Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
I think boomers are just bitter and don’t like being old and irrelevant to the future.
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To take a big left turn, I mentioned before how Minneapolis is proposing a big change to its zoning and land use laws, via its long term plan, most controversially opening up "single family" neighborhood to the kinds of small, multi-unit structures (3-4 units) that used to get built alongside the single family homes when everything was built initially, but which we made illegal in the '70s. The stated intent is to open our neighborhoods with the greater existing amenities (parks, lakes, creek, schools, services, etc) to more people. The residents of some of those neighborhoods (generally the richest ones) are up in arms.
The planning commission just held a hearing on the plan, where more than a hundred people showed up to testify. Unscientifically, for and against were about 50/50, but the demographic divide could not have been more stark. Aside from two people of color who opposed because they felt the plan doesn't do enough to protect their communities, literally everyone else in opposition was over 50, mostly likely over 70. Meanwhile, if one or two notable exceptions, everyone in favor was younger than me.
The argument against were parking and traffic and transient renters who don't invest in the community, "my investment in my property" and "you guys didn't listen to me enough." Or, to pejoratively paraphrase, "what about me?" (There are also some bizarre and outdated concerns that more people in neighborhood will harm the environment, because apparently we assume those people don't exist if they don't live here).
The arguments for are about climate change, the need for people to be able to live closer to stuff, the need for housing diversity, welcoming others to our neighborhoods. Or to charitably paraphrase, "what about other people and the community?"
So, yeah, there at least a significant segment of olds who are selfish, mean and fiercely protective of any perceive threat to their hard-won gains. This is testimony a the 2040 plan. Many of those who testified are likely to be dead by then, but they still felt the need to show up and yell at the planning commissions for a few hours.
