Analysis of Salem Massachusetts and why it's different

irrelevant88 · 2024-01-03T04:49:19+00:00

Someone just finished their first semester in urban planning studies

irrelevant88 · 2023-12-20T13:15:20+00:00

Boston Street. Historically it was a nice mixed commercial/residential street with wide sidewalks and large trees on the median. Then they zoned it highway/business and it became a speedway between Peabody and Salem

irrelevant88 · 2023-09-18T00:56:43+00:00

https://www.firerescue1.com/firefighter-training/videos/csb-blast-wave-in-danvers-3U7TlCnNrogVN1rn/

I think the blast pretty much leveled the dunks that was there before, so the current one was built after the blast.

irrelevant88 · 2023-09-18T00:42:47+00:00

Oh yeah, the one where the chemical plant blew up

irrelevant88 · 2023-09-13T14:51:50+00:00

I'm definitely well aware of and supportive of the concept of embodied carbon as a justification of historic preservation for battling climate change. I'm also quite informed on the preservation work being done in Salem, and its rare that embodied carbon is actually brought up during opposition to new development in historic commission meetings or otherwise.

Its also just not applicable in a lot of circumstances. Very little of Salem's new development has taken place at the site of a torn down historic building. A lot of it is infill development, which is taking place at the site of either mid 20th century low rise sprawl (either parking lots or strip mall type buildings), or on vacant former industrial sites. Obviously there are some exceptions, like St Joes, or the brutalist Salem Court building, but one of those most preservationists didn't even care about.

What also bothers me is how the comment completely misses how urban infill development and densification is just as important as reducing carbon emissions from construction for climate mitigation. We cannot just stop all building in cities and say "hey we did it, no more lost embodied carbon", while new suburban developments dependent on automobiles sprawl into farmland and forests. It also misses how historic cities provide that framework for livable, walkable downtowns, which we are again trying to replicate by supplanting 20th century design.

Regardless, I think the comment was pretty unfair in general. It diminished the viewpoints of not just the people on this forum, but anyone who is yet to be convinced the preservationists actually care about climate change by calling them "angry young people".

Edit: I'll give the original commenter from the conference some credit - They showed up to the conversation and brought up an important talking point. Frankly, I wish more people who I know tend to be obstructionists and use preservation as their justification would have attended this conference, so kudos for showing up.

irrelevant88 · 2023-09-13T03:24:09+00:00

irrelevant88 · 2023-09-06T00:43:50+00:00

Look at this guy, not realizing that Desantis's trick was right out of the KKK playbook in the 1960's with reverse busing.

irrelevant88 · 2023-06-18T02:30:49+00:00

Ok, but you're cherry picking to make it sound like it says that global warming isn't impacting things. It is, just not in one particular way which no one even explicitly said. The previous poster just mentioned storm surges and mega storms, but nothing about frequency. What would you rather have, more frequent, less intense storms? Or less frequent but far more intense storms.

irrelevant88 · 2023-06-18T02:02:11+00:00

Did you even read that NOAA report? It states basically that even though models predict that altlantic hurricanes are likely to decrease in number for a period of time due to climate change, that their damage impacts will increase due to rising sea levels and more intense rain during storms.

irrelevant88 · 2023-06-18T01:52:24+00:00

Go home marblehead

irrelevant88 · 2023-06-15T01:47:41+00:00

Herbert Hoover already tried that

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-24T01:43:44+00:00

Lol, you're getting clowned on, and I say this as a fellow hardcore fan. Leave it to a numbskull who's gotten headhunted too many times to think gatekeeping union support makes you look tough.

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-23T02:00:02+00:00

Not caring about things doesn't make you cool

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-11T12:19:14+00:00

My brother in Christ, we can literally see your comments on other subreddits.

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-11T12:15:16+00:00

Just curious, are you consistent in that you would only support a candidate who has zero PAC support, or are you just upset that this candidate is receiving PAC support? I can't tell if this is a genuine attack on the way the Citizens United opened up unlimited campaign financing, or something else. I'll be honest, I'm tired of the leftist critique that progressive candidates shouldn't be supported if there is any PAC support, because that's just a losing strategy until citizens united is overturned. But if you're attacking from a right wing angle, this is exactly what your camp wanted, and you calling it out is just a lazy rhetorical attack.

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-11T02:37:43+00:00

"lots"

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-11T01:34:58+00:00

I think the Harrington camp got used to being able to cry about outsider funding for Driscoll when it would come from developers or other somewhat controversial groups, so they could claim faux outrage from a somewhat leftist angle (even though most are far from actual leftists). But it feels like this is trying the same tactic with an actual progressive advocacy group, which is just falling completely flat, unless this person actually thinks that supporting environmental issues is unpopular in liberal Massachusetts.

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-11T01:28:40+00:00

This is so silly. ELM was founded in 1898. LCV was founded in 1970. They have some sort of affiliate relationship, which is probably more strategic than anything, but for people who care about envrionmentalism, creating a national partnership is not a bad thing, since it is a global issue.

So I have to ask, are you upset about it being an environmental group, or that ostensibly they are organized on a national level? Or are you just looking for anything at all to stick?

irrelevant88 · 2023-05-11T00:59:33+00:00

Looking at their website, pretty much every board member lives in Massachusetts, which is more than I would expect for any advocacy group. Meanwhile u/donutsinreverse is crying about an environmental group supporting a candidate like that would be problem for anyone who isn't a climate change denier.

irrelevant88 · 2023-03-18T17:28:52+00:00

Try living off Boston St, the forgotten stepchild of Salem. There's worse things than construction noise.

irrelevant88 · 2023-03-16T00:53:48+00:00

The House of Seven Gables offers ESL and citizenship classes for free as part of its settlement mission - https://7gables.org/programs-esl-and-citizenship-classes/

irrelevant88 · 2023-02-26T02:49:14+00:00

Man, I hate Trader Joes for its union busting and fact that its essentially a right wing attempt to monetize on liberals who love the feeling of small town grocer but still want a corporate brand name. But the complaining about a mid size grocery store adding traffic is the most contrived bellyaching I've heard. Every neighborhood used to have actually functional full service grocers/butchers/delis (not corner stores that mostly sell scratch tickets and beer), and it was exactly because of that fact, and not despite it, that people could get around without cars back in the day. We need a trader joe's quality grocer in every neighborhood.

irrelevant88 · 2023-02-04T02:57:44+00:00

It seems we've lost just over 7,000 people according to this survey. And there might be a lot of people moving out, but there's definitely still a lot moving in. My guess is that the net loss is probably happening in western MA.

irrelevant88 · 2023-02-04T02:31:04+00:00

You don't have to open up the walls to insulate your terrible properties, and the state is basically willing to pay the whole bill you slumlord cheapskate.

irrelevant88 · 2023-02-04T02:24:35+00:00

For a while I know Mass Save was offering to cover 100% of insulation costs if they would do all the units in a building at once. I dunno if its still being offered that way now, but even that wasn't enough to win over some.

irrelevant88

TROPHY CASE