A Housing Story

This is a pretty simple story, but it will have you sitting there for a while and debating the finer points of argument.

So, in Frankfurt....there's a shortage of housing (affordable housing is the right word to use).  I would go and suggest that three-quarters of the city residents now agree upon this shortage.  The political folks are under heavy pressure to solve this.

After a fair amount of discussion and ideas thrown at the wall....they came to decide that building onto Frankfurt made sense.  So there's this plan of a new suburb (district) to exist on the far north end of Frankfurt.

Size?  Well....enough housing that would support 12,000 people.  It would in some ways....buy the city a decade on this housing shortage, and close off debate among voters.

You'd now think.....fine, the problem will be resolved in three years, as the area is developed, houses put up, and some public transportation is developed for it.

Well....no.

This weekend (Sunday), there's a pro-environmentalist demonstration to go on....in that area affected.  The motto?  "Green instead of gray.  No climate disaster."  These folks say that the Frankfurt planning team has screwed up and they need to send a 'message'.  Why?  Lack of concern for the climate, animals, and the general landscape (meaning the farmland that exists there now).

What'll happen over the next year?  I'm guessing that the city political folks will have to go and sit at a table with the pro-environmental group, and find various ways to make them happy.  Cost factor?  Oh....that's going up.  Smaller 'footprints' for the buildings....meaning that they will be 10 and 12 story buildings instead of three-story types?  Maybe.  Underground parking?  Maybe.

Beneficial for affordable housing?  One might go and question what the cost factor will be after all the things are put on the table.

But this goes onto on to show you the dynamics of Frankfurt now and the environmentalist viewpoints, the anti-capitalism attitude, and the general political bickering that is taking place.

To avoid all this hassle....you basically need to move an hour away and drive into work each day.