SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices

 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Alighieri who wrote (711478)4/23/2013 9:35:59 PM
From: Bilow1 Recommendation  Read Replies (2) of 1571789
 
Hi Alighieri; Re Zoning and all that.

Like pretty much all government controls, zoning has its good points and bad points. It's quite local. I generally believe that local government control is better than federal. But no matter who controls zoning, there are going to be problems.

Typical totalitarian instinct is to make every (minor) tragedy into an excuse to give more power to the government. This is a basic idea that I disagree with. If you want to live next to a fertilizer plant I say "more power to you", and "ignorance is bliss".

The fact that the plant caught fire and blew up is excellent evidence that they were in violation of more laws than just "zoning". Last I heard it's illegal to cause fatalities in the US by explosions without a license. If that didn't stop them, why should zoning laws stop them? Same with filling out the proper licenses for ammonium nitrate. The US has millions of laws, it would be a miracle company that was in compliance with all of them. Similar laws didn't stop the Boston explosions either. I'm guessing that the US has a couple thousand illegal IED explosions per year, that is, things on the order of a pipe bomb rather than just oversize fireworks.

And I've seen plenty of problems with zoning. Can't see why Democrats would argue that zoning is always a good thing. Democrats are supposed to be in favor of the little guy but zoning is a policy that is almost always enforced by the people in power against small guys. Try reading this:

The Racial Origins of Zoning in American Cities,
Christopher Silver
"What began as a means of improving the blighted physical environment in which people lived and worked," writes Yale Rabin, became "a mechanism for protecting property values and excluding the undesirables." The two interest groups that were regarded as the undesirables were immigrants and African Americans.[3]
asu.edu

No matter where you look, you'll always find that giving large amounts of power to the government will result, eventually, in that power being used against people who are out of power. This is just how humans operate.

-- Carl
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext