Lack Of Zoning In Houston

In 1969, Massachusetts fashioned the law 40B, famously referred to as the “Anti-Snob Zoning Act”, which allows developers to bypass land use restrictions in towns where less than ten percent of the housing meets the state definition of affordable. There are multiple positions and solutions to friction in Massachusetts largely inspired by controversy surrounding the State's affordable housing law, Massachusetts General Laws chapter 40B between housing advocates and open space advocates. This thesis reviews and critiques the current law, and diagnoses various legislative proposals for the progressive feud.

In “New Axioms for Reading the Landscape: Paying Attention to Political Economy and Social Justice,” Don Mitchell incorporates old ideas from Peirce F. Lewis’s original “Axioms for Reading the Landscape.” At the same time, Mitchell includes new ideas into his axioms. In Axiom 1, he explains that “the landscape is not produced through ‘our unwitting autobiography’ (as Lewis describes it), but as an act of (social, not individual) will” (2007, 34). He also stresses the idea that landscape should be produced as a commodity. In contrast, Neil Smith explains the main causes behind gentrification. Smith explains how gentrification happens through a process which he calls “rent gap” (1979, 545). In gentrification, the landscape is a commodity because it loses and gains monetary value through disinvestment and investment.

The author explained how the government established policies and initiatives that created ghettos and suburbs. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a program that helped citizens become homeowners by lending loans. However, only certain neighborhoods qualified for those loans. Research and data were used to prove that certain areas were considered a loss of investment. The

“Racial tension became paramount as city officials promoted and perpetuated racial division by supporting segregation and discrimination in housing, employment, and social services” (Massey & Denton 39). Various types of residential controls contributed to the problem of residential segregation. One such tool for segregation was the establishment of zoning. Zoning was introduced in New York City in 1916 and encouraged by the U.S. Department of Commerce through the publication of the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act in 1922. Zoning proponents argued:

Many of the housing uses zoning power delegated by government officials to assure that certain races such as blacks don’t move into their neighborhood. Zoning power is regulating the use of land by state governments and local governments to exercise authority over privately owned real

The Iowa City Zoning Code was designed to be developed together with the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan; the goal is to stimulate the progress of a better quality of life for the population. Moreover, the regulations cover the provisions of the law for land use control in Iowa City. The document regulates the land use authorization for each of the zones and details the specific areas outlined in Iowa City. There are many land use area in the Iowa City Zoning Ordinance, as shown in Map 1 (Appendix C). However, this document will cover the use of residential land and will explain three of them: the Low-Density Single-Family Residential Zone (RS-5), Medium Density Multi-Family Residential Zone (RM-20), and Neighborhood Stabilization Residential

If the Barasi Village’s controversy is resolved and the project ultimately proceeds, its success will somehow reflect public acceptance of mixed-use development in Corpus Christi. This positive sign might relatively pave the path for the implementation of Plan CC. According to the news article, the opponents of the Barisi Village project are mainly the residents from adjacent neighborhoods, who value green space, separation, and sparsity. They also fear the possibility of unsuccessful outcomes, environmental and traffic impact, or even the threat of privacy abuses. In contrast, the project is simultaneously supported by other nearby residents, who hope for an increase in their property values. In addition to that, the plan is encouraged by Pharaoh Valley Neighborhood Association and the City Council. In my perspective, young adults - who tend to favor metropolitan lifestyles, might also positively embrace the plan. Small-business owners might also bolster the project for it offers them financial

Inequality and mistreatment is prevalent in the world today. However, today the world is much closer to solving its issues as opposed to 100 years ago. Planners are a significant part of that fight, standing up for what they believe is right and implementing the proper plans and action needed to begin to solve that issue.

