Hacker News Reader

Then why do the policies of NYC not match that perspective? I wish everyone would move to NYC personally but there doesn't seem to be any movement to improve the city itself. I don't think you have to build more roads or trains to build more and taller in NYC itself instead of pushing the problem outward.

View on HN

Because NIMBYism is part of the cultural momentum within America as a whole.

There's a lot of well-intentioned regulations that had the cumulative effect of making it really hard to build things, and people have gotten used to this. Many even feel entitled to randomly stop new construction for whatever reason they feel like, and many planning boards are all too happy to go along with them.

The people who suffer most from not enough new housing, after all, are potential residents, and potential residents can't vote.

But the parent wants to build roads in the same place? I get the NIMBYism but building roads and trains is going to have the same exact problem from NIMBYists.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com