When people start to exercise the 5th amendment that is when other people start to exercise the 2nd!
I remember hearing/reading about route 93's construction through Boston at a museum (in Boston). The section that goes through downtown had to plow over some already existing residential areas. Apparently the home owners were justly compensated with a single dollar. $1. Those who wished to file a suit against the city (and could afford too) were able to get more of course.
But when the government starts offering me $1 for my house I'll invest a few more dollars in a gun and sit on my porch waiting for them to come and take it.
This isn't appropriate to the current situation I hope. I imagine just compensation in the Day of the Media has to be realistic. And 'thinking big' and improving the community sometimes will come at the expense of some of those in it. This isn't always going to be someone kicked out of their home, sometimes it will be something put in your backyard that you aren't so thrilled by.
But good planning is a beautiful thing, and sometimes individuals need to make short term sacrifices for a long term good idea.
China moved 2 million people to build the worlds biggest hydro-electric dam. While I question the engineering (they've had a few problems) - holy cow! They are capable of achieving huge projects because they are able to sacrifice the few for the whole.
And on some level, long term, that's how I feel too. But when the government shows up at my door and tries to hand me a check and tell me to move out, that better be one helluva check. Because nothing can really make up for the feeling of being screwed by your own, supposedly freedom loving government. (This administration not included).
I think the problem is how you justify whether one person's sacrifice is really necessary for the greater good. Honestly, a lot of times the "greater good" is just a gut feeling. You can run computer simulations or hire expensive consultants to support your feeling, but you still plan something because you think it'll work out well. Sometimes it is easy to sell (public works projects), other times you'll have people say, is that really necessary? (i.e. if your local gov't asks you to pay for a bike path to run through the property you own. Those things are expensive!)
But the problem with planning is that it's just another human experiment - you don't know until you try. A lot of times your actions are guided by what's popular. It's only after several years, or decades, that you see the true impacts of what you have done - case in point urban renewal.
Massive public works projects are some of the best planning projects out there. I know your favorite example is China - mine is the Boston Harbor cleanup project. The lesson from those is that you need the cooperation/ support of the people. In Boston Harbor, no surrounding community defected, and everyone was willing to foot increases in their water and sewer bills.
I remember hearing/reading about route 93's construction through Boston at a museum (in Boston). The section that goes through downtown had to plow over some already existing residential areas. Apparently the home owners were justly compensated with a single dollar. $1. Those who wished to file a suit against the city (and could afford too) were able to get more of course.
But when the government starts offering me $1 for my house I'll invest a few more dollars in a gun and sit on my porch waiting for them to come and take it.
This isn't appropriate to the current situation I hope. I imagine just compensation in the Day of the Media has to be realistic. And 'thinking big' and improving the community sometimes will come at the expense of some of those in it. This isn't always going to be someone kicked out of their home, sometimes it will be something put in your backyard that you aren't so thrilled by.
But good planning is a beautiful thing, and sometimes individuals need to make short term sacrifices for a long term good idea.
China moved 2 million people to build the worlds biggest hydro-electric dam. While I question the engineering (they've had a few problems) - holy cow! They are capable of achieving huge projects because they are able to sacrifice the few for the whole.
And on some level, long term, that's how I feel too. But when the government shows up at my door and tries to hand me a check and tell me to move out, that better be one helluva check. Because nothing can really make up for the feeling of being screwed by your own, supposedly freedom loving government. (This administration not included).
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But the problem with planning is that it's just another human experiment - you don't know until you try. A lot of times your actions are guided by what's popular. It's only after several years, or decades, that you see the true impacts of what you have done - case in point urban renewal.
Massive public works projects are some of the best planning projects out there. I know your favorite example is China - mine is the Boston Harbor cleanup project. The lesson from those is that you need the cooperation/ support of the people. In Boston Harbor, no surrounding community defected, and everyone was willing to foot increases in their water and sewer bills.
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You should take some astrophysics or astronomy courses, maybe a masters or PhD and then go into Mars City Planning. That would be so cool.
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