Hacker News Reader

Comment by notatoad | Hacker News Reader

>I don't think everywhere needs to metropolize

the problem is that the NIMBYs exist everywhere, and housing has to get built somewhere. if a municipality wants to create a district covering some portion of their area that maintains the idyllic beach town vibe, that doesn't cause a problem so long as they're also willing to create a district where building houses actually is allowed. but as long as every single neighbourhood says it's charm and identity is based on having no new housing built, where are people supposed to live?

View on HN

Every random city in the US is like this. Fucking Spokane has NIMBYs. There was a NYT article a couple of years ago about how a lot of people had moved in from California and Seattle thanks to the ability to work remotely. Some dude was like "Yeah people need somewhere to live, but why do they need to add apartment buildings to my town??"

It's a good point but let's remember that we're talking about a town of 60,000 people.

You have to remember that Santa Cruz is very near the Bay Area and in California. A lot more than 60,000 people want to live there many have been forced out by costs.

What you’re saying really amounts to saying you want to stop immigration into your town. While I can understand the sentiment, the problem is that people feel this way in so many places that it is creating a crisis of housing affordability.

Santa Cruz may be very "near" the Bay Area geographically but it's not practically. Even if you worked in San Jose you're talking 1.5 hours of commute in good weather (I did that for years). The other closest city is Monterey which is further and is of course not what anyone might call an economic hub.

Most of the people living in Santa Cruz owning homes are not commuting to the Bay to work. They made their money in tech and have retired to the beach.

I know many many people who have moved to SC from the Bay Area. I mention the proximity because it’s relevant with regards to people becoming familiar and then desiring to move there (whether retired as you mentioned or working remotely), and not because it’s a commuter town.

That's because Santa Cruz has repeatedly voted to limit transit access, specifically to keep it small.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com