My dad ran for local office and only served one term because he said it was fucking awful.
He was in office when they approved a new development nearby, and being an old-time hippy he tried to make it walkable and full of trees. When I saw the monstrosities of houses and apartments going up I asked him why the hell it looked so awful. He said that was the best plan that he was legally allowed to approve. So now we have a bunch of ugly apartments next to really ugly houses next to extremely ugly strip malls, all with parking minimums. And my dad had to vote for that one because all the other ones were worse.
Sound familiar?
But, hey, they painted a bike lane on a deadly five-lane road so that’s progress, right?
This does sound familiar, sadly. But it also makes me feel like my city council rep is doing her best in a very bad situation.
Sadly, local politicians can’t even address the really impactful stuff, like trans youth being denied access to healthcare, or refugees being detained or deported.
Sometimes I really want to fucking off myself, this world is so hopelessly hateful and grim
People in public office don’t get a say in how the houses look in any municipality I’ve ever worked in. They can have a say in the total layout, but not how the houses specifically look, unless it’s something special like a historical district.
