Let’s first briefly mention the Underwood book, Stop Lying About ESAs, after which I named this article. I encourage everyone to read it, not only because of the controversy and misunderstandings involved regarding EFAs, but also because the polarization and vitriol present among everyone who’s not a Democrat are very similar.
One institution controversy (EFAs) is active, while the other (zoning) is passive. This means efforts are to establish and expand one and to scale back or outright abolish the other. In both cases, polite conversations need to be had, and it’s important to be completely honest with the good people that we’re infighting with. I use the word “infighting” because the common enemy is the Democrats, Agenda 21/2030, and totalitarianism.
I’ve observed many people on my side express plausible concern for disastrous unintended consequences, and the other side shrugs it off like “come on, that’s really unlikely to happen.” But what if it does happen? That would be just plain unacceptable. Conversations have been had about property rights, but first, a quick kudos to Rep Jeremy Slottje, who has agreed with me on one of the many nuts and bolts of this matter. In a tweet, he said something like “except for a public nuisance and…” I recognized the window of opportunity for polite discourse and said that my definition of a public nuisance would include projects, aka workforce housing, and he agreed. That agreement enabled further discussion on avenues to build a bridge, even if it’s just the size of one puzzle piece of this plethora of housing bills. [Related: Lou Gargiulo and Matt Mayberry join Granite State Live to Talk Housing and Zoning]
While there’s still plenty more detail to discuss, the conversation started about rejecting permit applications over building code. Does every community have a fire department equipped to respond to a towering inferno? I don’t know, and I most certainly don’t have expert knowledge of FD operations. With that said, I will share an old story about an FD open house on Spit Brook Rd.
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That particular fire station is just a few blocks away from the Sheraton-Tara, Nashua’s tallest building. If I’m not mistaken, it was built in the late 70s and has eight stories. A ladder truck was displayed in the parking lot with its outriggers deployed and ladder extended. I asked a fireman how long that ladder was, and I remember his answer as he volunteered additional information. “105′, it’s against code to build anything higher than that.”
My question for both sides of the housing madness issue is, “Can we assert local control by making the fire code so restrictive that no developer will want to build projects?” Keep in mind that projects don’t have to be skyscrapers. Look no further than the ones near Doehla’s that were recently bulldozed and replaced with the 4-story Monahan Manor. A single stairwell bill is already in progress pushing the envelope to relax fire safety. Why not amend some of these troublesome bills in the other direction?
Though certain critics of PK in the House didn’t appreciate me bringing his thoughts into the mic at a hearing for a bill unrelated to housing, the strategy in his thoughts might be applicable to housing bill madness. Why not make fire code “so onerous that no builder would want to build (insert undesired structure here)?”
And I’ll finish up by saying that I still oppose unleashing anarchy by way of abolishing zoning, which leads back to the title. Stop lying about zoning, and that includes gaslighting. Please stop accusing people of loving the “master plan,” being “anti-young family,” and embracing tyranny. All of us were once young, and so were our parents. Tyranny exists at all levels of government, just like all groups of people include some bad actors. And lastly, haste makes waste. Election time is not this November, but next year. We can work things out through honesty and polite conversation without hurrying. So what if a bunch of bills get tabled as a result? Isn’t avoiding “the final variant” of totalitarianism worth it?
