Eric Allen Conner

.@3_under_scores_ and I are launching @betterblocksnj — a new political advocacy group focused on working with elected leaders and candidates starting in Jersey City to: 🏘️ Build more housing 🚆 Improve mass transit 🚸 Make our streets safer 🌳 Protect our public parks 1/

"On this historic parking lot, the first transplants from New York unpacked their cars and moved into the recently converted historic warehouses that now make up the Powerhouse Arts District. We must preserve this important open space for generations to come." - the NIMBY mayor

@mk011091 Many of them would rather the new building not go up at all under their criteria of "responsible development."

@eaconner I bet this council would be happy to sponsor a bill that requires the developer to put up a plaque on the new building acknowledging it was built on the ancestral homeland and unceded territory of hot dogs and onion rings.

The next phase of progressive NIMBYism in northeastern cities is going to be land acknowledgements but for local businesses that don't know how leases work.

.@RobMenendez4NJ and @MussabAliJC answer the Better Blocks questionnaire on how they would use their time in Congress to shape policy at the federal level to build more housing, expand public transit, make our streets safer, and support parks in this urban district. Answers 👇

Building over 800 new apartments and creating enough retail space for a new grocery store on what is now low-rise commercial is "responsible" development. We are confident the owners of Boulevard Drinks can negotiate a new lease without needing the mayor's involvement.

Got my property tax bill today, and I happily paid it because that is the price of living in a civilized society with roads, schools, and public parks. Can some of those things be better in Jersey City? Yes. Will they be better if we don't pay property taxes? No.

This also isn't a problem that should involve the mayor's office. A business should be able to find a new location and negotiate a lease without the mayor getting involved. And yet here is Jersey City's official spokesman...

@Nathan__Pinho Because Newark would be getting it in @jmaxmann’s scenario and not Jersey City!

@eaconner Why would that be a downside?

The only downside I can think of a nuclear plant going there is Newark would get the massive property tax benefits. I am 100% serious when I say I’d rather have nuclear than any other form of power generation in my backyard.

@Achrism Then go live in the garden part but let its cities be cities.

@eaconner Yes. I want to live in the Garden State, not the urban state.

Our new NIMBY mayor’s whole political philosophy is spineless pandering. This development is not a “problem.” It is bringing 800 homes and a much-needed grocery store. The beloved Boulevard Drinks plans to move to a new space much like Ercalano’s did. Strong businesses adapt.

@Achrism No.

@eaconner New housing just brings in more New Yorkers. We’re crowded enough. MOST densely populated state -NJ. Let’s take a break from overbuilding.

@goatpurple1 My political philosophy is simple. We should basically let the demand determine what should be build, especially near transit, and subsidize (when needed) those projects that bring expensive but needed public or merit goods like public parks or schools.

@eaconner there is a strange notion that every building is a political event like and election. Often even "by right" areas are de facto not "by right" as if rules are unreasonable then waiver will always be needed.

Mandatory step backs take away valuable space for more homes and, frankly, just look kinda stupid. Cities shouldn’t be afraid of a little height, especially near transit and in desirable areas.

Left-NIMBYs think that blocking new apartments stops gentrification. What actually happens: new demand is redirected to the existing housing stock. Instead of living in new apartments, rich newcomers buy up old homes and displace renters.

Over the past decade, the biggest home price/rent increases in Jersey City have been on the south side. What's probably the ticking time bomb of city politics is, if you did a reval, it would lead to dramatic property tax increases there, and only minor decreases downtown.

I don’t see the issue with this aside from nostalgia bait. The low-rise commercial building is turning into over 800 new homes and space for a much-needed new grocery store. Boulevard Drinks intends to return “bigger and better” so it seems like the whole city comes out ahead.

This is just a map of Deseret.

@Itsjoeco @TheMindScourge That looks better than expected.

@TheMindScourge He poured his own garage, which incidentally has a turntable! x.com/i/status/90952…

Like many people of his era, Edison was enchanted by the qualities and possibilities and potential of concrete (Hoover, when commissioning his home in Stanford, insisted on only one detail, that it had to be built of concrete) Here Edison stands with his concrete home, which could be cast in a single pour, including interior fixtures such as staircases and bathtubs Yet the idea never took off. Except in high end structures, concrete has never attained wide acceptance by the public. Architects by and large love its properties, but public opinion - and the developers guided by it - remains opposed

It's so crazy to me because I was raised that to be a good leader, even if things aren't your fault, the buck stops with you and you hold accountability. You let others defend you, and lead by example on being the solution.