America’s Cities Are Unlivable. Blame Wealthy Liberals. - Farhad Manjoo (NYT Op-Ed)
This is the crux of my diatribes against centrist liberalism. It is phony, talking out both sides of their mouth politics.
Reading opposition to SB 50 and other efforts at increasing density, I’m struck by an unsettling thought: What Republicans want to do with I.C.E. and border walls, wealthy progressive Democrats are doing with zoning and Nimbyism. Preserving “local character,” maintaining “local control,” keeping housing scarce and inaccessible — the goals of both sides are really the same: to keep people out.
“We’re saying we welcome immigration, we welcome refugees, we welcome outsiders — but you’ve got to have a $2 million entrance fee to live here, otherwise you can use this part of a sidewalk for a tent,” said Brian Hanlon, president of the pro-density group California Yimby. “That to me is not being very welcoming. It’s not being very neighborly.”
This is the crux of my diatribes against centrist liberalism. It is phony, talking out both sides of their mouth politics.