From Florida to NC and beyond, the new obsession of the GOP, under the developer-in-chief, with attacking local property tax authority—already an inadequate alternative to prohibited wealth or income taxes—is obviously because the Epstein class has much of its wealth stored in real estate.
essential reading, essential reporting by Lena @writingthings.bsky.social
Durham City Council has approved annexations and land uses equaling half the entire area of Manhattan - entirely in car-dependent sprawl. This will go down as one of the great shames of our city.
Current events show just how urgent we must work to transition toward a walkable city.
For years, 100% of all homes approved in Durham’s sprawling, auto-dependent edges have been placed into HOAs. The whole system is broken and is being allowed to remain that way.
The facts don’t lie: Cuba outperforms the United States on metric after metric from literacy to childhood mortality to homelessness.
Elected officials cannot remain silent on the US blockade—intended to destroy a people and a system shown to be superior to capitalism in solving policy challenges.
Rightwing policy will always favor shoveling out hardworking Americans’ money to elites who are already hoarding more money than the human mind can fathom.
City facilities will be closed tomorrow (2/2). The City Council meeting will be conducted virtually and will proceed at 7pm. The meeting will be live-streamed on Zoom and YouTube, and a recording of the meeting will be available. Speakers need to sign up to speak on agenda items by 5pm.
Trump said something’s “going to have to be done with Mexico” and that Gustavo Petro “has to watch his ass.” And that “Cuba is going to be something we talk about.” Look at the big picture. Maduro as a figure is a distraction used to justify rightwing American imperialism and resource extraction.
End the illegal war in Venezuela and return President Maduro.
Trump and the GOP are maniacal, evil global villains waging war without congressional approval. Trump needs to be removed and locked up before more damage at home and abroad can be done.
Money for housing and education, not bombs!
Congratulations to the winners of the Durham municipal race, including Leonardo Williams, Chelsea Cook, Shanetta Burris, and Matt Kopac.
And congratulations to fellow Democratic Socialists outside of Durham and across the country from Danny Nowell in Carrboro to Zohran Mamdani in New York.
Local government has enormous power to regulate real estate. Let’s be clear: Accepting big real estate campaign money is incompatible with progressive local politics.
We need big real estate donations and schmoozing with big developers OUT of Durham local and state legislative politics.
The Onion couldn’t write a better headline
It’s the most corrupt administration in American history and nothing else even comes close
I’d love for them to make it a policy priority because it’s good policy and because I think it is a broadly popular program among both democratic and republican voters that the GOP would need to defend opposing.
North Carolina is not a democracy. We just cosplay democracy. We don’t need a strong GOP—they’re an existential threat to this country and world.
I’d like to see NC democrats make resident ballot measures a top priority to show North Carolinians that the serves the billionaires over everyone else.
Disdain for democracy has ALWAYS been inherent to rightwing ideology, which is why we must always do everything we can to keep them from power.
Now that they have full power, they are comfortable carrying out crimes & corruption. We must do all we can to defeat and dismantle this rotten system.
Because neoliberalism has failed to provide for the people but has provided great wealth for a few, it needs to be repackaged. A new name, a new coat of paint.
We are seeing a lot of that happening these days among pundits who can’t stomach Trump’s personality and social policy.
Preventing gentrification should be a core function of good planning and development. We lack some of the tools we need but are also not doing nearly enough locally in Durham using tools we do have available. If we keep allowing developers to do whatever they want it will make the problem worse.
Often when we talk about places being “overdeveloped” what’s actually happened is those places are just poorly developed. It’s not that there are too many people/jobs/things to do, it’s that car-centric development has made cities unbearable.
How did Dr. Monarez go from being “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials” who had the “full confidence” of Secretary Kennedy into being a “liar” and “untrustworthy” in less than a month?
She refused to rubber stamp his anti-vaccine recommendations.
Locking thousands of acres into low density single-family sprawl, just because that’s what homebuilders want, is not pro-housing or pro-urbanist, despite what many well-funded organizations and individuals say.
We can truly build sustainable cities but we need to cut through the noise and lies.
Amazing reporting by Lisa Sorg. Please read.
Durham’s Transportation Department wants to give one of the city’s busiest traffic corridors a major upgrade by developing its first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route.
For as long as I've known him, @natebakerdurham.bsky.social has preached the same policy agenda Zohran Mamdani has put a spotlight on in NYC.
Here for @indyweek.bsky.social, he makes the case for this Democratic Socialist agenda as the last best hope against fascism.
indyweek.com/news/opinion...
Emergency Protest from LA to DURHAM: ice out! July 23 7 pm CCB PLAZA
We do not want ICE in our community. We do not welcome ICE in our community. ICE makes Durham more dangerous. ICE is a waste of taxpayer money when we have many other urgent needs. ICE is Trump and Stephen Miller’s personal police force. ICE has fascist tendencies.
Abolish ICE.
Whether we prioritize the voices of community on safety/gun violence, environment, and governance or voices of big business and developers.
Whether we listen to scientists and environmentalists over corporate citizens.
Whether we take our housing advice and expertise from apartment tenants and city planners or instead from the apartment and homebuilders associations.
Do we have the courage to speak out with moral clarity during this modern day McCarthyism and rise of authoritarianism.
Whether we understand our city in a global context and are willing to speak with our voices and choices on our own nation’s inhumane actions at home and abroad, including ICE raids and American bombs dropped on Gaza.
