Mike English
@mocomikee
Downtown Silver Spring Maryland resident and housing advocate. Trans Rights. Liberal. YIMBY. Supply, Stability, Subsidy. Autistic and it’s fine, views my own. he/him
At the risk of stating the obvious, there is no compromise that will make people calling 3 homes an “invasion” happy, and a lot of NIMBYs react this way to the most modest of proposals. Policy makers need to stop moderating policies to try to placate them. It never works, just do the thing.
Immediate context is more exhausting anti trans shit, but also he’s just an overall arrogant contrarian douche
Pretty classic response to my related post on the local subreddit (which is actually pretty full of people who understand the issue and agree with me, which, while still a bubble, is still nice)
This isn’t a one off anecdote btw. Here are sales in the area over the last 3 years (and a picture showing the condition of the one sale under half a million I could see)
I should note that the poster/seller here isn’t doing anything wrong, just highlighting for the absurdity of the situation about 20 minute walk from the forest glen metro. That this is a price *reduction* undercuts claims that such neighborhoods are full of “modest, affordable” homes.
Once again reminding everyone that this isn’t called “Woodside *sub* Urban Park”
Anti renter classism is so causal and so pervasive and so harmful and it’s just exhausting. I’ve spent about half of my time in Montgomery county as each and I haven’t been more or less of an asset or a liability to the place at either time.
Me disliking Marc Elrich but wanted to take this opportunity (as someone who supports the MPDU program) to say that doubling the requirements from 15% of homes to be offered below market rate to 30% is a bad idea that would crater already weak housing production, which increases housing costs.
Like, my guy, this isn’t woodside (and have to check if this address is just inside or outside the plan borders but it’s in the immediate area and closer to Wheaton than Woodside
Anyway, here is the report montgomeryplanning.org/wp-content/u... It’s mostly good stuff and if you asked me “hey Mike, is this a sign things are getting better and recovering?” I would say yes! But we still have a long way to go because private sector building is still low. (Though increasing!)
Prompted by a lot, but… reminder that anyone looking for developers to be paragons or looking to demonize them as a big bad is going to be disappointed. They are building stuff we need, and are no more or less self interested or savvy than other political actors. Don’t love or hate them.
In light of CM (and CE candidate) Jawando once again deviating from his previously strong housing record and deriding “luxury housing” I ask that people read this, and ask better of our leaders than to be Marc Elrich 2.0 ggwash.org/view/93183/w...
My friend’s cat I’m watching, who sometimes likes me and sometimes apparently finds me terrifying, is very fluffy and very silly
And yet I still worry about hurting peoples’ feelings enough that I tell white lies like this way too much
There are valid criticisms of this piece of mine but hooooo boy are these not two of them. Though I also get called both a communist and a libertarian for supporting more market rate housing so fuck if I know