In November, a “Right to Food” referendum will be on the ballot in Maine. If approved, the Declaration of Rights in Maine’s constitution would be amended: All individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to food, including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume…
Reliable Properties, the owner of a 24-unit apartment complex in Kansas City recently informed residents that their leases would not be renewed. The owner wants to renovate the units to take advantage of rising rents in the area. Many of the residents are elderly and have lived in the complex for years. They are obviously…
Charlie Simms, the owner of a development company in Ohio, makes a point that needs to be included in discussions regarding affordable housing. Housing advocates consider affordable housing to mean below market rate housing. However, as Simms writes, “When builders and developers speak of affordable housing we’re talking about how to build homes that the…
Since March 2020, we have been subjected to an endless series of mandates and prohibitions. Businesses were ordered to close. We weren’t allowed to have large gatherings, even in our own homes. Some states—such as Texas and Florida—have prohibited private businesses from requiring their employees to be vaccinated. Biden has proposed a law to require…
A week after taking office, Biden set a goal of conserving 30 percent of America’s land and water by 2030—a plan called “30 by 30.” Currently, about 12 percent of the nation’s land and 25 percent of its waters are permanently protected from new development or resource extraction. Biden took a large step towards his…
In an opinion piece on Politico, housing advocates Cea Weaver and Paul Williams argue that “democrats would be fools to slash Biden’s housing plan.” At a proposed cost of $327 billion, that housing plan, along with other entitlements proposed by Biden, are part of “long-overdue expansions of the welfare state.” Not surprisingly, the authors do…
Sometimes, a guy just wants to have fun. This past week, President Biden announced that after a two-year sabbatical because of the pandemic, Burning Man will officially return in 2022. The nine-day event will be held on the White House lawn beginning August 28. When asked how 70,000 people were going to fit onto the…
It is easy to find things about California’s government to criticize. While the legislature hasn’t done a U-turn and reversed all of its rights-violating laws, they have recently taken steps in the right direction. SB9 and SB10 restored a little freedom to property owners by allowing for greater housing density. And on October 1, Gov….
Like a swarm of lemmings, Seattle keeps moving closer to the edge of the cliff. Since the beginning of the pandemic, city council has enacted a series of destructive ordinances under the guise of protecting tenants. The latest insanity includes: Tenants must be given six months’ notice of rent increases Landlords must pay a tenant…
In an open letter to the Montclair Property Owners Association (MPOA) in February, I wrote: MPOA isn’t opposed to rent control as a matter of moral principle. The association just doesn’t like the particular version passed by the town council. This approach will fail in the long-term because it cedes the moral principle involved—the right…
Sometimes, a guy just wants to have fun. Last week, the Seattle City Council voted to eliminate single-family zoning. However, unlike other cities that are actually abolishing such exclusionary laws, the council boldly voted to change the name of “single-family zoning” to “neighborhood residential zoning.” Council members admitted that the name change does nothing to…