How can you justify yourself in good conscience to be anti development when CoL is so high?
Bear in mind too that a fair number of people either can't or won't understand basic economics. I can't tell you how many times I've had or heard conversations that go like this:
Person A: We should kick out all the greedy developers who are raising the price of housing.
Person B: Housing costs are set by supply and demand; if the supply does not increase, prices will rise further.
A: That's not true! When new housing gets built, it's more expensive than existing housing.
B: That might be true of a particular unit, but that's because most people prefer new housing to old housing, and it's extremely hard to construct anything.
A: Just look at that new development: it's more expensive. We need to ban new housing. Plus, I don't want my neighborhood to look like Manhattan.
Bear in mind too that a fair number of people either can't or won't understand basic economics. I can't tell you how many times I've had or heard conversations that go like this:
Person A: We should kick out all the greedy developers who are raising the price of housing.
Person B: Housing costs are set by supply and demand; if the supply does not increase, prices will rise further.
A: That's not true! When new housing gets built, it's more expensive than existing housing.
B: That might be true of a particular unit, but that's because most people prefer new housing to old housing, and it's extremely hard to construct anything.
A: Just look at that new development: it's more expensive. We need to ban new housing. Plus, I don't want my neighborhood to look like Manhattan.
B: Missing Middle housing will not turn your neighborhood into Manhattan: http://missingmiddlehousing.com/
A: I've lived here for five years and I still don't want to see the neighborhood change.
You can go on for a long time in this vein, with more or less invective.