#high density housing

[bethelctpride]

Housing is a queer issue

what's the number one reason someone has to stay somewhere unsafe? Can't afford to live somewhere else.

Queer folks are more likely to experience homelessness, trans folks even more so. And that's likely to set off a cascade of consequences with issues getting a job, accessing health care, and so on.

Wherever you live, show up for Planning & Zoning meetings or write a letter when they're considering higher density housing and especially if they're considering zone changes like Transit Oriented Development (TOD). Those aren't just for big cities!

Show up and say "Yes, I want Those People to live HERE".

Yes, In My Back Yard.

Sa, yes to infill especially where existing in-town lots with access to services are rezoned to higher density units. The new apartments should go where the sewer line already is, not where it requires running a whole new spur and where everyone is isolated and requires a car to get everywhere.

Say yes to that public housing in the downtown core where people can WALK to all the services they need.

Everyone should have access to safe affordable housing. You won't know who exactly you're helping, but you're helping tear down a barrier for everyone.

[imflyingfish]

I gotta be less hard on myself. Annoyingly i know that my best work comes from when i am hard on myself. But i keep stopping myself from doing things i want to due to perfectionism. Annoying.

[iirulancorrino]

I know trauma is one of the words that the internet is in danger of diluting beyond all meaning, but I think we really don’t understand or at least talk about as a society how traumatic being affected by wildfire is, even for people who don’t lose their homes

[greatpoetryfun]

i don't know what's worse--my neighbor's screaming baby or the hound mix upstairs that has been howling constantly for the past hour.

[mass-convergence]

I feel like that’s an underestimation tbh.

But glad lawmakers are scrambling to help. I’m sure they’re totally going to be working their asses off and Congress will be able to come together to pass a bill without zero complications.

(And link to the article)

[ssspringroll]

oh what to do with magnolia promenade...

[yarnings]

So the government's new plan for housing sounds like a superficially good thing that's going to have a lot of problems that will make the existing issues worse.

Huh... it looks like they're flat-out admitting that they're going to make the existing problems worse?

[beeseverywhen]

I think ppl in blocks of flats should group together to share Netflix logins actually

[fatehbaz]

Y’know about notorious housing costs and homelessness situation in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Pacific coast of the US? In 2023, Portland and San Francisco are both moving forward with major multi-million-dollar projects to outlaw “street camping” while opening “city-run mass encampments.”

The mayor, 14 April 2023:

San Francisco is site of arguably one of worst situations in the US, where thousands units are completely inaccessible, and people pay over $2000 a month to live in closets or dorm-style high-density shared rooms, and upscale coffee shops and restaurants require phone apps or payment receipts for people to access restrooms. The W!!pedia page “Homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area” is over 120,000 bytes in size and 12,000 words in length.

In April 2023, the city announces its grand plan: A “five-year plan” costing $600 million to “cut the number of unsheltered homeless in halve” in five years. So not a plan to put people in homes, but just to get them off the street, qualifying them as part of the strange designation of “the sheltered homeless” (they will still be homeless, but they won’t be “on the streets,” and will be “sheltered” by a city shelter or camp).

Get them out of sight, put them out of the way on an island or something:

In 2022, the city estimated that over 20,000 people are homeless in a calendar year.

And that’s only within the formal city limits of San Francisco and doesn’t include the rest of the Bay Area (which contains millions more people in Oakland, San Jose, Richmond, etc.) 

The rest of the Pacific coast?

In late 2022, Portland, its mayor, and its city council announced a major initiative to ban and outlaw “street camping”. Portland will simultaneously by opening “city-run encampments” or  “sanctioned mass homeless camps.” In early 2023, Portland begins this project:

March 2023:

Hmm.

One of the most popular homeless related questions on Q/uora, as if were a “valid question” about how “you must earn your existence through work”, and not a sickening disregard for life:

Hmm.

Like:

[ohbutwheresyourheart]

the moral of the story is if you ever look at renting an apartment and the landlord tells you that you're going to be locked into one energy company that supplies the whole building, you turn tail and run in the opposite direction AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE

[dcxdpdabbles]

More cave boy? <3 <3 <3

Constantine kept throwing him long looks. Ever since the core test, the British man couldn't stop staring. Sometimes, he would glance at him, look away to shake his head, and then quickly glance back and start the whole cycle over.

