Why Dallas can and must avoid New York City’s original sin.
A tower construction crane works behind the commercial real estate company Newmark and Harwood International, a real estate development and hospitality company in the Uptown area of Dallas on November 5, 2025.
New Yorkers of a certain era who lived in the outer boroughs recall a time when we used to have to venture into Manhattan to get a good meal, or take in a movie at a quality theater.But a funny thing happened on the way to urban sprawl: Suddenly, residents like myself also had a plethora of local options for food and entertainment — and we didn’t have to venture into ‘The City’ unless we really needed or wanted to.,’ one of the lessons I derived from a lifetime spent in New York City is that large-scale residential construction ― often fraught with the politics of class and race ― is beneficial in the long run to neighborhoods. It’s not cheap, but it does create more options and improves the area’s vitality.makes for such a fascinating read. It’s a case study in how even a pro-business, construction-friendly state like Texas isn’t immune to ‘NIMBY’ public pressure campaigns that upend the best-laid development plans. Although a legal battle against a mixed-use development in Far North Dallas was unsuccessful, the group that spearheaded the campaign blasted the new law as a “sweeping sledgehammer” that doesn’t resolve the area’s lack of affordable housing.“It’s just a developer’s dream for them to go in and not have to deal with local governments,” Matt Bach told Wooten. The forces arrayed against endless sprawl and high-end housing have legitimate concerns about affordability — the single biggest, and most persuasive, argument against many large-scale projects. But using New York City as a lens, bear with me as I simultaneously out myself as a YIMBYist and hark back to myNew York City has a time-honored tradition of embracing policies designed to make life easier on the working class, but inevitably worsens quality of life, and makes things more expensive for everyone. Meanwhile, the city’screate market distortions that don’t resolve the fundamental problem. It’s a dog’s breakfast that pits landlords/developers against renters in an unproductive, endless war of words.And it’s not just apartments. If you’ve ever wondered why a NYC hotel room is so expensive, witness how the city has simultaneouslyargue that New York’s patchwork of rent regulations have come at a substantial cost to those who need it most. Among other things, the status quo deprives landlords — many of whom aren’t major developers, butBringing it back to the Dallas-Fort Worth, there are lesson here for well-intentioned neighborhood activists who fight for affordability and the preservation of an area’s character.Protests and lawsuits can be useful, and they are their own form of market regulation that attracts attention, galvanizes the public and concentrates the minds of elected officials. But they can also be counterproductive to accomplishing what a housing crisis needs the most: building more units. For my adopted hometown, I’ll close with a plea that doubles as a word of advice. D-FW has a hard-earned reputation as a builders’ town, but should avoid making the same mistakes as my former city did. For the sake of alleviating the affordable housing crunch, please — let a thousand new apartment buildings bloom.Read MoreCollege football poll : Texas Tech in top 5; Texas rises after win over A&M
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