Insights
Notes from the work
Short pieces on running a fair process, community benefit agreements, and what holds up after the vote.
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From Red Carpet to Pitchforks
Six years ago communities competed for these projects. Now they organize against them. Scale explains part of it — and not the most important part.
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The Fastest Way to Lose a Room Is to Call It Misinformation
When you label your neighbors’ concerns as a disinformation problem, you’ve told them what you think of them — and they heard you.
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The Same Money, Offered Two Months Apart, Is a Bribe or a Deal
The most expensive mistake in community benefits isn’t the amount. It’s the timing.
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Nobody Needs a Fourth Study
Duelling experts don’t produce information. They destroy it — and then everyone stops believing in studies at all.
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The Question Nobody Asks at the Hearing
The same $150 million investment produces $10.8 million or $0.4 million for a locality. The variable isn’t the project.
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A Lever That Can Be Bought Out Isn’t Leverage. It’s a Price.
Communities spend months fighting over the things a developer can simply pay for — and give away the things that can’t be bought.
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A Facility Can Pass Your Noise Test and Still Ruin the Neighborhood
Compliance and complaint are decoupled. That points at your ordinance, not the building.
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Withdrawal Is Not Consumption
Both sides of the water fight are quoting numbers that don’t mean what they think. Here’s the sentence that ends the argument.
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Counting the Comments Is a Category Error
Public comment measures intensity, not opinion. Officials who confuse the two make bad decisions and then get blamed for them.
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The Most Expensive Word in Your Zoning Code Is the One That Isn’t There
In a lot of towns, the biggest land-use decision of the decade has already been made — by a staffer picking the closest available category.