Danny wasn't really sure why he was behaving this way. Much less why John Constantine felt the need to send a message to everyone in the magical community a message.

There was a large group of people wearing the most ridiculous outfits he'd ever seen—and his parents ran around in jumpsuits daily—peeking at him from every window, doorway, and, in that one girl's case, a shadow. They all stared at him like a natural miracle was happening before their eyes.

If you asked Danny, the worst part was that they didn't say anything. They just stood there, menacingly, in silence, staring. Bruce and the others had tried to get rid of them, but all the magic-user had done was a scurry to the edge of Bruce's property and camp out there.

He was sure he saw a boy with a cat praying to him at one point. The boy fully bowing low, hand on the ground, and muttering in ghost speech of gratitude for being in his presence.

Danny couldn't figure out why.

Constantine had yet to be evident on the issue either.

The man had been much more focused on explaining why he had been so disrespectful when he first woke.

Apparently, the day they found his cave, he had detected overworld energy in such high density and frankly alarming robust levels. He had assumed that a demon, an evil ghost, or even a trickster god had targeted the alternative version of Bruce Wayne.

Everyone knew the phrase "Get noticed by a higher being" never ended well in any legend, regardless of where the myth originated. Humans have always suffered in some way in those tales—most times, the human's death was the best possible outcome.

It would make sense why Danny had been thrown into a different dimension despite being a mere civilian—or as civilian as a version of Bruce Wayne could be if this was the case. He was worried that the young boy was in danger from forces far beyond human compression and had decked his room with every protective ward he knew.

He had almost demanded Danny be moved to the House of Mysteries since the death covering him had been so thickly layered over his soul. Then Danny woke up, making it evident that he was the cause of the energy, not the guiding light attracting the power like a month to the flame.

Then Constantine figured that Danny had been killed by the higher being who was done playing with him. Whatever happened in that cave meant that Bruce's alternative had lost, and now that higher being was pretending to be Danny.

The reason?

When Danny had first been found getting dangerously close to the Batcave, Constantine had been one of the first Bruce had called for some tests (tests that he was unconscious for while being held in that glass cage). He had confirmed that Danny had no magical power, so they wrote him off as meta.

The second time Constantine saw his unconscious body, he was significantly less human because he had been Phantom for literal days until he passed out. His magic had been reported as such, so Constantine had reacted accordingly, believing that the Ghost King seal was the only deserving revenge for the boy he allowed to perish in such a horrific manner.

He wanted Danny's body back from whatever was pretending to be him when he woke. Constantine just wanted to help him rest. He was not expected to threaten the King with his own seal and apologized profoundly once the confusion was cleared up.

Danny had no idea what the magic trench coat man was talking about. What King Seal? That was the badly done carvings he did with Jazz two summers ago!

What King's Guard? That's just a badly drawn photo of Fright Knight that Dan made!

What King's Cry? That's just a recording of Danny singing badly to a radio song Tucker made!

None of this made sense, especially this royal mystical treatment he received. Thankfully, the Waynes were on his side about it. They still treated him like Brucie, but there was one notable difference.

"You're majesty," Jason said with a mocking bow. "Your carriage awaits."

Danny frowns. "What?"

"Tim finished your ship."

"Oh," Danny stood quickly, a rush of impatience and slight wonder overwhelmingly developing in his chest. He'd been here for literal months, almost a full year. Danny never gave up on his idea of going home, but that was more of a stubborn hope that he would see his world again.

With each passing day, he felt that his home was getting further and further away.

And now, here it was, within reach. He didn't know what to do with that knowledge. Other than race down to the cave with his heart beating a mile a minute. He's so close. So close.

Out of his eye, he spots a woman in the window wearing a strange outfit and pressing her hands against the glass. Her silver bracelets gleam as she offers him a quick smile.

Danny swears he had seen her coming and going through the manor when he was pretending to be simple Brucie- Wonder something- but she now offers him a deep down on her knee bow. He checks Jason's reaction, but seeing that he hasn't noticed, he walks by her with a tiny head nod.

He cares more about going home, not manners.

