Property tax equality....

[Bird]

Remember when you were a kid walking up to the corner grocery store

Yep, and the owners lived either next door or upstairs over the store. Sometimes I think our zoning laws to keep businesses out of residential areas do more harm than good.

 

[meledward23]

Yep, and the owners lived either next door or upstairs over the store. Sometimes I think our zoning laws to keep businesses out of residential areas do more harm than good.

I think more than sometimes. I listen to one of my neighbors' claims of victory on keeping business and such away from our neighborhood. I wonder why?

Why do I want to drive further to go to the local grocery ?
Why do I want the nearest hotel 15 miles from my house?

Why dont I want a gas station nearby? I mean I need to fill my lawn mower and driving a gas can around town is annoying.

But really. Zoning laws initial intention was to stop the industrial factory polution spewers more than an arms distance from housing. Not to keep Mr Ken's Corner Store off the corner.

The impact is significant.

My favorite little town is Decatur, GA. A small city on the outskirts of Atlanta. If you live their you can do everything by walking. Grovery store, small coffee houses, flowers, antiques, a dozen different restraunts, Gov't offices, courthous, an office buildings all in the same blocks. Apartment/Condo buildings over store fronts.

That is not for everyone... And I wouldnt want everyone to live that way. But is certainly for more than half the burb dwellers. You know the ones that hagte their yard? The ones who you never see outside unless it is to get the mail?

Often times things like this are blamed for crime. That is hogwash. Crime doesnt evolve becuase their business like this. In fact that atmosphere creates more foot traffic, more people walking about observing their surroundings.

Shopping centers become decrepid when a bigger and better one opens nearer the latest burb. But if they had smaller centers that focused on the local nearby community they wouldnt be as prone to failiing because A lack of traffic.

Enough of my rant. A post like this could never delve into the complexities of the subject. There are several books dealing with topics like these. Often refered to as New Urbanism, but I think it has a few other "names" as well....