A former planning commissioner recalls often being surprised at the passion and anger displayed toward small changes around the city of San Francisco, and attempted to get to the nature of the fear driving the opposition.
David Prowler, a former member of the San Francisco Planning Commission and a former director of the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, penned a column for the San Francisco Chronicle providing a taxonomy of the fears that sometimes control the debate about development in the city.
So, for example, nostalgia often creates a false sense of the city's history relative to its current issues. Failing to distinguish facts and problems can lead to failures in problem solving ("Problems have solutions, facts don’t," writes Prowler. Xenophobia is a common theme among opposition forces throughout the city's history as well, and Prowler suggests that the "animus" against techies doesn’t feel much different than previous examples from the city's history.
Prowler calls on a long political history in San Francisco for perspective in his argument, acknowledging that the city has real problems, but diagnosing the types of fears like those listed above in the hopes they can be overcome in the name of solutions.
FULL STORY: Don’t let fear get in the way of solutions
After Decades of Failure, 1,000-Plus Homes Coming to the Balboa Reservoir in San Francisco
Four developers tried, and four developers failed, until the San Francisco Board of Supervisors changed the story in August 2020.
1,100 New Homes Planned in the Middle of San Francisco
The prospect of a large mixed-use development on a 17-acre parking lot in the center of San Francisco took a substantial step forward this week.
San Francisco's Massive 'Central SoMa Plan' Faces Litigation
The Central SoMa Plan took more than seven years of planning and debate to approve. A new lawsuit, expected to be just the first of many, threatens to erase all that work.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions