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makosdv | 4 years ago

If they included governmental owners, it'd dwarf these private holdings. For example, the largest landowner is really the United States Federal government: 640 million acres.

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BitwiseFool|4 years ago

While true, I feel like government owned land doesn't really count.

syshum|4 years ago

Why?

vondur|4 years ago

Yeah, in some states, the majority of land is owned by the Federal Government. (Nevada and Idaho for example)

paulryanrogers|4 years ago

Sadly voters cannot yet influence how non-governmental owners choose to use the significant land holdings. And increasingly voters cannot even overcome the outsized influence of rich individuals and companies and their lobbies on how government owned land gets used.

codingdave|4 years ago

Sure they can - all land is controlled by land use regulations, zoning regulations and other laws and regs. Your local elected officials are in charge of changes to such things. By all means, vote for the people getting into those offices, and get engaged with local governance. Especially in the more rural areas, where the large land holdings tend to fall, there will be a smaller electorate, and the local community can have a significant impact on local decisions.

For federal land, significant projects are open for public comments, and they absolutely respond to the people who live in the area. I've seen numerous development projects proposed by the rich get shot down after the community got involved through the comment process.

tastyfreeze|4 years ago

Hopefully, voters can NEVER influence how private land owners choose to use their land holdings.

Do we live in the same country? Do you actually want other people to tell you what you have to do with your private property? I suspect that if you were a land holder being told what you had to do with your land you would be rather miffed.

I just don't understand how a citizen of the US living under the US Constitution comes to the conclusion that they should have authority to tell other people what they can do with their property.

bequanna|4 years ago

> Sadly voters cannot yet influence how non-governmental owners choose to use the significant land holdings.

What exactly do you mean by this? Private land is for private use.

HNfriend234|4 years ago

Voters shouldn't be able to influence private landowning anyways since it violates private property rights. The whole point of owning land is so you can decide what to do with the land. If you want to decide what to do with someone's private property then work a deal with them instead.