The San Jose Mercury reports:
As he walks gingerly down his block, 77-year-old Brint Moore recalls the good old days of San Jose. The kids played carefree in the street. There was little traffic in his neighborhood. And everybody knew one another.
But as the 45-year resident strolls to the corner of Warwick and Los Gatos Almaden Road, he grimaces.
"We don't want this," said Moore, who raised four children with his 76-year-old wife, Amelia. "We shouldn't have to fight like this with the city."
Moore and his neighbors are in an uproar over a plan to raze two houses at the corner, and build up to eight in their place. The higher density on the one-acre piece of land, they say, will ruin the charm of their neighborhood, bring more people and traffic, and lower property values.
The city council on Tuesday plans to vote on changing the general plan to allow for the higher density on this property. As the city grows, such debates highlight the tension between city officials, developers and longtime San Jose residents over residential development.
In this case, city officials say that changing the zone won't hurt the neighborhood. Increasing the density, they say, is more in tune with the overall Los Gatos Almaden neighborhood.
Let's quote
James Bovard on zoning:
Modern zoning laws presume that no citizen has a right to control his own land — and that every citizen has a right to control his neighbor’s land. In zoning disputes, property rights, like some type of mysterious vapor, reside any place except with the property owner.
Freedom and zoning both can't exist.
