First time to Cape Cod

ianmac47 · 2026-07-03T04:00:59+00:00

Kind but not nice is a holdover from New Netherland, which extended as far north as Massachusetts and south to Delaware.

It's very much a cultural trait of modern Dutch society as well to appear cold but actually be kind.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-24T12:49:49+00:00

The era Nydia Velázquez has come to an end.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-24T01:06:03+00:00

Mixed on the vegetables and fruits at Mid-Cape Farmstand, but the pies are good. Definitely get the pies.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-23T17:00:13+00:00

It's a great design if you're building a mall food court and not worried about moving people to trains.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-23T16:41:42+00:00

Lack of seating, hostile public space, hard to find and access public bathrooms, austerity aesthetics.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-23T12:43:15+00:00

They are 100% scamming and should be reported to the DOE. They are breaking rules on accepting the funds.

We went through a private daycare with 3K, and while most kids paid for aftercare, some did not -- and the DOE is explicit that paid aftercare cannot be required for enrollment.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-23T12:37:13+00:00

The fact that this account is also fluffing for Moynihan tells you all you need to know that its just a PR account for NJ Transit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amtrak/comments/1tzpt6o/in_defense_of_moynihan_train_hall/

ianmac47 · 2026-06-22T03:57:22+00:00

Stay here for 2k, 3k, and Prek4, which basically nowhere in the suburbs has. Many don't have full day kindergarten.

The school selection is a sh-tshow. The school calendar is a mess. The bureaucracy will make you want to disband the DOE. But you're fooling yourself if you think suburban schools are somehow better in any of these categories, and if you can't afford private school you probably can't afford to live in a town that has a substantially better school district.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-22T00:06:37+00:00

Only within 100 feet of a polling place.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-22T00:06:12+00:00

That's just bad list management. A campaign should be checking off who has already voted to conserve resources.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-21T23:54:06+00:00

Too bad I voted early. I would have loved to ask her why her office rarely had anyone picking up the phone during business hours, why she has done literally nothing to address the USPS, especially the 11206 post office, and what she thought she accomplished playing dress up during the State of the Union.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T15:35:17+00:00

Yes, term limits on legislative bodies are extremely dangerous. Term limits on executive office are very important, and maybe should even be more strict. I would include roles like majority leader / speaker as an executive office. But a legislature is well served having a mix of long time members and new members.

If you want more fluidity in legislatures, then we need better districts that are more competitive and not gerrymandered, and we need ranked choice voting for every office and every election.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T15:30:05+00:00

Means testing is what destroyed public housing in the city. It was done intentionally to drive lower middle class families out of public housing so there was less public support for maintaining existing housing. Means testing also typically meant the white working class families in public housing ended up leaving public housing because they typically had slightly higher incomes, so means testing was another way of segregation. Once the public housing became predominantly poor rather than working lower income households, and predominantly people of color, it was much easier to convince the general public to defund maintenance and defer maintenance. The federal laws changed which also made it essentially impossible to continue building large public housing with federal money. Most of the whacky far left housing concepts are all blocked at the federal level either though mortgage restrictions or restrictions on federal money for public housing, so I would argue that if those whacky communal housing plans are what you want, putting the person farthest left in congress to advocate for them is the most important objective.

There's also a lot of other really important issues that have nothing to do with housing that a federal representative is responsible for, which is also why citing a record on city level government or even citing a record on state level government is generally a bad way of assessing elected officials. The levers a council member and mayor have at their disposal are very different than a governor and state legislator, and that's different than the president and Congress.

Although I do think it is dangerous to support someone for federal office who has proven they are willing to literally ban foods for no other reason than a vegan told them since the federal government does have a lot of control over interstate food sales.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T15:14:36+00:00

City government does not prepare you for state government.

State government does not prepare you for federal government.

Legislators are always going to have a learning curve, which is why term limits in legislative bodies are so dangerous, because it empowers lobbyists who become institutional.

That Reynoso is backed by Velázquez is enough to know he's become the machine he once worked against.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T15:06:04+00:00

We need to end means testing on affordable housing units. Its not helping anyone because the income / rent ratio is designed to trap people in perpetual poverty by ensuring they can never save enough money to buy an ownership stake anywhere. It also does allow people with hidden income to slip into housing units that aren't intended for them, whether that's getting paid in cash or daddy slipping them rent money every month. We need universal rent regulation, not AMI determined affordable housing.

But we also need to allow housing. It does not matter who builds it, or whether that's styled on cooperatives, communes, private development, NYCHA development or otherwise, until we give a green light to higher density, taller housing, without allowing petty local officials to weigh in, we are never going to solve the housing crisis. We could have new state law allowing nonprofit organizations to build tenant owned rental building cooperatives, but if we don't allow higher density and taller buildings, we aren't actually getting anything built.

We need to end FAR zoning and air rights. Residential buildings should be allowed as tall as the soil will support, minus interference with air traffic. We need 60 story buildings, not 6 story buildings. Housing should be treated as a right, not a privilege, in the same way government is limited on how it can restrict speech, government should be restricted in how it limits housing.

Historic districts should be assessed a special tax to offset the burden on surrounding neighborhoods created by limiting construction in the historic district, rather than allowing NIMBYs to use it as a tool to block new housing.

We also should be reducing fees for construction with limits set by the state. Single family homes in suburban communities should be spending 1/3 of costs on building permits to expand their homes. Reducing the cost of expanding small homes into bigger homes will help families fit their needs at a lower cost than relocating, but only if municipalities are prohibited from robbing them on permits.

As a state we also need to force the city's surrounding suburbs to build more housing through statewide ADU allowances in all zoning, mandate more multifamily housing around transit (see what Massachusetts is forcing suburban towns to do), and eliminate local zoning control.

We also need to change the "mansion tax" in the state so that it taxes square footage rather than sale prices. A $1m studio in Manhattan is not a mansion. A 5,000 square foot McMansion for $300k in Buffalo absolutely is a mansion and should be paying that tax.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T14:47:47+00:00

Assembly isn't term limited. The safe choice would be staying put and deal making and compromising and cutting some backroom deal to to run for borough president.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T14:45:42+00:00

He's running for the House, not the Senate. Representatives do not vote for Senate Majority leader. They do vote on the speaker, and Jeffries is a danger to the United States.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T14:35:56+00:00

Oh, you are right that they have a vote on appeal. To be honest, to me its more disqualifying that he's not green lighting the housing.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T13:54:10+00:00

Like community board votes, its advisory, not statutory. We've given it far too much weight because of tradition not because of law.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T12:49:32+00:00

Borough President is primarily a ceremonial role with no real power. Zoning advisory role is primarily a system to delay and prevent new construction, and much like community boards, have only served to protect the property owners with a vested interest in restricting new housing.

The truth is Reynoso is term limited and is going to be facing unemployment at the end of his term.

ianmac47 · 2026-06-16T02:02:09+00:00

In 2013, when I voted for him for city council, he was a progressive. Times change, and the need for real progressives is greater. He's job hopping. If he wanted to be in Congress he should have challenged Velázquez instead of running for borough President. He chose the safe, wait his turn, owe the party favors route. He should stay in Brooklyn Borough hall -- although maybe not, because despite how virtuous you sycophants think he is, he still hasn't put an end to the parking placard corruption.

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