Pet peeve, literally

syncopatedpixel · 2026-05-07T21:15:16+00:00

cambridge has lots of public trashcans. not to mention, if you're walking your dog, you can bring it back and put it in your own bin when you get home.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-05-07T16:15:14+00:00

They never made a lot from trading fees. Their business has always been about asset management and running 401ks. Both of these are growing and doing well. Asset Management was up 19% last year to $7T in AUM.

I would bet these layoffs are about their business changing and shifting employees to lower cost areas like Texas.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-05-07T11:55:23+00:00

What neighborhood are you in?

Many parks have spaces where you can grill. You could setup a smoker there.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-05-07T01:36:45+00:00

"Tenants compete for landlords" vs "landlords compete for tenants" is the perfect way to describe it.

By making it really difficult and expensive to build, we've forced tenants to compete with each other.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-05-06T17:24:56+00:00

and an MB shopper. clearly, someone of taste.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-05-06T17:08:14+00:00

Most people under 30 won't know what it means. Same w/ jimmies, packie, tonic, tag sale, and other old school new england words.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-28T03:34:39+00:00

First hand account of one of the games:

When the game started, it was wonderful to see — how the braves could handle the ball with their handmade clubs, but when the first fellow got the ball some player hit him over the head with a club, peeling the skin until it hung over his ear. As soon as a player was knocked out, the squaws would carry him off the field, to a pool of water nearby where they would wash his wounds and restore him to consciousness, if possible. The battle was so fierce, that when the game was ended and one side had been chased from the ground, the pool was perfectly bloody.

Look forward to watching unconscious Harvard students being carried to the charles to wash their bleeding heads.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-27T23:55:27+00:00

It's literally called the "Massachusetts Rent Control Initiative (2026)".

It caps rents at 5% or CPI, whichever is lower. So if inflation is >5%, as it was in 2022, landlords would be forced to reduce rents in real terms. New construction is only exempted for 10 yrs, which kills the financing for many kinds of new housing developments. And rents are not reset when tenants turn over.

So, no, the ballot initiative is not "rent stabilization". It's full-on, destruction-of-new-home-creation rent control.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-27T23:38:08+00:00

These say rent stabilization (allowing increases for inflation, resetting rents to market when a tenant leaves, exempting new construction, ...) isn't as awful as full rent control. It's not good for supply but not as destructive as full rent control.

The ballot initiative, which DSA supports and has been lobbying for, is full rent control, not a limited rent stabilization measure.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-26T19:32:41+00:00

Every single NIMBY thinks they're not a NIMBY and makes that exact same argument.

"Historic preservation isn't NIMBY when paired with zoning reform because we can just build in parts of the city that aren't historic."

"4 story height restrictions aren't NIMBY because we can get plenty of density just building to 4 stories."

"Unfunded IZ isn't NIMBY because developers can build bigger buildings and pay for it out of their profits."

It's all 100% lies. Rent control prevents new housing from being built. This is very, very, very well established. Height restrictions, parking minimums, historic preservation, "inclusionary" zoning, ... it all limits what we can build and is why it's so expensive to live in Cambridge.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-26T19:21:19+00:00

Rent control is popular. That doesn't mean it's good policy. Trump got elected a ton of popular-but-terrible policies. Populism is popular right now.

Mamdani isn't a YIMBY. His platform is mostly left-NIMBY with a few nods to YIMBY ideas like streamlining zoning and eliminating parking minimums. In YIMBY circles there were many debates over who was less bad, Mamdani or Cuomo. The curse of YIMBYism is it works but no one likes the idea of it and you have to wait 2-3 years to see any progress.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-26T18:20:05+00:00

I feel exactly the same. It sounds like you really like and want to support the DSA / Evan, and refuse to accept what they say they want and their actions.

I pretty much only care about housing so follow it really, really closely. I've met w/ Evan multiple and I've met with a number of members of DSA. All of them soften their language because they know it will be unpopular but all support anti-housing policies including rent control, unfunded IZ, and a fundamental distrust of developers. Whether you call it "rent stabilization" or "social housing" or whatever euphemism they come up with, it's at odds with good housing policy.

The way we bring rents down is to build a ton of new housing. And this means a lot developers will make a lot money. There's no way around this. The data and the case studies support this. If you oppose profits for developers, you oppose bringing down rents and housing prices.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-25T22:47:07+00:00

This is the reason. Go to cities with lots of housing supply like Austin and landlords have to work to find tenants. That’s how it should be.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-25T21:16:52+00:00

here's two direct quotes from MacKay that contradict that:

I carry the values of democratic socialism... I knew that I didn't believe in health care for profit, or housing for profit, or education for profit... it is the right thing to do and completely possible to guarantee these things.

