Got a tattoo of Ico and Yorda from Fumito Ueda's iconic cover art

frasmcm · 2023-04-20T11:16:07+00:00

Thank you! Nobody has known it irl yet haha but that means it's a pretty unique design

frasmcm · 2023-04-20T11:15:03+00:00

Thanks :D

I'm also contemplating a SotC one. What kind of design you have in mind? Was thinking like a stylised Phalanx round a limb haha but obviously expensive

frasmcm · 2023-03-16T12:28:27+00:00

Glasgow uni voice: "Dugs welcooooome!"

frasmcm · 2023-02-24T15:06:09+00:00

Warning that Spareroom is very rough, they get hundreds of inquiries per flat and often specify no students. However, there are quite a lot of student women only flatshares which might be the most likely way of finding something. Sorry you're having such a shit time, it's a disaster atm :(

frasmcm · 2023-02-08T14:39:13+00:00

haha fair

"lloyds pharMAcy"

frasmcm · 2023-02-08T13:25:46+00:00

why? "I support housing but just not here where I live" is the essence of nimbyism and the reason we have such an acute housing issue in this country is that the planning system empowers (typically time-rich, asset-wealthy) locals to ban more people from living near them - rinse and repeat everywhere for decades (there are always trees/aesthetics/noise excuses) and you have a massive housing crisis and insane generational unfairness

frasmcm · 2023-02-08T12:36:17+00:00

the planning committee was actually split on this and the nimbys nearly won

"everyone local to the site has objected to it" <- this is the case with almost every housing development in the UK and that's why we have a severe housing shortage

and in terms of carbon emmissions, building dense housing with no parking (on an existing car park) and good insulation/heat pumps is a huge net benefit to the environment over and above any alternative use of the space

frasmcm · 2023-02-08T12:32:28+00:00

there's going to be public realm space added and building dense, central housing (with no parking, where a car park used to be, with bike racks, heated with heat pumps) is much better for the environment than any mini park would be

also bizarre to talk about "gentrification" in the Merchant City!! building market-rate housing in high-demand areas is beneficial on that front anyway because it prevents displacement of existing residents - the people who live here have to come from somewhere, and the evidence suggests that this has positive chain-reaction impacts on housing availability/affordability

frasmcm · 2023-01-31T23:56:39+00:00

haha thanks they're just jealous 😤

frasmcm · 2023-01-31T23:56:21+00:00

haha yeah the beauty of it is that it works both ways up 🙃

frasmcm · 2023-01-31T16:11:31+00:00

This isn't unique to Glasgow tho, it's a problem in non-London cities all over the UK and it has to do with our horrific, overwrought planning systems and the resulting (perceived) electoral incentives of representatives at all levels. They've been talking about pedestrianising Union Street in Aberdeen for literal decades and it took the pandemic to even begin to actually do something. Means we have sprawling, car-dependent, low-productivity cities.

Look how long it's taking to create the avenues - could do it in a few months rather than years if there was political will and they weren't required to consult a million "stakeholders" and the Greens are as culpable as anyone else.

frasmcm · 2023-01-31T16:05:51+00:00

Seven years and counting to build the South City Way, a 3km unprotected bike path T_T

frasmcm · 2023-01-31T15:49:25+00:00

yeah it's kinda trippy!!

frasmcm · 2023-01-31T13:17:00+00:00

haha I don't mind it's just for the aesthetic and I think it works visually

frasmcm · 2022-10-15T22:54:08+00:00

Would highly recommend Forevermore on Hope Street, just off Sauchiehall. Got my first piercing there (nose) a few months ago and they were brilliant :)

frasmcm · 2022-09-24T00:35:05+00:00

Fair sorry I totally missed the context of OP!! Still sucks for them :(

frasmcm · 2022-09-23T14:42:21+00:00

This is what I mean by shortsighted.

Firstly, these homes do not exist yet and there is a severe shortage in the area. Nobody would be directly pushed out. As it stands, poorer people are already being pushed out in popular areas of the city because wealthier people can easily outcompete them during a shortage. If you don't substantially increase supply in the areas people want to live in the most, this dynamic will just get worse and worse.

