Posts Tagged ‘homes’
An Unhealthy Development
City planners in the Bay Area city of Richmond are putting the finishing touches on the town’s new general plan and hope to include a first-in-the-nation “wellness element” in the document, which will guide how new development is processed. Writes HealthyCal.org:
The new rules would require builders to show that residents have adequate access to healthy foods, medical services, public transit, affordable housing, recreation and open space, economic opportunity, safe neighborhoods, and environmentally sound, sustainable buildings.
Excuse us, but isn’t it the free market’s responsibility to provide residents with services like groceries (healthy or not), doctors and jobs? Isn’t it Richmond’s responsibility to make sure neighborhoods are safe? Aren’t homebuyers still free to choose whether to pay more for a recreation-rich neighborhood or less for one that’s not so well equipped? And ditto for the added price for “environmentally sound, sustainable buildings?” Whatever that means.
Richmond city planners need to realize that starry-eyed idealism comes at a cost. Unless it dies a welcome death, the “wellness element” of Richmond’s draft general plan will not make Richmond’s economy any healthier. It will make the city less attractive to developers, who are likely to take their business – and the revenue new development generates for cities – elsewhere.
