Thursday, August 31, 2006

Whose neighborhood?

You gotta wonder just who these folks are working for when, in regard to zoning changes, they're quoted in today's City Paper as saying:

Meanwhile, the Metro Planning Department still believes such mass downzoning is not a good thing — it makes duplexes a limited resource at a time when more and more people are moving into Nashville and want a variety of housing options for reasons of convenience and cost, according o the department.
and
Customers will still buy these, [real estate broker Many] Wachtler said, but residents relocating from Atlanta, Dallas and Los Angeles in search of housing at about $500,000 “want new, and they want in town — so the only way to do that is to get two [houses] on the lot.”
Councilmen Jim Shulman and Lynn Williams are both spending a lot of time trying to save their neighorhoods from these out-of-towners. CM Williams explains the neighbors' concern by saying:
“It is the character of the neighborhood they bought into,” which they wish to maintain, she said.
Indeed. I wish them success at preserving their neighborhood.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree with your sentiment here and would add to some of the naysayers that neighbors certainly have a right to have a say in the laws and codes that govern their neighborhood. That's a part of property rights as well. My only concern for the way this works out is that it is a fragmented plan usually with the wealthiest parts of town getting rezoned first. I'd like to see the council at large members, the Vice Mayor and Mayor look more closely at the plan as a whole, so that we don't get to a point where some areas have received the protective zoning they want- and others begin the process but are told too much rezoning has already taken place. I'm afraid sometimes with this zoning stuff we do miss the big picture.