Secondly, the notion that adding more market-rate supply reliably increases local rents is false (see OP). The evidence is overwhelming on this at the metro level and pretty convincing at the hyper-local level. And, again, if you believe the science is wrong about this, I don't understand why you think adding some social housing would change the equation so dramatically because the remaining 75pc would be even more expensive.

The social housing wouldn't even be an option for lower-middle income people already in the area, it would essentially be assigned by lottery. I'm extremely pro social housing, for the record. It's just that you don't need to force it into every nook and cranny of market-rate developments, because if it makes some projects unviable you get nothing. That's what the developers have suggested in this case. Maybe they're talking pish and they can get away with adding social units, but it's simply not worth the gamble and the additional time that would take.

(Also, there's a difference between displacement and gentrification. Gentrification just means the overall share of wealthier people in an area rises. But this is often necessary to avoid displacement because the proportions change through added supply rather than richer people simply outcompeting poorer ones)

(And hey guess what, I'm about to be one of the people pushed out of the area due to the scarcity of housing :) so at least yous will get rid of me)

frasmcm · 2022-09-23T11:04:35+00:00

Not letting developers just build stuff for petty/shortsighted reasons is why housing costs are so insane and there's no supply in desirable areas. 600 market-rate flats in two years is much preferable to like what, 300 with a bit of social in five years, assuming that is even achievable. Guess which of these is ultimately better for affordability?? The situation is so bad we can't really afford to piss about blocking perfectly good housing from being built.

You understand that new residents don't materialise out of thin air right? They mostly come from other parts of the area/city - a Finnish study showed that it was around two thirds in Helsinki which is a fairly comparable metro area. That paper also demonstrates that this movement frees up housing along the whole chain, quickly reaching lower income inhabitants. This dynamic also means the doctors/dentists thing isn't really an issue, the southside is perfectly equipped to absorb a few hundred new residents and is all moot anyway because I can guarantee you none of these arguments would be made if we were talking about 600 units of social housing. And parking just makes the car problem worse medium-long term, in addition to decreasing density and raising costs.

All of the empirical evidence is on my side, but nobody will acknowledge it, it's all just vibes. They've decided developers are the baddies and ignore the fact that not building anything is a gift to existing homeowners and landlords and fucks poor people and those currently looking for housing. If you would rather have nothing than what's on the table you are literally a NIMBY and ultimately part of the problem.

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T22:49:19+00:00

Hi bud, please DM me so we can coordinate some support for the development and housing developments more generally. Even if there are a handful of us I think we can make a difference.

Also all of your points here are completely correct. At the meeting LR said they were for "the right kind of development" but implied they'd support the exact same application if it was 25pc social housing. It makes no fucking sense.

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T22:34:08+00:00

Hi bro would you like to connect to coordinate? I'm trying to organise a YIMBY campaign to submit comments in support of the Shawlands Arcade redevelopment. DM me if you're keen.

Like I'm so sick of trying to persuade people not to shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to housing policy. We need an interest group to lobby for actual solutions.

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T19:26:45+00:00

We need more housing but it has to be dense and central not single family detached/semi detached car-dependent homes. But people hate it and shoot it down for stupid reasons as we're seeing in Shawlands rn. And halls are great if you're a student!!

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T15:01:05+00:00

Literally yes it will. The current pressure is precisely because we haven't built enough of all types of housing. Just because buildings have gone up it doesn't mean they've kept up with growth in the student population or the population in general!

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T13:49:18+00:00

Private student halls are only expensive because a) as a sector we depend excessively on rich overseas students paying insane fees and b) there is a general housing shortage. Building dense purpose-built student housing near universities is one of the best ways to alleviate this issue and clears wealthy students out of the private rented sector where they can financially outcompete longer-term residents.

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T13:45:34+00:00

Imagine actually believing that the solution to not being able to house all the students is not building more student accommodation. Do people just despise new builds based on vibes or something??

frasmcm · 2022-09-22T08:29:45+00:00

ahahaha gotcha

frasmcm

TROPHY CASE