Letter: Why to support Village Farms

Letter to the editor

I am voting Yes on V next month. Do I do so with enthusiasm? No.

Do I do so with the logic a large subdivision is the best way to solve our housing issue? No.

But I do so because the NIMBYs of Davis have directed the housing policy of this city long enough.

G St. has half-a-dozen empty lots that could be turned into high-density housing including four-over-ones. But people argue that high-density housing would "ruin our small town appeal" and young families "do not want to live in apartments". Few things epitomize this as the fact that Hibbert Lumber, which closed five years ago and was slated to become apartments, is now the headquarters for the Yes on V campaign.

Too many Davis residents bought their house decades ago and now are willing to lock the gate behind them. They claim to love the community and atmosphere but what they really want is a quiet tomb to die in. We can no longer afford--financially or institutionally--to allow our housing stock stay at the size it currently stands for another decade or more. Davis needs housing. Not ten years from now when Village Farms is hopefully built. It needs housing now. And we are not in a position to keep saying no to opportunities to build.

Alex Haider-Winnett

Davis