{"id":2676,"date":"2018-05-03T00:55:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-03T07:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/billchapin.net\/allthecitylights\/?p=2676"},"modified":"2019-07-17T00:14:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T07:14:39","slug":"10-simple-steps-to-keep-amazon-from-ruining-your-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/billchapin.net\/allthecitylights\/2018\/05\/10-simple-steps-to-keep-amazon-from-ruining-your-city\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Simple Steps to Keep Amazon From Ruining Your City"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Amazon<\/a>
11. Oh, and definitely don’t let anything like this happen. [By SounderBruce [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.]<\/figcaption><\/figure>The Failing New York Times<\/em> reported today that Amazon is going around and asking the finalists for its second headquarters “how to avoid soaring housing costs and paralyzing traffic<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Easy. Duh. Lemme walk you through it, Jeff. (Can I call you Jeff?)<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Put the new HQ right on a central, well-connected transit line.<\/li>\n
  2. Build a limited amount of employee parking, and manage demand by charging for it and offering transit vouchers.<\/li>\n
  3. Create some sort of totally-unheard-of-in-America regional government entity that can regulate land use in the central city and surrounding suburbs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Update the zoning around high-frequency transit stops all throughout the region, with height and density limits set high enough to provide a number of homes that will meet the increased demand caused by new Amazon jobs and multiplier effects, no minimum parking requirements, and a special tax assessment to take advantage of increasing property values.<\/li>\n
    2. By-right approval of projects that meet the new zoning and provide a predetermined (but financially feasible) percentage of subsidized, below-market-rate homes, with priority given to existing low-income residents in the neighborhood.<\/li>\n
    3. Beef up renter protections such as right of return, free legal representation to challenge evictions, and, yeah, OK, some controls on preposterous, sudden rent increases.<\/li>\n
    4. Devote increased tax revenue to improving transit frequency, converting car lanes and on-street parking to bus-priority lanes and separated bike lanes, and, if there\u2019s anything left over, expansion of the transit network.<\/li>\n
    5. Bring all public schools in region up to level of wealthiest suburban schools in terms of facilities, equipment, and teacher pay.<\/li>\n
    6. Convince wealthy suburbanites not to revolt\u2014literally or at the ballot box.<\/li>\n
    7. While you’re at it, get anti-displacement activists and the Sierra Club<\/a> on board, too, by … I dunno, convincing them that you’re absolutely addressing their concerns and involving them in the process without compromising any of the nine previous steps.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n