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Dont_mute_me_bro t1_jcfql96 wrote

Reply to comment by AnacharsisIV in Douglaston residents come out against Hocul’s affordable housing plan by Russianb0t1

Have at it. I'm not stopping you.

I am a native New Yorker. I lived in a multi family apartment for 2 years in the late 90s; everything else has been a single family.

Between the arguing couple, the old dude who played the tv too loud, the guy who cooked stinky food, the guy who kept off hours and slammed doors and the constant potsmoker, I resolved to never repeat.

The experience actually motivated me to raise my income so I would never have to put up with other people's rudeness and bullshit at home. I do enough of that sharing the city with 8 million people.

The more people, the more chances that someone will be a douche. So you do your thing and I do mine. Isn't that the city vibe- Live and let live?

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AnacharsisIV t1_jcfsp8s wrote

That's the thing; single family housing zoning doesn't "let live." Single family zoning says "there's only one way to live, and fuck you if you try to do it any other way." If your way of life is so self-evidently better, then developers would be falling over themselves to build suburban houses when they have other options for the lots.

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Dont_mute_me_bro t1_jcfu195 wrote

I don't wish ill on anyone who lives another way. I just resent when they want to force me to take on their way; especially if it might devalue my property or rob me of the peace and calm that I paid for. Wouldn't you?

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AnacharsisIV t1_jcfuu9c wrote

I am not so selfish to think that the "value of my property" is more important than efficiently using the land and infrastructure of the world's greatest city to ensure that more people can afford to live here and contribute to what makes it great.

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Dont_mute_me_bro t1_jcgajr4 wrote

Why do I owe you or anyone a god damn thing?

I look out for my family and my community. If everyone did that we'd all be a lot better off. Don't blame me that things suck. I do my bit.

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AnacharsisIV t1_jcgebdr wrote

You don't "owe" me a thing, but you're also not owed a neighborhood that conforms to your desires, and it's unethical to use regulatory capture to enforce it. Your community is a single neighborhood, my community is an entire city.

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Dont_mute_me_bro t1_jchh72j wrote

Was are you- the "globalist" version of a New Yorker? Please!!! Do you get your groove on in Boro Park with the Hasids? Or in Richmond Hill with the Punjabi Sikhs? I doubt it. Stop bullshitting and virtue signaling. Its lame.

Dudes I knew from the Heights were into being from the Heights. Just like Bensonhurst guys are into being from B'hurst, Harlem guys are into being from Harlem, Bronx guys are into being from the Boogie down, etc.

Who wants to live in a city of sameness? I like it that Forest Hills has nice big houses, that Rockaway has a different climate and housing style, that Ditmas Park has those old Victorians. Celebrate diversity, man!

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AnacharsisIV t1_jchib06 wrote

> Or in Richmond Hill with the Punjabi Sikhs?

Yeah? I went to high school with a few of them. I'd probably have done so with the Hassids if they didn't segregate their kids into religious schools, too. Why are you so perturbed by someone being from the globe's capital being... a globalist? Why live in the most diverse city on the planet if you're not going to engage with that diversity? I'd rather go to Richmond Hill to experience Sikh culture than fly out to Punjab.

>Dudes I knew from the Heights were into being from the Heights. Just like Bensonhurst guys are into being from B'hurst, Harlem guys are into being from Harlem, Bronx guys are into being from the Boogie down, etc.

My family has been in washington heights for over a century. I am proud of my origins. I also acknowledge that my neighborhood changes; I am a descendant of successive waves of immigration to the neighborhood. My bloodline literally communicates the notion that times change. Expecting the city to stay the same just because that's what I got comfortable with in my youth is ridiculous.

>Who wants to live in a city of sameness? I like it that Forest Hills has nice big houses, that Rockaway has a different climate and housing style, that Ditmas Park has those old Victorians. Celebrate diversity, man!

You're not celebrating diversity. You're advocating for a single style of house to be built under penalty of law. Simply because zoning for other types of residences can be opened up in your neighborhood doesn't mean they will all be the same, and other cities with lots of mixed-use zoning are still architecturally diverse, like Tokyo. Different wards of Tokyo look entirely different while still having dense multifamily housing.

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Dont_mute_me_bro t1_jchlbcu wrote

Bloodlines? What are you...a horse? What the fuck is that?

This isn't Tokyo. Neighborhoods change demographically but architecturally less so. That's a good thing. There's some nice houses out in Cambria Heights whose residents likely like as it is....

Let people who want to live in high rises be free to do so. Let those who like a more bucolic setting be able to as well. It's called choice; something you don't seem to like. Rather, you prefer nameless bureaucratic outsiders wielding power. It worked great for the Bronx when they put a road through the middle of it. Why learn from that? Why stop there? /s

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AnacharsisIV t1_jchplun wrote

>This isn't Tokyo. Neighborhoods change demographically but architecturally less so.

Really? How much 18th century architecture can you find in NYC? 19th century? Go to Williamsburg or Flushing and tell me with a straight face that architecture doesn't change.

>Let people who want to live in high rises be free to do so. Let those who like a more bucolic setting be able to as well. It's called choice; something you don't seem to like. Rather, you prefer nameless bureaucratic outsiders wielding power. It worked great for the Bronx when they put a road through the middle of it. Why learn from that? Why stop there? /s

You're literally preventing that. As it stands, we cannot build more high rises because large swaths of the city are zoned solely for low-density housing. Simply opening up the zoning for mixed-use and mixed-densities doesn't mean that single-family housing would disappear, either in NYC or America as a whole. Furthermore, "bucolic" living is literally the opposite of what is offered in a city. Do you also expect to raise cattle in Queens?

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Dont_mute_me_bro t1_jchwyjr wrote

My childhood home in Brooklyn was built in 1919. My current home in '35.

Both are bucolic. In both I'm on Wall Street in 35 minutes. The bet of both worlds.

Build all the high rises where people who live there like that sort of living- tall buildings and such. Let those who enjoy the sun, clouds and sky enjoy that too. I don't raise livestock, but I have lovely garden. I raise heirloom tomatoes, collards, kale, spinach, beets, potatoes, herbs, zucchini, eggplants and squash. I have pear, crabapple and fig trees. My friend who keep bees nearby reports a change in the honey's flavor since my trees fruited. I have had great conversations with old dudes about gardening- Puerto Ricans, Poles, Italians, West Indians, Russians. Gardening brings people together. Everybody eats and most of the world were farmers at some point.

I am contributing to biodiversity and cleaning up the air. Pollinators and birds eat the fruits and/or get nectar from flowers. Moreover, gardening kept me sane during the pandemic. I'm harming no one, helping the planet and getting sunshine and exercise. All your buildings won't contribute to that for anyone and might rob it from me.

Why are people like you so envious and spiteful?

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