Different areas of the private sector took control of the racial segregation. Areas such as real estate, banks, labor, and toxic waste locations have participated in some way to continue the segregation and inferiority of people of color. “African Americans and other communities of color are often victims of land-use decision making that mirrors the power arrangements of the dominant society” (Bullard [1994]2004:269). The land-use decisions are used by the real estate industry. The real estate industry along with the bank industry have worked together in order to make it almost impossible for people of color to acquire their own homes. When individuals of color do obtain their own homes the real estate industry corrals them all into one zone. Then the banks charge homeowners in these zones high interest rates on the mortgages needed to maintain their home ownership. “Zoning is probably the most widely applied mechanism to regulate urban land use in the United States” (Bullard [1994]2004:269). When people of color are corralled into a neighborhood the quality of the neighborhood is diminished. The

In the article, “Zoning Won’t Save Houston, But Greener Rules Might” by Carson C. Lucarelli effectively explains how to make a better Houston. He uses rhetorical appeals in the tone of being informative and hopefulness to persuade the government and Houstonians of how to make a better Houston and to go green because there are many benefits and it will make Houston a better and safer city.

Mandatory inclusionary zoning violates the 5th and 14th Amendments. Lack of affordable housing across the country is an issue that has gained national attention, and some areas in the country have resorted to zoning strategies to address the problem. For example, builders in Seattle who take advantage of the Incentive Zoning program will receive additional floor area in exchange for including affordable housing units in their developments (Director’s Rule, 2015). In contrast, mandatory inclusionary zoning is the unconstitutional practice of requiring private developers to include a specified percentage of affordable housing in their projects (Lerman, 2006). Mandatory inclusionary zoning violates the Takings Clause of the 5th Amendment. It also violates the life, liberty and property interest protections of Due Process as well as the equal protection provisions under the 14th Amendment.

In Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374 (1994), building a parking lot will increase the quantity and rate of storm-water flow from the property, thus keeping the floodplain free from the development would likely confine the pressures on Fanno Creek created by the new development. However, this was not enough for the city; the city wanted the land for itself. According to Justice Rhenquist, “the city must make some effort to quantify its findings in *396 support of the dedication it asks for” (Dolan v. City of Tigard 1994, 5). San Jose’s law does not solve the issue of increasing low-income housing, but instead harms entrepreneurs. The City of San Jose has made no effort to meet its burden to show that developers of new homes are somehow responsible for the astronomical prices of housing in the city. The law is an impediment to growth, an interference with the free market and an exceedingly expensive cost-per-unit way of integrating lower incomes into high land-value

Residents of the land, now “condemned” challenged the City’s authority. When the Supreme Court decided Kelo, it began of an evolving set of tensions across the United States over defining “public use.” Many state legislatures banned eminent domain for economic development or several other specific authorized public uses. (A&M)

Chinatown, Olvera Street, and Compton all contributed to culturally diversity and the expansion of Los Angeles. Although Los Angeles has become rich in cultures, its evolution did not go without racial tensions and segregation. With the arrival of blacks from the south, white-Los Angeles did always recognize the minority community. Angelenos did not always embrace diversity with pride, but perhaps the sad part is not the fact that racial segregation took place, but the fact that it was not created by just the individual, but also by the organization. Federal programs like the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Homeowner’s Loan Corporation (HOLC) divided up Los Angeles into a complex socio-economic racial-class system. The influences of the local level influenced the federal level and revolutionized the finance industry. (Avila, lecture 2/5/02) These federal organizations blatantly labeled minorities as derogatory, uneducated, second-class citizens that brought down property value in “white” neighborhoods. Latinos and Black were often labeled as a “minority problem” and even as a “disease” on official HOLC documents. The HOLC implemented strict government guidelines and kept maps of white neighborhoods confidential. It also devised a formal and uniform style of appraising homes by breaking neighborhoods into race classifications by letter. As Waldie states, “The Montana Land Company made it clear that lots were

In this group project, we discuss two cities – Houston and Dallas about their own background, which we called story and the comparison between them as well. Firstly, this paper will describe the Houston city’s history and background, by using the timeline, it is easy to consider the economy, politic, education and transportation for each of the city chronology. In this way, we can finally discuss the characteristic and opportunity for each of these two cities; thus, give them various suitable solutions for the future plan, which we called blue print, to help the city expansion.