Speaking of Cambridge housing, the A Better Cambridge council questionnaire responses are posted. If you're in the mood to be inspired by some people and also acquire some new mortal enemies, dive in!
@bikepedantic I was pleasantly surprised with the responses from Peter and think Adrienne and I are mostly in alignment. I am unsurprised to be deeply disappointed in Doug Brown, Federico Muchnik, and to a lesser extent, Cathy Zusy and John Hanratty.
@bikepedantic Dan totten is fundamentally opposed to building more of the housing most Cambridge residents live in, which I think is disqualifying: a straightforward tool for creating billions of dollars in housing without spending a dime in public money, which every study makes clear has a correlation with housing prices. If you can’t figure out how to manage that, you’re not right for the council.
@bikepedantic I think Vernon gives some answers in the same vein, but I expect is less experienced, so might be reachable with effort.
@crschmidt same general impressions.
@bikepedantic disappointed ayeh didn’t fill out the questionnaire.
@crschmidt @bikepedantic Some additional questionnaires have been posted, and the ABC Candidate Forum is 6 pm this evening at The Foundry, watchable on Zoom.
@crschmidt Federico Muchnik (who previously posted the most patronizing anti-housing petition that I’ve ever seen) is my mortal enemy
@bikepedantic he comes off as so patently cruel in his responses. Like, I get that he just thinks ABC is evil or whatever, but dear lord.
@crschmidt @bikepedantic U was hoping yo like Joe McGuirk, so was relieved
@chrisbegley @bikepedantic Joe is good on housing and bad on bikes. I had hoped that he would change his tune after two more years of implementation of road safety changes, but he's sticking to it like glue. I like the guy as a friend, but his bike positions are problematic-at-best.
It's sad because I think he'd be good on the Council in some ways, but in this election, I'm worried that the bike thing should be a deal-breaker, because the opposition is running to kill bike safety.
@chrisbegley @bikepedantic The antis did a better job at recruiting this election cycle than the pro people did. That means that they've got a bunch of feeders who are going to drive forward transfers to anti- candidates.
With 7 of the antis on the ballot, chances are unfortunately good that they'll get at least one onto the Council; paired with Denise and Paul, you get 3; one more to get 4, and Patty flip-flopping... suddenly there's no more bike safety ordinance.
@bikepedantic Wow, I see what you mean about mortal enemies. Like, there's definitely some candidates with whom I disagree on the specifics (such as the role of market rate housing), but seem reasonable. A couple of them seem to either think the housing crisis is no big deal, or are totally fine with people not being able to live... well, anywhere.