Quote:
Originally Posted by Crisis
... While you may not share their values, neither should you feel entitled to impose your values on others....
|
Ironically, in using the word "should", you are imposing your values
Howver, to address your premise: I have no desire to impose my values on suburbanites, but I continually find their values imposed on me. They drive through and park for free in my neighborhood, bringing with them the dangers and environmental polution of their cars. They complain about taxes, while demanding more roads etc, which results in cuts to services I would use. For example, the city argues that there is no money to replace water supply lines in older neighborhoods, despite aknowleging that they are likely to cause health problems and are well past their useful lifespan, instead asking me to run my tap for 10 minutes every day (even during the watering ban), to clear the potentially toxic lead. At the same time, I am being asked to pay a property tax increase to fund roadways, which I use perhaps 10% of what my suburban friends and colleagues use.
I have no issue with sharing costs for services I do not use, or with people living in whatever style they choose, as long as they recognize the true cost of their choices (environmental, liveability of the city as a whole etc.) and how those costs are imposed on me so that we can arive at a fair compromise. I don't see that happening - Most people I talk to rationalize living in the suburbs by stating that they can't "afford" to live in a central neighborhood (despite spending as much on a suburban house), and then stating that becaue they live in the suburbs, they "have" to drive (conveniently neglecting to lobby for transit) to work and get groceries, and then demanding that the city provide them the means to do so (i.e. bridges, roads, etc.), while simultaneously resisting any attempt to have them pay for said means (witness the ruckus over the mere suggestion that drivers pay for road improvement through a levy on car registration). While I will not "impose" my values on others, I will fight for my right to live my own values without imposition from them.
I call bullshit on the idea that new suburbs pay the full costs of their development through premiums on land sales. If this were true, then our taxes should actually be going down. Economic theory would suggest that as the number of new houses in the city increases, efficiencies should lead to decreased cost per house for shared services, and if those houses were truly paying the full cost of servicing them, and thereby not adding to shared costs, why would shared costs increase?
As I implied, many of my friends and collegues live in the suburbs and I try not to judge them for that choice, but I do take every opportunity to remind them that such choices come at a cost, even if it is deeply burried in "common sense".
Prev
Linear Mode
