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Why does nobody talk about how tricky it is to get a solid debate going on local zoning laws
Last week I tried to start a respectful argument at the town hall meeting about allowing tiny homes on residential lots. The whole thing went sideways when the guy next to me started yelling about property taxes. I just sat there quiet for a minute, then asked him what his main worry was with the zoning change. He said he was scared it would lower his house value, so I showed him a study from Portland that found the opposite was true after two years. Has anyone else managed to steer a tense local debate back to facts without getting shouted down?
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jaken236h ago
Yeah that bit about him worrying it would lower his house value really jumped out at me. I had a similar thing happen at a neighborhood meeting about putting in a bike lane on our street. This older lady kept saying it would bring in "the wrong kind of people" and I froze up for a second because I didn't know how to answer that without making it worse. So I just asked her if she ever rode a bike herself and she said no, but her grandson did and she was scared he'd get hit by a car. That was actually a real concern so we talked about that instead of the weird coded stuff. It's funny how sometimes the real worry hiding behind the shouting is something totally different and way more human.
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