As someone who sits on the dais* to co-decide these cases, sometimes making policy, sometimes acting more like a judge, I’ve seen how broken the system is. Instead of clear rules that let projects move forward by right, we turn all these decisions into hearings. That means hours of wrangling over projects that already meet the written rules, leaving everyone frustrated and uncertain about the outcome. This makes something that should be smooth into something contentious, upsetting, and expensive. Just this week we had dozens of community members yelling at our commission for high rents around town: we don't set those, obviously, but the fury and confusion was clear. (*Speaking only for myself, of course)
In Montgomery County, Maryland we are having these discussions. I am curious how you balance affordability issues with the cost of building, and the issues communities face in dense areas on infrastructure, schools and traffic. There has to be a balance where growth, zoning, and economic development are integrated in the planning. Curious to hear more from you on these pieces. People against all the zoning changes aren’t NIMBY’s it is the cost to the communities on the other pieces. People want their communities to grow and thrive. We just joined Substack so we have uploaded a few of our pieces and will upload more. But love to hear more from you. Appreciate your article.
As someone who sits on the dais* to co-decide these cases, sometimes making policy, sometimes acting more like a judge, I’ve seen how broken the system is. Instead of clear rules that let projects move forward by right, we turn all these decisions into hearings. That means hours of wrangling over projects that already meet the written rules, leaving everyone frustrated and uncertain about the outcome. This makes something that should be smooth into something contentious, upsetting, and expensive. Just this week we had dozens of community members yelling at our commission for high rents around town: we don't set those, obviously, but the fury and confusion was clear. (*Speaking only for myself, of course)
At its core, “Abundance” is pretty much entirely explained by the statement “if the government is good at a thing, then it should do that thing.”
When put in its proper framing, the path forward for marketing “Abundance” is clear and basically self-evident
In Montgomery County, Maryland we are having these discussions. I am curious how you balance affordability issues with the cost of building, and the issues communities face in dense areas on infrastructure, schools and traffic. There has to be a balance where growth, zoning, and economic development are integrated in the planning. Curious to hear more from you on these pieces. People against all the zoning changes aren’t NIMBY’s it is the cost to the communities on the other pieces. People want their communities to grow and thrive. We just joined Substack so we have uploaded a few of our pieces and will upload more. But love to hear more from you. Appreciate your article.