Comment 41525

By JonC (registered) | Posted June 03, 2010 at 07:45:57

For starters, you misquoted me. It was you commentary that was poorly thought out and the upvoting for it that was the sad commentary, which would be evident had I been quoted properly.

I hate to break it to you, but Jane Jacobs never, to my knowledge, directly criticizes the concept of having zoning laws. You've pointed to a student paper at Boston College that incidentally doesn't disagree with my commentary at all, which again is that your extreme view of labeling bylaws as useless or a "bad idea" is poorly thought out. Furthermore, conflating zoning bylaws with the landlord and tenant act isn't useful in supporting your position. As an aside, while including animal slaughtering was a cheap emotional ploy (though totally valid) on my behalf, specifically supporting the evisceration of caracasses is never an opinion winner.

To clarify, I'm very pro-mixed neighbourhoods but bylaws are useful. Hell, the article you reference is pro-reformation of zoning, not pro-abolishing it. Also, while they aren't building safety codes, zoning bylaws do help enforce them. And while I would guess that Ben probably would have been approved (as there was no exterior modification to the home and no change to use), the cost is prohibative and it would have taken a really long time, and those are both valid issues that should be addressed by all municipalities. I feel his pain, I've been humming and hawing over converting my basement to a rental unit for years, but it hasn't seemed worth the hassle yet.

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