Harris County needs zoning laws now! (Houston, Austin: to buy, school, property taxes)

[Callo]

Originally Posted by randian

Too much? By whose measure? What makes this any of your business? If you want to tell people what to do with their land, why don't you put up your own money and buy it? Then you can do what you want with it, including keeping it vacant.

When did it become your, or anybody else's, job to say how many pizza joints and taco shops a neighborhood should have? Not only is it none of your business, but you don't know enough to say what the right number is.

And you do?

Don't waste my time unless you can actually make a point. I'm talking about an issue that is directly affecting the lives of tens of thousands. Saying your pretty little piece is rather tacky.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Callo

I'm talking about an issue that is directly affecting the lives of tens of thousands.

I guess the other five million of us aren't that damn bothered with it.

[Callo]

Originally Posted by jfre81

I guess the other five million of us aren't that damn bothered with it.

Most of them aren't in direct danger of getting overwhelmed with cheap apartments that devour whole communities. The good neighborhoods of northwest and west are who I have in mind right now.

I see you're from the southwest area. You of all people know what happens when that sort of thing is overbuilt.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Callo

I see you're from the southwest area. You of all people know what happens when that sort of thing is overbuilt.

I should probably know since I live in an apartment on the southwest side. Anyway, I know better than to think that there would be something different here if there was zoning put into place after the fact.

What's happened to the schools there is because of another round of white re-flight after the first sign of anything unfavorable (i.e. poor people) and broad generalized statements in the vain of "don't live here, it's dangerous." Then all those apartments that zoning will do a whole lot of nothing to get rid of have even fewer good people in the potential tenant pool and units go to anyone who will pay rent.

Let's back this up a step - we are talking about unincorporated areas of a county. Per state law which trumps any local ordinances, there cannot be zoning. Only incorporated municipalities can enact zoning. So are you trying to rally support for Spring to incorporate? Might as well start at step one if you're this bent on seeing this come to pass.

[randian]

Originally Posted by Callo

And you do?

Indeed I do. The right number is whatever the market will bear.

Originally Posted by Callo

Don't waste my time unless you can actually make a point.

I am always amazed at how obtuse statists are.

1) If you want the right to say what other people do with their land, buy it. Otherwise, shut up. I will not stand for you or anybody else to accomplish by coercion what you could not accomplish by voluntary interactions with your neighbors.

2) Nobody has enough intelligence and knowledge to say what the right number of pizza and taco joints is. The right number changes from moment to moment, and can only be discovered through the voluntary interaction of thousands of people.

Originally Posted by Callo

Saying your pretty little piece is rather tacky.

How so? When did advocating freedom become tacky?

[KARMAR21]

PLEASE!!!! tell our safety committee that Harris County does not allow cell towers to be constructed in residential areas??? We have a small residential group of houses, no HOA, all residents denied the use of our land for a cell tower proposed by TowerCo. We have one lot owned by an absentee owner and TowerCo is trying to work a deal with our only non-resident. This act by the tower company is not only criminally deceptive it is immoral and should be illegal. Does anyone have any experience with these stealth cell tower practices and/or know how to fight a cell tower installation? ALL HELP IS WELCOME!! We live in Spring, TX - unincorporated

[jfre81]

Get everyone around you to quit using mobile devices so no more towers will have to be constructed around you.

Good luck on that.

[ElectroPlumber]

Originally Posted by Callo

Okay, after reading countless posts in this forum and others, and talking to people IRL, I have come to one very obvious conclusion: Harris needs zoning laws. I'm not talking about just the city of Houston. If anything, unincorporated areas need it more than the city. They're the ones who house the most desirable areas, IE places where families want to live. They're also feeling the pinch of the creeping ghetto. Bammel/Westfield is already too far gone, and now Katy and Humble are feeling the heat. Honestly, how much more has to happen before people understand what's going on? As it is, much of the younger generation is bypassing the area in favor of Sugar Land or Montgomery County. What will things be like ten or twenty years from now?

It wouldn't even have to be a long set of strict laws. It could be a county board. Or a new agency. Or anything really. But we need some relief.

Everyone who moves to Houston says that it needs zoning because "We had it where we came from and we need it here." Well, Houston is not "where you came from".

Zoning does nothing for business development and is subject to cronyism and illegal manipulation from zoning boards. It is much better to control development with deed restrictions, even if the restrictions eventually expire. By the time they expire, it is probably time to do something else with the area anyway.

[randian]

Originally Posted by ElectroPlumber

Zoning does nothing for business development and is subject to cronyism and illegal manipulation from zoning boards. It is much better to control development with deed restrictions, even if the restrictions eventually expire. By the time they expire, it is probably time to do something else with the area anyway.

Hear hear!

[dont_tread_on_me_mr_obama]

dont we have enough laws on our dead bodies?