never been there

Yes, I'm sorry, this is a link from fark.com. But it's worth discussion.

It appears cities find children make expensive citizens. So by zoning for commercial occupancy or maximum two bedrooms, paying landlords to switch to seasonal renting, and less subtle methods, cities minimize those expensive educational and recreational services.

It's easy to caricature the politicians as beggar-thy-neighbour child-haters. If you were under the gun year after year to balance a budget that can't work, you'd decide that your city was paying more than its fair share of the region's load.

I normally am quite accepting of the need for political structures to account for human nature, and that this is why it is increasingly important for education to be run by the regional/provincial/state government or at least funded at that level. But this story still bothers me.