Commenters highlight structural bias in public comment processes
3 Nov 1 8:10 PM · 12d ago · 1 post · 7 comments · 2 sources · development 3 of 3
Discussion on Hacker News raised questions about the methodology, with one commenter noting that public comment at municipal meetings is structurally biased toward negative feedback because risk-averse homeowners turn out to oppose change while supporters of development rarely attend.
“Negative comments on data centers, or power plants, or day care, or apartment buildings… are exactly what you'd expect from the municipal public comment process, which [is] sharply biased towards negative comments structurally.”
tptacekAndrew Fang Founder/CEO, Prophecy GovProphecy Gov Research organization
The whole story articlespostscomments the bright band is this development · numbered dots are the others · click one to jump
What people said 14 voices · best of 15 · verbatim
-
Negative comments on data centers, or power plants, or day care, or apartment buildings, or coffee shops, or new fire hydrants are exactly what you'd expect from the (demented, sometimes literally) municipal public comment process, which sharply biased towards negative comments structurally --- people turn out because they're risk-averse and don't…
-
By my job their is a large vacant lot where they wanted to build a distribution center with over 125 truck bays. Absolutely gargantuan. Guaranteed trucks coming and going non-stop, lots more traffic, lots more noise, diesel engines idling all day. There is a school and a neighborhood immediately adjacent on one side, and commercial space and a…
-
Data centers and power plants to power them are the new oil.Also, just like oil is dirty, bad for the environment and kills people, so will the data centers. And the power plants to power them.Our options are not to not have Data centers and their power plants but whether to have them built elsewhere (even outside the US) and pay rent or own them…
-
So, that sounds like a great opportunity to engage the younger, poorer and the homeless then. That will certainly give a lot more perspective, but I doubt the outcome would be very different when it comes to datacenters. With respect to the housing shortage I suspect it would give a completely different outcome.Also: you can't really blame those…
-
This is hard to follow.Some people have opinions that are perfectly human, but that you may certainly disagree strongly with. And yes, some people have straight up crazy opinions. And yes, some people have selfish opinions.So... your answer is "fuck the people"? What are you even talking about? This is a necessary part of government. You are not…
-
Ah ninja smoke bomb out w/o proposing any alternative. Handy.Not to mention hilariously conflating public comment on data centers (massively unpopular) with local weirdo NIMBYism on things like "coffee shops" and "fire hydrants". We all know every city has people that just love to speak at the city council meetings. Can't take it in good faith…
-
Bring back the $50k house. Thousands of them. Have the data center builders build communities around the data center. Sold to first time home buyers only, with a X year lock-in period. Effectively free energy comes along with it. Prop up community infrastructure so small businesses can proliferate.Make the AI companies fully subsidize it instead…
-
If there’s really trillions of dollars of market cap to be had, why not just build in the middle of nowhere northern Québec and Ontario and build your own damn dams and infrastructure?You’ve got a ton of water. A ton of famously cheap hydro electricity potential. An entire service industry for remote mines (who will build your roads and power)…
-
What's the alternative? Without public comment, politicians will just do whatever they want without accountability or open opposition. With public comment, politicians will still just do whatever they want without accountability but at least there is a record of opposition.
-
I'm pro AI and data center but a lot of construction is short sighted.They should invest money into improving electric and community infrastructure. There are so many win-wins to be had and they fumbled
-
They tried to build in the middle of nowhere here in Finland, ended up cutting down an entire forest without permission. I hope they stick to the US.
-
There's not infinite hydro... net new energy is coming from increased efficiency (insulation etc) and upgraded turbines
-
Perhaps they believe that the flow of physical goods is a positive thing while the flow of slop is not.
-
Is there a network backbone running through the middle of nowhere northern Québec and Ontario?
All 3 developments of Analysis of 10k city council comments reveals sharp data… →
Hacker NewsMastodonNewswiresX