- Politicians need to be willing to withstand accusations that they are allied with property developers who earn more than they spend.
- Politicians have to be willing to piss off people who support minimum parking requirements and other restrictions.
- Those same politicians have to be able to get re-elected.
- Large numbers of people have to credibly promise to volunteer and vote for a local politician who supports the walkable urban development policies alongside positions they disagree with.
An individual can want it, but it requires costly collective action to change. If just one person goes to a town council meeting and argues in favor of letting a housing developer build apartments near them, that will have little impact unless they also talk 2 other people into both taking similar action and recursively getting similar alignment.
The rate at which YIMBY activism spreads is too low.
- Politicians need to be willing to withstand accusations that they are allied with property developers who earn more than they spend.
- Politicians have to be willing to piss off people who support minimum parking requirements and other restrictions.
- Those same politicians have to be able to get re-elected.
- Large numbers of people have to credibly promise to volunteer and vote for a local politician who supports the walkable urban development policies alongside positions they disagree with.
An individual can want it, but it requires costly collective action to change. If just one person goes to a town council meeting and argues in favor of letting a housing developer build apartments near them, that will have little impact unless they also talk 2 other people into both taking similar action and recursively getting similar alignment.
The rate at which YIMBY activism spreads is too low.