence of an agreement, the appeals process should be one of arbitration, in which the court can enforce a compromise that makes neither party happy.
Instead it seems like everyone is just submitting documents to approvals committees independent of talking to each other. And the judicial system is forced to deal with an overwhelming number of individual cases.
They don't want an apartment project because of a litany of small, sometimes insignificant issues that get dragged out. I'm sure the activist feel righteous in thinking that they are keeping the big bad mega developer from building apartments that gentrify the community.
This line of thinking misses big picture, if you want more affordable homes, you need more supply. On the one hand you can say that this is in fact a complex multi faceted issue and the activists may not be understanding the way their actions will backfire. But on the other hand you think there is no way, there is no way someone does not see the most basic of economic principles at work: supply and demand.
[1]: https://reason.com/video/2018/12/27/san-francisco-mission-ho...