Whenever I read about the high cost of housing in New York City, and read about all of the campaigns to get rid of height limits and preservation rules that as Economist Ryan Avent wrote, stifle the construction of affordable housing:

Our thriving cities fall short of their potential because we constantly rein them in because we worry that urban growth will be unpleasant. The residents of America's productive cities fear change in their neighborhoods and fight growth. In doing so they make their cities more expensive and less accessible to people with middle incomes.



Submission to Landmarks Preservation Commission /Public DomainOr Felix Salmon complaining about a city “stifled by nostalgists and Nimbys.” I wonder if they have a point, and then I see this: Three townhouses that might have had 10 or 15 apartments in them. Sure, it is the Upper East Side right off 5th and is pretty fancy turf, but Billionaire Roman Abramovich spent $78 million assembling them to convert into a single family house, renovation designed by Herzog & de Meuron. According to Curbed it comes complete with...