"Hey Danny," Jason calls, falling in step with him. "I've been meaning to ask. But.....your parents are alive, and everything thinks you're this big shot in the afterlife....are you like me?"

"No, I'm caucasian," Danny tells him while mindlessly changing the arms of the clock that should open the Batcave to him.

Jason laughs. "No, kid. I mean about dying."

Danny squints up at him with confusion. "You're not a ghost."

"No, but I did die. I just came back." Jason tells him with another laugh, but this one is bitter. Danny considers the question, then shakes his head.

"No, I technically never left. I died and lived and died and lived and died and lived again." He makes a circle with his hands. "It's a cycle of being on the line between worlds, not one side completely on any given day."

"You are a god then." Damian comments, suddenly at Danny's elbow. Danny has no idea where the kid came from, only barely stopping himself from screaming as the younger boy puffs up his chest. "Of course, my father would be a god."

"Wait, if Bruce is a god in one world, maybe he has the potential to turn into a god in everyone. That would explain how he strengthens the more people know of him- the more they believe in him." Tim calls from across the cave, where he is typing on the computer.

He pauses and twists around with a look of manic curiosity. "That could mean he passed along powers to his children- Jason, what if Bruce made you a demi-god that day he adopted you, and that's how you came back? That's how all of us come back!"

"The dots are connecting," Dick shouts from the top of the cave, waving his two forefingers around. Danny had no idea why he felt the need to climb high places to do the splits between two rock formations, but he found that Dick tended to do that often. "The Justice League was right....we bats aren't human!"

Danny raised a hand. "I'm not a god. I'm not a King. I'm just a kid from Amity Park who wants to go home."

The others don't pay him any mind, so Danny leaves the Bats to gather around and compare notes. All he can see is the ship resting on a ledge. It resembles Fenton Tech so much that for a second, he feels an overwhelming sense of homesickness.

Soon, he thinks, running his hand on the smooth metal. Soon, I'll be home.

"I call dibs on the godhood of delinquents!"

"You can't just call dibs on godhood, Duke."

"Yes, I can. I have two godly fathers now, which means I have double the demi-god. I'm a mostly-god; I outrank you, Tim."

"I am Stephine, the demi-god of purple!"

"Steph, what does that even mean?

"All things purple answer to me."

As soon as the Waynes focus.

[roseband]

oh my god im so tired of these political ads that are like "are you better off than two years ago"

like.....yes? yes i am.... there's no longer a morgue truck in my neighborhood thank you very much?

im tired

[andrasthehun]

The All-Candidates Meeting

October 10, 2022 I walked into the community center hall and found a chair in the back row joining a couple of dozen white-haired folks. They were the burghers of Ottawa West, homeowners, of course. Five of the seven candidates showed up, vying to become Councilor at the upcoming election for Ward 9, in Ottawa. What I would learn at this meeting would not change my voting since I had already…

[carionto]

So, uhh, Humans did what they called an "oopsie"

They can turn off stars.

When they elaborated on how their reactors work - true nuclear fusion - they also explained, before the delegates passed out, that their failsafes include high density convection inhibitor rods that shoot out if the power output exceeds what it is currently set to. Except if a manual Overload protocol is engaged. You know, in case they need to go to 400% power. At the risk of blowing up everything. Psychopaths.

Then one of them had an idea. Another phrase the Galaxy must learn to look out for and try to persuade the human who uttered it to not do the idea. They'll still do it, of course, Humans are stubborn like that.

So, some of their ships can transform and double as Warp Gates. Truly fascinating technology, capable only through their absurd energy generation methods and reckless disregard for how the Universe works. They even gave us the blueprints. We thanked them, politely, but we'll have to figure out a safe way to do it first.

Currently their Warp Gates can only make a stable connection to the gravitational center of a large celestial body. As in - stars. Their reactors house miniature stars. They turn those off shockingly regularly for maintenance. One of the few things most of the Galaxy is better than Humanity is making things that don't break themselves through normal operation, but then what's "normal" for them is "excessively insane" to us.

This Human wanted to see what would happen if they sent a big pile of their convection inhibitor rods through a Warp Gate. "Fuck around and find out" is the expression they used, if we are recalling the words correctly.

