PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
Dr. Thomas Sowell, in Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One, challenges individuals to analyze not only their short term (Stage One) impact but to also think ahead to their long term (Stage Two, Three, etc) impact.
The following is an example of the flaw that Dr. Sowell wrote about: short-sighted eco-fascists damage their own aims in fighting against capitalism
1. " ... San Franciscos Sierra Club hinders environmental progress.
2. Since 2006, developer Simon Snellgrove has fought to build a 12-story, mixed-use tower on a downtown lot near San Francisco Bay. ... But after a negative petition garnered 31,000 signatures, the project was put to the ballot in Novembers election, and city voters rejected it by nearly two-to-one, ... the opposition to Snellgroves 8 Washington project represents everything thats wrong with the anti-growth movement in U.S. cities today.
3. Affordability advocates called it a mere luxury condo, ignoring the $11 million the residence is expected to generate for the citys affordable-housing fund. ... Nearby residents opposed the added foot traffic, despite having long decried the downtown business districts deserted nighttime atmosphere.
4. The strangest opposition, though, came from San Franciscos Sierra Club chapter... killing a project that the environmental group might reasonably have endorsed. The Sierra Club, after all, regularly lobbies Californias state legislature to draw boundaries to stop housing sprawl in the Bay Area. Now, it seems, the club opposes even smart development projects that promote density.
a. It opposed a plan that would encourage mixed-use development in Berkeley, even though the city has rail connections and thus would be better able to handle the added foot traffic and density mixed use brings.
b. And it withheld support from a project in nearby Alameda that other environmental groups celebrated for its sustainable design and materials.
c, ... the club has already criticized other potential development projects, including one near the Giants AT&T Park as well as the proposed new Golden State Warriors basketball arena. The new arena would help fill the empty, decaying piers leading up to the Embarcadero market, completing a near-miraculous transformation of the citys northeastern shoreline.
5. So why does the local Sierra Club oppose these projects?....
As is often the case, the Sierra Clubs opposition here is not really about the effects of development. It reflects resentment, sadly typical of Americas far Left, of what development representscapitalism and the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere is getting rich.
6. The club never fails to criticize developments being built for luxury purposes or to create profits. Developing the waterfront will produce a wall of gold built, says Evans, by rich developers.
7. This anti-growth sentiment has made it difficult for San Francisco to address issues that the Sierra Club claims to care about. Evans complains that 8 Washingtons least expensive condominium is going to go for $2 million, but she has little to say about the housing shortage and other factors that have made San Francisco the nations least affordable city.
8. ...Snellgrove had spent nearly $2 million on lobbying and campaigning, and hell surely pay more after reworking his plans. These costs will be passed onto 8 Washingtons eventual residents (should there be any).
9. San Francisco is proud to be one of the nations most frugal carbon emitters per capitaowing not only to its mild climate, but also to its density.
10. ... the citys high cost of living forces many to live in outlying areas with more sprawling, energy-intensive development patterns. Their larger footprint can be blamed, at least in part, on the misplaced priorities of certain San Francisco environmentalists."
Missing the Forest for the Trees by Scott Beyer, City Journal 23 January 2014
Find a Leftist, or, to be redundant, an 'environmentalist,' and you will find an anti-capitalism, anti-American-prosperity attitude.
They'll be the death of us.
The following is an example of the flaw that Dr. Sowell wrote about: short-sighted eco-fascists damage their own aims in fighting against capitalism
1. " ... San Franciscos Sierra Club hinders environmental progress.
2. Since 2006, developer Simon Snellgrove has fought to build a 12-story, mixed-use tower on a downtown lot near San Francisco Bay. ... But after a negative petition garnered 31,000 signatures, the project was put to the ballot in Novembers election, and city voters rejected it by nearly two-to-one, ... the opposition to Snellgroves 8 Washington project represents everything thats wrong with the anti-growth movement in U.S. cities today.
3. Affordability advocates called it a mere luxury condo, ignoring the $11 million the residence is expected to generate for the citys affordable-housing fund. ... Nearby residents opposed the added foot traffic, despite having long decried the downtown business districts deserted nighttime atmosphere.
4. The strangest opposition, though, came from San Franciscos Sierra Club chapter... killing a project that the environmental group might reasonably have endorsed. The Sierra Club, after all, regularly lobbies Californias state legislature to draw boundaries to stop housing sprawl in the Bay Area. Now, it seems, the club opposes even smart development projects that promote density.
a. It opposed a plan that would encourage mixed-use development in Berkeley, even though the city has rail connections and thus would be better able to handle the added foot traffic and density mixed use brings.
b. And it withheld support from a project in nearby Alameda that other environmental groups celebrated for its sustainable design and materials.
c, ... the club has already criticized other potential development projects, including one near the Giants AT&T Park as well as the proposed new Golden State Warriors basketball arena. The new arena would help fill the empty, decaying piers leading up to the Embarcadero market, completing a near-miraculous transformation of the citys northeastern shoreline.
5. So why does the local Sierra Club oppose these projects?....
As is often the case, the Sierra Clubs opposition here is not really about the effects of development. It reflects resentment, sadly typical of Americas far Left, of what development representscapitalism and the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere is getting rich.
6. The club never fails to criticize developments being built for luxury purposes or to create profits. Developing the waterfront will produce a wall of gold built, says Evans, by rich developers.
7. This anti-growth sentiment has made it difficult for San Francisco to address issues that the Sierra Club claims to care about. Evans complains that 8 Washingtons least expensive condominium is going to go for $2 million, but she has little to say about the housing shortage and other factors that have made San Francisco the nations least affordable city.
8. ...Snellgrove had spent nearly $2 million on lobbying and campaigning, and hell surely pay more after reworking his plans. These costs will be passed onto 8 Washingtons eventual residents (should there be any).
9. San Francisco is proud to be one of the nations most frugal carbon emitters per capitaowing not only to its mild climate, but also to its density.
10. ... the citys high cost of living forces many to live in outlying areas with more sprawling, energy-intensive development patterns. Their larger footprint can be blamed, at least in part, on the misplaced priorities of certain San Francisco environmentalists."
Missing the Forest for the Trees by Scott Beyer, City Journal 23 January 2014
Find a Leftist, or, to be redundant, an 'environmentalist,' and you will find an anti-capitalism, anti-American-prosperity attitude.
They'll be the death of us.