Framing America’s housing crisis around historic preservation is unnecessarily provocative. The real problem is that the most banal cityscapes are effectively treated like architectural gems.
This is well done, Ben. I haven't read the Appelbaum, but will now. Glaeser has similarly argued against preservation in New York. In both cases, it seems pretty clear that the concrete contributions of preservation policy are marginal, while political inertia and NIMBYism are the real culprits.
Thanks, Aaron! I know you've taken a close look at the impacts of historic preservation policy, and I think your observation is correct. Appelbaum makes all the right points, but couches them in a way that makes preservation look like the main culprit, which to me feels unproductive.
The real estate thugs must love Applebaum. Brooklyn Heights fossilized? Hey, what about
Chelsea in London? Just get rid of anything under ten stories high and shovel more loot to the
developers who have been allowed to destroy whole communities. Too bad Jane Jacob isnt around; she saved the west village from the realtors/developers' pillage. Can anyone believe in this day and age that a NYT editor is literally asking for wholesale demolition of homes, to turn all of NYC into high rise slums, in the process evicting millions of New Yorkers?
This is well done, Ben. I haven't read the Appelbaum, but will now. Glaeser has similarly argued against preservation in New York. In both cases, it seems pretty clear that the concrete contributions of preservation policy are marginal, while political inertia and NIMBYism are the real culprits.
Thanks, Aaron! I know you've taken a close look at the impacts of historic preservation policy, and I think your observation is correct. Appelbaum makes all the right points, but couches them in a way that makes preservation look like the main culprit, which to me feels unproductive.
The real estate thugs must love Applebaum. Brooklyn Heights fossilized? Hey, what about
Chelsea in London? Just get rid of anything under ten stories high and shovel more loot to the
developers who have been allowed to destroy whole communities. Too bad Jane Jacob isnt around; she saved the west village from the realtors/developers' pillage. Can anyone believe in this day and age that a NYT editor is literally asking for wholesale demolition of homes, to turn all of NYC into high rise slums, in the process evicting millions of New Yorkers?