Well, everyone "found out" that, yes, it actually works, and surprisingly quickly too. The chosen star was a distant Red Dwarf with only uninhabitable planetoids and some asteroid belts and no recorded stations within the system. It took about a week for the first signs of decreased activity to become barely noticeable. It hasn't been long enough to fully end the fusion cycle, but all observations point to the Red Dwarf becoming the first of its kind to retain enough hydrogen to do... we're actually not sure how that will unfold over the coming few million years.

Thankfully, the Human who had the idea was disappointed the star didn't just poof like their contained reactor ones do. The material cost and lengthy process also made it clear it has no real practical application.

Still, technically they can prematurely begin the end cycle of a stars lifespan.

Those of us with more active imaginations might find it hard to sleep at night knowing that, clearly, no Human idea will be left untested...

Oh FUCK! What if th- No. When they fine tune their Warp Gates, could they just send anything anywhere? We're screwed if Humanity ever gets angry.

[3liza]

sociopathic capitalist urban developers as a class have managed to fool an entire generation of self-identified leftist "YIMBYs" into bulldozing currently-occupied low income housing and functioning green space including the mature, carbon-sequestering, heat-protectant trees everyone is always crying about to build cardboard "luxury" slums for the Seattle ruling class to use as barbie houses and everyone gets mad at me when i suggest disrupting steady occupancy, neighborhood social support networks, and more intangible established occupancy benefits like not having to deal with packing and unpacking etc which takes at least a year for anyone with any level of dysfunction to recover from, might be bad, and that developers are lying to us about specifically the "need" for destructive new building construction, and that planting their shitty non native decorative trees will replace the mature native growth they had to rip up to build it. like what is it specifically about housing barons that makes leftists so happy to abandon the principles of "believe the capitalists when they tell you their goal is to make a profit above all else". you can literally go on reddit, type in 5-over-1, and find developers and people who work with developers going "yeah we use the cheapest possible materials and cut as many corners as we can make appear 'legal' to build these things, because it makes money". look up "low income housing closing", no one ever shows me numbers on how much low income housing is being lost because those aren't the cool numbers of grim, forward-thinking internet leftist stoicism but actual project housing is constantly being shut down and everyone kicked out because it turns out people who have a lot of problems sometimes have those problems visibly in public and this offends the Bainbridge Island parasites.

sorry folks we had to evict 20 poors who had been living in the Sundew Arms garbage apartment block from 1960 with below-market rent in order to build the new and improved condo, which will actually house fewer people per square foot regardless of the number of units because the rent will be higher and high income people don't have roommates or live with family and well all these shiny new amenities and the Peloton in the communal gym and the mini dog piss park and so on....we have to charge at least $2500. you understand. it's the market stupid. we're Building Housing you can't criticize us for Building Housing. there's a Housing Shortage.

well the government says we have to earmark 10% of the new building to Low Income Housing which means we will probably just pay the nominal fine instead or possibly a single unit will maybe at some point be gingerly allotted to someone who has been on the Section 8 waiting list for hang on let me look it up..."randomly via lottery or several years during which you will be continually means tested and/or kicked off the waiting list without notification or explanation". great. i love urban density. this is so walkable. this cheap carpet offgassing is so identity. are we really that stupid

[amtrak-official]

So one of the most common criticisms of Urbanism I have seen is the fact that people don't want to live in incredibly dense areas, and that's fair. But here's the thing while density helps to get good transit and services, incredibly high density is not needed. Here are some photos of 2 places I would consider 15 minute cities that aren't dense like a New York or Hong Kong

These are disconnected houses with front and back yards with nature around them, the 15 minute City just means a place where your needs are within 15 minutes. A grocery store can easily support itself with only a few thousand people within a mile of it. So can a school or a restaurant. Every historical city was a 15 minute city because people needed to be able to reach their needs in walking distance before cars and bikes were invented as horses were only available to the wealthy. The reason we are told that good urban design requires you to live on top of other people is because there is a vested interest in making good places to live seem scary by making it seem full of people and devoid of nature because it helps auto companies and big box stores make even more money. This post is not to say that density is a bad thing, it is a good and helpful thing, what this post is saying is that the fear of density being needed for good urban design is a myth