We can start by picking up where Andrew Gelman left off in his recent post on the return of the red state blue state fallacy. We tend to associate NIMBYism with big cities and big cities tend to be liberal, so op-ed writers often assume liberals are driving NIMBY policies. This sometimes left as subtext, but this piece by Farhad Manjoo (referenced in the Gelman post) pretty much spells things out from the title on.
"America’s Cities Are Unlivable. Blame Wealthy Liberals."
It was another chapter in a dismal saga of Nimbyist urban mismanagement that is crushing American cities. Not-in-my-backyardism is a bipartisan sentiment, but because the largest American cities are populated and run by Democrats — many in states under complete Democratic control — this sort of nakedly exclusionary urban restrictionism is a particular shame of the left.Putting aside the bothsiderism (he's writing for the New York Times. It's probably in his contract.), how does the rest of his thesis hold up?
...
Reading opposition to SB 50 and other efforts at increasing density, I’m struck by an unsettling thought: What Republicans want to do with I.C.E. and border walls, wealthy progressive Democrats are doing with zoning and Nimbyism. Preserving “local character,” maintaining “local control,” keeping housing scarce and inaccessible — the goals of both sides are really the same: to keep people out.
Two cities are mentioned, Beverly Hills and La Cañada Flintridge. Are either of these what you'd call liberal hotbeds? Let's start with Beverly Hills.
How about La Cañada Flintridge?
The region overwhelmingly backed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s election — except for one precinct in Beverly Hills.
Here, along Sunset Boulevard in the shadow of the Beverly Hills Hotel, voters picked Donald Trump over Clinton, creating an island of red in a sea of blue.
Even many residents were puzzled about why this particular slice of the Westside went for Trump, especially when some neighboring precincts in the Hollywood Hills, Bel-Air and Westwood went for Clinton by huge margins.
La Cañada Flintridge has historically been a Republican Party stronghold. However, in 2004, Democratic Party registered voters increased by 18%, while decline-to-state voters increased by 31%, and registered Republicans declined by 9.3%. In the 2008 US Presidential Election, Democrat Barack Obama received 10 more votes than Republican John McCain. In the 2012 US Presidential Election, most La Cañada Flintridge voters supported Republican Mitt Romney over Democrat Barack Obama. In the 2016 US Presidential Election, approximately three out of every five voters supported Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump.
Compare that to the county totals.
| Year | GOP | DEM | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 22.41% 769,743 | 71.76% 2,464,364 | 5.83% 200,201 |
| 2012 | 27.83% 885,333 | 69.69% 2,216,903 | 2.48% 78,831 |
| 2008 | 28.82% 956,425 | 69.19% 2,295,853 | 1.99% 65,970 |
It's possible that progressive Democrats really are the drivers of NIMBYism. Manjoo might just be really bad at picking examples.
(He's bad at other things too, but we'll have to save that for later in the thread.)
