Reply to So does everything have to be YIMBY vs NIMBY now?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At least in Montgomery County the NIMBY/YIMBY thing is over and thank god. The debate is boring and involves some of the very worst people on both sides.

The new debate for the next four years will be developers vs developer. I cannot wait for the YIMBY bros to learn that it is developers and not powerless old people are what controls housing supply.[/quote]

Will YIMBYs ever see that? The loudest voices in the local movement are funded by developers and land use lawyers. They’re never going to turn on their money, and any ideas that don’t align with those loud voices are immediately attacked as NIMBYism. We could eliminate density limits around the red line and YIMBYs would be blaming the ag preserve for high housing prices. YIMBYs will find any reason to blame government so they don’t have to face reality. [/quote]
There are 2 developer interests. (1) Builders that don’t currently own land or own undeveloped land and want to build greenfield, such as Toll Bros., and (2) existing Commercial Real Estate owners, like Greenhill, who want to maximize profits on properties they currently own.

The first group can build the types of entry-level homes for sale that the market is desperate for, with the primary goal to sell as quickly as possible and exit with profit. The second group, which includes Greenhill, Peterson snd FRIT, wants to extract money through literal rent, as well as economic rent seeking and therefore tries to use the government to prevent the first group from building to protect their margins.

The first group had a friend in Ike Leggett and I suspect also in David Blair, who even made a TV commercial about greenfield development at White Flint. The second group had Riemer and Hucker in their pockets and will continue to have friends in Casey Anderson, Friedson, and now Natali Fani Gonzalez.

Within 12 months, I bet that the second group is going to start sounding like NIMBYs (talking about “smart growth” and affordability requirements which YIMBYs would rightly see as impediments to housing supply) as they try to block development proposals pushed by Blair, particularly upcounty in and around places like Damascus, Boyds and Marriottsville. I think we will also see them get quite protective about White Flint when the Council and Planning spent the last 4 years pretending it did not exist (my personal take is that I was up in Towson recently and that would be a perfect site to attract a university). They will also try to block enabling infrastructure for development, particularly roads.

The fight over the SSP/“growth and infrastructure policy” in 2 years is going to be massive. [/quote]

I agree with almost all of this but I think Fani Gonzalez will surprise you. She frequently pushed back on Casey Anderson at planing board meetings, often successfully fighting Anderson’s worst proposals. Fani Gonzalez is a growth advocate, not a rent seeker, and she may be an effective check on Friedson’s rent seeking advocacy. She will not support things like subsidies for market rate housing in Bethesda. Blair would be wise to reach out to her early and harness her energy to promote his growth agenda. [/quote]
A rubber stamp is a rubber stamp. Doesn’t matter if you pretend to have principles while doing it. [/quote]

It’s not fair to call her a rubber stamp. Fani Gonzalez forced Anderson to change proposals even though he tried to bully her. Not always, but often to get a sense of her desire for growth. [/quote]
Which proposals? In the hearings I have seen, she was basically the Senator Collins of the Planing Board. Expressed concerns but voted for all the proposals anyway. I don’t mean to tear her down but only express my opinion of her behavior from my perspective.

She also egged on Jawando’s ZTA, which was a bit concerning for a Planning Board member to do because it was proposed without even any analysis from the professional planning staff.

So I think there is rightful reason for alarm. [/quote]

During the growth policy discussion, Anderson tried to sneak through subsidies for luxury housing in areas already experiencing high growth. Fani Gonzalez called him out on that and got Anderson to back down. I didn’t like the way the growth policy turned out but she stood her ground. She also prevented Anderson from getting his desired solution on the CCT-Little Falls crossing.

As far as the Jawando ZTA, I think upzoning near metro in that manner falls more on the growth side of the line than the rent-seeking side, but you may not agree. There was ample time and process for planning input, as well as to improve the proposal, following its introduction. But instead planning just threw a fit and Riemer sat on the bill instead of discussing it. I think planning prefers talking about upzoning over having upzoning happen because not having upzoning helps them deflect blame for the housing market from themselves and developers. [/quote]
Thanks for that info. I really cannot wait for Anderson to go so that our parks can be better managed.

In terms of the Jawando ZTA, the issue is not the policy but her undermining the role of the organization that she led. I don’t like the way Planning operates but she had an opportunity to try to address that and instead side stepped responsibility and accountability. In addition, that sort of upzoning is again another area where there are competing interests. Design-build firms, small contractors and architects who specialize in residential tear downs and remodeling would favor it because they would profit, while large developers would be opposed. That’s probably the only reason to conclude that she won’t be another FRIT, Greenhill, Peterson controlled councilmember. But considering how much Riemer was able to raise from the industry and collect a county match, there’s still time for a pivot.

My view is that she operated on the Planning Board in a very political and ideological manner. Wanted to build relationships with key constituencies through calculated but ultimately small potatoes interventions that ultimately have no bearing on the overall policy. I don’t think we will expect much different as a councilmember. [/quote]

On land use, the council is in charge of zoning. I was glad to see an elected take charge, and I was happy to see a board member intervene because the organization she led was dragging its feet.

I agree that Fani Gonzalez advocates for constituencies, but a lot of her advocacy was to help the place where she lives. I think that’s what a district council member should do. This job is a good fit. She will be very parochial, and I mean that as a compliment. [/quote]
So she’s going to advocate more upzoning and regulated affordable housing in the county’s dwindling affluent areas and protection of her community? Sounds like more of the same that the council had with Hucker. Got it. [/quote]

No, she’s going to advocate to bring new development to Wheaton, especially in downtown Wheaton, and she’s going to be skeptical of breaks for developers elsewhere in the county because she thinks they pull capital away from Wheaton.

Curious why you think pushing for disinvestment in affluent neighborhoods would help them. They’re nice places to live because of investment, not despite it. [/quote]
It is not pushing for disinvestment. Her ideology seems to be similar to Jawando, which is that equality means spreading poverty everywhere for lack of a better way of putting it. But that is essentially the plan and it is an outcome that is driving wealthy tax payers away unfortunately.[/quote]

She has consistently pushed to bring more development to Wheaton. That’s not spreading poverty (though I disagree that’s what Jawando is doing). It’s spreading wealth. [/quote]

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