The office-centric economy is not a public good, thus the remote worker *mandated*, not *choosing* to go back in person is performing no civic duty.
These conditions are not accidental. They follow from long-term, path-dependent choices about planning and capital deployment made by a small, insular group of decision-makers.
No one voted to create office buildings that can only serve a single purpose, no public demanded rigid zoning that blocks adaptation, and no collective body chose to structure cities around a narrow peak-hour commuting model.
Those constraints were voluntarily adopted by planners, developers, and financial actors pursuing a particular equilibrium that worked for them.
When that equilibrium breaks down, it is unreasonable to shift the expectation to restore it onto everyone else.
I don't believe we should *mandate* people to commute for reasons that have nothing to do with the specific outcomes and expectations of their job role.
The office-centric economy is not a public good, thus the remote worker *mandated*, not *choosing* to go back in person is performing no civic duty.
These conditions are not accidental. They follow from long-term, path-dependent choices about planning and capital deployment made by a small, insular group of decision-makers.
No one voted to create office buildings that can only serve a single purpose, no public demanded rigid zoning that blocks adaptation, and no collective body chose to structure cities around a narrow peak-hour commuting model.
Those constraints were voluntarily adopted by planners, developers, and financial actors pursuing a particular equilibrium that worked for them.
When that equilibrium breaks down, it is unreasonable to shift the expectation to restore it onto everyone else.
I don't believe we should *mandate* people to commute for reasons that have nothing to do with the specific outcomes and expectations of their job role.
I think I agree. I wasn't trying to make that argument vs. providing an addition perspective on how return to office can help the Milwaukee community.
Thanks for the thoughtful response.