365 reasons to ridicule the status quo
A whole lot of people comfortably defend the preservation of a system that delivers a lousy built environment. Why take them seriously?
Selling fresh milk to a neighbor, illegal.
Crossing a street midblock, illegal.
Operating a bookstore in your garage, illegal.
Letting your child walk alone to the playground, illegal.
Converting a mansion to a fourplex, illegal.
Riding a bicycle contraflow on a quiet one-way street, illegal.
Widen a dangerous intersection so it becomes even more dangerous, legal and required.
Property rights are routinely put to a vote, giving neighbors power to decide what the new guy has to do (or not do). “Converting a single-family house into a duplex? Not in my backyard!” You’re a homeowner and you’re planning to modify your private property. You’re just one person who has an opportunity to build generational wealth by creating a rental property out of a portion of the house you bought. Your plan meets all the requirements for material, height, etc. You’re following all the development rules laid out by the local planning department. But what if your neighbors don’t like the plan?
The reality for most of us is that neighbors have the ability to squash home improvement plans. Your rights are constantly up for negotiation, even when you’re following the letter of the law. If someone influential doesn’t like you or your ideas, the public review process lets them prevent you from earning rental income.
Attacks on property rights are happening all over the country all the time. You might call the opponents NIMBYs, you might call them entitled and privileged, or you might just call them control freaks. Neighbors from all walks of life should have every right to speak about their distaste for housing abundance or their fear of change. They should have no right to dictate how and where other people live. But that’s exactly what the standard local government development and rezoning process promotes.
Once you start looking for stories about preserving the status quo, you’ll see them everywhere. It’s happening with land use and transportation projects every day, nationwide. Author Rob Henderson coined the term “luxury beliefs” to describe ideas that confer status on the upper class while often inflicting costs on the lower class. The quest to “protect the character of the neighborhood” has absolutely become a luxury belief.
Regarding land use…
The established order makes sure to prevent property owners from renting out rooms, building a small cottage home in the backyard, operating a salon out of the garage, and growing/selling produce in the neighborhood.
Housing regulations limit the supply of affordable housing, drive up housing prices, and push lower- and middle-income families out of desirable areas. The wealthy can afford to live in desirable neighborhoods with better schools, amenities, and job opportunities. People who have the means to live where and how they want are perfectly willing to impose rules on others.
And regarding transportation…
Of course you drive to CVS just to get a birthday card, because pharmacies are outlawed in your neighborhood. Of course you drive your kids to Chick-Fil-A on a weeknight, because restaurants are outlawed in your neighborhood. Of course you drive to get your haircut or nails done, because salons are outlawed in your neighborhood.
Americans who are financially strapped but have no choice but to own and operate a personal fleet of vehicles for their family. The wealthy will always have mobility options. They can opt for large estates and however many vehicles they want, or they can opt to live comfortably in walkable, transit-rich environments.
Are we doomed? No! If you know anything about history, you know that things can get better in the end.
In the 1500s, Machiavelli wrote The Prince to teach the Haves how to hold power. In the 1900s, Saul Alinsky wrote Rules for Radicals to teach the Have-Nots how to take power away from the Haves. Sometime in the 2000s, I’ll probably write Rules for Radical Urbanists to teach those that Have-Not-Good-Urbanism how to Have-Good-Urbanism.
From a change-maker point of view, Alinsky would advise drawing your enemy into areas where they make a fool of themselves. Focus intently on the stuff you know inside and out while you’re looking for angles they know little or nothing about. The perfect intellectual battlegrounds are areas where you are strong and they are weak.
I’m an old Gen Xer who’s been working as a planner and engineer (or plangineer) since before Y2K. That’s long enough to have learned how this built environment stuff is supposed to work and why it doesn’t work. I know that land use and transportation policies have created a baseline of car dependency, a lack of affordable housing, physical health crises, and mental health crises. I understand our development patterns did not sprawl organically across creation.
Our current situation is not something we have to be stuck with as a tradeoff of modern life.
From Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises:
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually, then suddenly.”
That’s how the top-down control of land use and transportation policy will change. Gradually, then suddenly. There are a host of factors that influence change, but one of them is good old-fashioned satire. As Saul Alinsky said (with a wink and a smile), “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” Quite a few power brokers and control freaks deserve to be ridiculed for the ways in which they prevent the rest of us from happier, healthier lives.
So, I wrote a book filled with sentiments that you’ll find in public meetings, news stories, social media, group texts, and yard signs:
Neighborhood Character: 365 Daily Affirmations for Defenders of the Status Quo
The paperback book is available on Amazon now. Paid subscribers of Urbanism Speakeasy are getting a complimentary digital copy, so if you were on the fence about upgrading, now’s a great time!
Praise and contempt for Neighborhood Character
“This sweet book is the bee's knees for anyone looking for ways to save their single-comb hives from those who want to destroy it. I use these daily action items to sting the opposition and tell my enemies to buzz off! Like I always say, together we can make a difference by fighting to keep everything the same.”
“Exposure to NIMBY complaints about the world-ending impact of a new duplex can test anyone’s patience. Andy Boenau manages to maintain his good humor. His book of satirical advice to self-appointed defenders of neighborhood character is a delightfully witty read written by someone who has clearly suffered through one too many community meetings.”
—Christian Britschgi, Reporter, Reason Magazine
“Richmond’s Greatest Neighborhood Protector, Andy Boenau, has gifted us this long overdue book. Daily affirmations for the discerning exclusionist, this book allows the activist to keep good old fashioned American discrimination at arms-length, allowing the reader to prevent housing while ALSO getting a good night’s sleep. For the NIMBY in your family, this is the perfect holiday gift.”
—Aaron Lubbeck, Founder,
“Satire can expose absurdity more plainly than common sense when common sense is deemed absurd. Boenau has done just this, turning bad-faith arguments against themselves to illustrate the foolishness of so many widely held beliefs today that are holding us back from achieving a better, more sensible world.”
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, Developer / Writer / Urbanist“DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. In the wrong hands, Neighborhood Character could serve as a true guidebook to preserving sprawl, empty parking lots, and the anachronistic regulations that created them in the first place.”
—Tony Jordan, President, Parking Reform Network
“Andy Boenau cleverly skewers the 'not in my backyard' mindset, offering a playful yet pointed critique of resistance to change. A perfect read for anyone who can laugh at the absurd idea that a few people should control what their neighbors do with their own land and hold a place hostage to their vision of 'character' and insistence on no change.”
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, Founder & Owner, Building Culture“Sure to be a staple on every homevoter’s bookshelf, Neighborhood Character will help energize more preservationists to meet our cities’ most pressing housing, road safety, and fiscal crises head on: by making sure everything stays the same.”
—Kirk Westphal, Executive Director, Neighborhood Institute