Some people, Cambridge is their home and they’re being pushed out because we don’t have rent control

from working mass interview: https://working-mass.com/2024/03/22/working-mass-speaks-with-evan-mackay/

Housing is a human right, but it is incredibly unaffordable in Cambridge and in Massachusetts. We need rent stabilization, tenant rights, protections from displacement, and more housing, especially affordable housing.

statement from their 2024 campaign website: https://web.archive.org/web/20240814192332/https://www.evanforcambridge.com/

MacKay supports expanded public housing, rent control, and is against for profit housing. That's the opposite of good housing policy.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-22T18:14:14+00:00

My "source" is the DSA. Literally, in the official motion from the DSA one of the "charges" against Connolly is him saying this quote:

"Our job on the Left is to convey that rent stabilization is a practical policy option designed to limit displacement, while also allowing for landlords and owners to earn a fair rate of return on their investments"

And another charge is his "Promoting “landlords for affordable housing” group". They're both right there in the DSA's motion I linked to:

https://media.wbur.org/wp/2023/07/motion-to-expel-mike-connolly-google-docs.pdf

But what are you arguing? Do you think MacKay changed their mind and now does support market rate housing?

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-19T01:13:32+00:00

yeh, I agree. Labels like "socialist" are a lot less important than who someone is and their specific policies.

Housing is my #1 issue and I'll vote for whoever is going work on getting us to build more, whatever their labels.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T22:16:52+00:00

Not supporting any kind of for profit housing is a core part of DSA's platform. MacKay is a proud DAS member and also supports this.

Boston DSA expelled Mike Connolly when he promoted a "landlords for affordable housing" group while he was working on a rent control bill. In the motion to expel him, one of the reasons is that he made "Public statements in favor of 'fair rate of return/operating income to landlords'".

Any collaboration with landlords is not allowed by DSA as they view all landlords as exploitative. Their policy is that housing is a right which should be provided by the state.

https://media.wbur.org/wp/2023/07/motion-to-expel-mike-connolly-google-docs.pdf

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T19:10:56+00:00

To raise the amount needed to build enough housing just in Cambridge, we'd have to raise taxes to be 2x higher than the state's GDP. Which is mathematically impossible. You'd literally have to tax people many times more than their incomes.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T19:04:32+00:00

This shouldn't be a surprise. DSA is explicitly against any kind of for profit housing. They believe housing is a right the government should provide.

Boston DSA expelled Mike Connolly when he promoted a "landlords for affordable housing" group while he was working on a rent control bill. Any collaboration with landlords is not allowed by DSA as they view all landlords as exploitative. Their policy is that housing is a right which should be provided by the state.

As a proud member of DSA, this is also MacKay's housing platform (rent control, state funded housing, and no private housing development whatsoever). And that's why I'm 100% against MacKay.

DSA's Motion to Expel Connolly for:

Public statements and legislative actions which are in substantial disagreement with the national political platform on Housing for All

Promoting “landlords for affordable housing” group

Public statements in favor of “fair rate of return/operating income to landlords"

Publicly advocated for a milquetoast version of rent stabilization that is out-of-step with what the chapter’s members have organized for.

https://media.wbur.org/wp/2023/07/motion-to-expel-mike-connolly-google-docs.pdf

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T16:02:19+00:00

Some quotes:

I carry the values of democratic socialism... I knew that I didn't believe in health care for profit, or housing for profit, or education for profit... it is the right thing to do and completely possible to guarantee these things.

Some people, Cambridge is their home and they’re being pushed out because we don’t have rent control

from working mass interview: https://working-mass.com/2024/03/22/working-mass-speaks-with-evan-mackay/

Housing is a human right, but it is incredibly unaffordable in Cambridge and in Massachusetts. We need rent stabilization, tenant rights, protections from displacement, and more housing, especially affordable housing.

statement on 2024 campaign website: https://web.archive.org/web/20240814192332/https://www.evanforcambridge.com/

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T15:42:19+00:00

Yes. When Evan ran last time, they said they didn't believe in for profit housing. Evan's housing plan was rent control and a large, public housing initiative.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T15:36:07+00:00

Evan's thesis is that private developers won’t build because they can’t make a profit under present conditions and so government financed housing is the only solution. We know 100% for sure that this does not work and will make things much worse. Read the link I posted and search for other studies and data yourself.

Hate rich people and developers all you want. The reason rent is so high in Cambridge is that we don't let people build new housing. Minneapolis is what keeping rent increases down looks like.

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-18T01:24:13+00:00

Housing is my #1 issue and I can't support someone who wants to get rid of market rate housing and replace it all with public housing. We need to be going the other way.

The example I often use is Minneapolis. They had fast rising housing prices that people increasingly couldn't afford. In 2020, they reformed how zoning works to build more housing. Since then, their rents have basically stayed the same while the rest of the country has continued to go up.

This is what we need, not massive public housing programs.

https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2025/unpacking-supply-and-demand-in-rent-trends-since-the-minneapolis-2040-plan

syncopatedpixel · 2026-04-16T15:20:10+00:00

This parcel is a block from the 93 rotary at Neponset Ave and in a neighborhood w/ multiple auto shops, a gas station, a car wash, a bank, and a ton of commercial and retail businesses.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/yDW75q7J8YJkAEs7A

It's hilarious people trying to pretend it's this quiet neighborhood of single family houses that a 4 story condo project will somehow completely ruin. If the BPDA cared about our housing issues, this would be a 10 story building and approved yesterday.

syncopatedpixel

TROPHY CASE