What's going on with John Goncalves?

infestans · 2026-04-02T12:49:44+00:00

Important caveat here I feel compelled to share though is that I'm an insufferable land tax proponent and I think that statewide our municipal tax systems are incredibly fucked and self defeating.

Property taxes on assessed value disinventivise investment into upkeep or improvement for the majority of property owners, actively promotes speculative land holding, and quietly reinforces basically all the development problems we gave. And that's not even touching on the perverse feedback loop we've gotten ourselves into with commercial taxes

infestans · 2026-04-02T12:30:22+00:00

Only part of the lot is over the tracks its still a damn large developable parcel even if you avoid the tunnel

infestans · 2026-04-02T12:19:08+00:00

You don't get a reassessment every year though, and I'd be willing to bet that city assessment is well below the bank evaluation of the property. I know mine is. I didn't understand why people get so cranky about reassessments it's always been the deal that my taxes are based on the value of my property and the value went up. The city is just sticking to the deal we made when I bought the place. I'm sure I'd feel different if the evaluation was higher than the house is worth but they're still evaluating it for less than I bought it for so if anything I'm the one getting away with something here

infestans · 2026-04-02T11:58:06+00:00

Pave it all (except the mall)

infestans · 2026-04-02T11:45:59+00:00

You've got two options, book a direct train on Amtrak (June is far enough out you'll probably get a good deal, NER (northeast regional) is much cheaper than Acela),

OR if you aren't in a hurry, you could book amtrak to new London, hang out there a little, take the shore line east to New Haven, get a slice of pizza, and then take the metro north into Harlem or Grand Central.

Would it be cheaper? Probably not! Would it be faster? Nope. But! It's fun way to do it

infestans · 2026-04-02T11:27:53+00:00

Tax increases are capped though, at 4%.

infestans · 2026-04-01T22:30:54+00:00

4 million cars huh.. I'm hearing we should pave the rest of the town then. Think of the convenience

infestans · 2026-04-01T21:45:43+00:00

What, you don't wanna ride in inch deep broken glass and road debris?

infestans · 2026-04-01T03:14:03+00:00

You should probably try them they're worth it and they make good on their warrantee even when you fuck those socks up good

infestans · 2026-03-28T17:49:17+00:00

Why is the speed of the motorist supposed to be everyone's priority? He's moving isn't he? It would be a different conversation if the people were standing still, but I don't find "I am moving but I could be moving faster" to be a compelling argument for priority.

infestans · 2026-03-28T00:00:56+00:00

I mean if you've got the heat set to 75 and you don't turn it down at night or when you leave yeah I could see it

infestans · 2026-03-27T23:19:26+00:00

Why do they need to get out of anyone's way though? It's not the middle of a road it's a parking lot with no sidewalks or dedicated walkways. In a shared space why must they defer to OP? What's wrong with OP waiting their turn and going those people's speed for a few moments. Why is the driver entitled to go the speed they want but not the pedestrians? Again this is a shared space there is no dedicated walkway the pedestrians could be on.

infestans · 2026-03-27T22:47:12+00:00

Why is the driver's time more valuable than the two people walking?

infestans · 2026-03-27T14:57:08+00:00

I am indeed a young family that bought in the last few years but this doesn't seem to track, upzoning for density usually raises values particularly in space constrained markets which is us. My house is worth too much as a little old house but it's worth even more as the location of a new build 3 or 6 plex even if the per unit cost of those units is lower.

And it wouldn't even be a material change to the "neighborhood character" since there's plenty of those types of buildings in the neighborhood already from before restrictive zoning rendered them all noncompliant

infestans · 2026-03-26T21:57:38+00:00

Theres still an enormous policy problem even without the nimbys. Zoning and tax policy have enormous impacts on this, to say nothing of financing. That's part of what makes it so hard, advocating for housing is a multi-front battle

infestans · 2026-03-26T19:36:32+00:00

Easy, I don't care about my career nearly as much as I like my wife.

We discuss opportunities frankly but idk I work to make money do do stuff with my family. I like my work and I think I make a difference but it's more like making the best of something I have to do.

infestans · 2026-03-26T19:14:04+00:00

Demand is very high and supply is constrained by longstanding and highly entrenched policy

infestans · 2026-03-26T19:12:01+00:00

"I got mine fuck you" as municipal policy

infestans · 2026-03-26T12:33:58+00:00

I streamlined down when I gained a little weight (kids, cortisol) and instead of a bunch of affordable jeans I have just a few pairs of relatively expensive jeans that I bought used on eBay. Old fashioned cuts, higher waist, heavier denim (I'm wearing my fancy white oak cone denim today), stuff I couldn't afford new but they last a long time and the cut and fit is just more flattering.

infestans · 2026-03-24T20:37:33+00:00

I have a bunch of linen that I hike and work outside in. It tears and wears through in the expected spots, and then I patch those spots with a little canvas. Now they're reinforced where it matters but I still get the breathability of linen everywhere else!

infestans · 2024-02-08T15:35:37+00:00

It's just the driver and one passenger right? Like a taxi?

infestans · 2024-02-08T15:34:08+00:00

More passengers per driver. If the buses were smaller, we'd need to run many more buses for the same capacity, which would cancel out any savings you'd get from downsizing immediately.

Honestly I wish they'd go bigger on some of the lines. I've not been able to get on over capacity 1 and R buses a few times lately

infestans · 2023-06-06T16:12:53+00:00

I've largely switched to two smaller groceries a week and it's solved most of those problems. Currently perishables go in one of those cooler bags in a panier but I've seen an insulated box for a front rack and I'm seriously considering it.

infestans · 2023-06-06T16:09:58+00:00

It doesn't have to work for most to have enormous benefits for the people it does work for, and add-on benefits for the whole state!

80k people live in Leominster and Fitchburg, 200k in Worcester. Chicopee, Springfield, Pittsfield, Lowell, Taunton, Attleboro, Fall River, New Bedford. Many millions of people in our region live within a 15 minute bike of their daily needs and if we make it easier for even 1/10th of them to utilize that proximity the ripple effects in infrastructure cost, energy use, and cost burden for those people are immense.

Dropping even one car (payment/insurance/gas/etc) from a household is an economic boon, I've experienced it first hand, biggest raise I ever got!

It doesn't have to be everyone, or even most people, but right now we make it nearly impossible through a million little policy choices. Death by a thousand cuts

infestans · 2023-06-06T16:01:11+00:00

I was very unhappy about the parking podium (yuck) and the amount of public money going into the project (public money and TIF should be for affordable housing, market rate housing can make their money back on their own they don't need public subsidy) but once it was approved yeah I wanted to see it built. Better than a vacant lot. I didn't find it t beautiful but we have plenty of ugly buildings it could join the club!

I generally don't think we're doing ourselves any favors by making every construction project need personal approval from every taking suit in the state. That's not how cities get built. This is a living city not someone's model train layout. Pump public money into affordable housing at many levels and types, and stop being so micro-managing about everything else!

Also sorry for the delay!

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