I love the point made about grassroots movements already doing good work for the community, and the entities controlling public land won’t allow tax payers to allocate a portion of public lands for planting. There should be a checklist of approved stuff you can plant, managed by the municipality, and that checklist should be available in multiple languages. I understand you shouldn’t just be able to plant whatever (if not food, then no non-native/invasive species), and there shouldn’t be harmful pesticide use to some extent, but given the amount of people living in food apartheids with no access to fresh produce, it seems like the least effort, humane thing to allow.

This is the way.

Hear hear!

This article really struck a chord with me. Maybe it’s confirmation bias, but I feel so much of the same things described here, and I do see NYC changing as it was told. I love NY for exactly the diverse and no-nonsense, hard-working attitudes that persisted here for decades. All of the color of life that makes NY so unique is rooted in the working class population… And they’re being squeezed out of every space, not just here, but everywhere.

I’m such a major fan of the FTC and Chair Khan right now. This is spot on.

Hell yeah! I hope they continue to get ‘TUF’ on bad housing policy… 😎

It surely is a big deal. You’re ignoring the “having to find another place to live” part. When you have no place to go and no plan or agreement in place to be somewhere else, it can feel very isolating and hopeless because you lack stability. If you’re low income, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or disabled, good luck finding a place easily. The article itself even mentions that there was higher competition for rentals nearby after a severe weather catastrophe.

Sure, as a homeowner you have to eat the cost of repairs, and often times you’re required to carry insurance on a property, so there’s some coverage and help there, but you can literally pitch a tent on the land and not be bothered or kicked out because you literally own it. Not so easy for a renter.

100%. I had to find news about this young boy being killed by Utica Police on social media - I heard nothing about the follow up before this, and nothing in any common media source. Much appreciated to see this and know that the people of Utica are standing up for justice!

Lots of corp-friendly entities are making big moves in the courts lately, and it feels like previous efforts by Republicans to install conservative judges everywhere are showing. The time needed to undo this damage could take years.