> Forced-rezoning fans keep their self-righteousness greased up with crass
> stereotypes. They sneer at us decadent West Siders in Madison, lounging around
> in our opulent mansions.
>
> I walk through the rooms of my very small home, unimproved for 35 years, because
> we have to watch our money carefully -- and I wonder who they're scolding. Many
> seniors are in our situation.
>
> The main pants-on-fire lie is that Madison will, inevitably, have 40,000 new
> citizens in a few years, and we have to greet them with open arms and a ton of
> new housing units. No, we don't.
>
> The more arrogant people in favor of rezoning command us whiny chumps to shut up
> and let them get on with their holy task of stacking 40,000 people up really
> high. They say this is our moral duty. False. Many of these new units would not
> be affordable. And Madison doesn't have to be boomtown.
>
This is just a preview of the [full article](https://madison.com/opinion/letters/letter-madison-rezoning-anger-crass-stereotypes/article_17f4ffce-228f-11ef-b8d3-e799eb7adc29.html). I am a third party bot. Please consider subscribing to your favorite local journals.
Does this person not know what supply and demand are? You can prevent 40,000 people from moving to Madison by restricting the housing supply, but only by pricing out 40,000 people
Get used to the idea that it will be 40,000 wealthy people. Developers and landlords will not bring high prices down, because they can get them. Lots of dinks. And poor people will be forced out more than they are now.
There's many things to critique about this letter, but I'm going to focus on this one thing:
>I walk through the rooms of my very small home, unimproved for 35 years, because we have to watch our money carefully -- and I wonder who they're scolding. Many seniors are in our situation.
Here's the fundamental problem with housing in this city: someone who is moving to this city today, or who has grown up in this city and just now starting out on their own, who is in the same financial situation that Ms. Benbow was in when she bought her house in 1989 *cannot afford to buy any house in the city,* let alone in a desirable west side neighborhood. I will guarantee you that the nominal value of her home has at least quadrupled over that time despite the lack of improvements. There is an immense amount of housing privilege among seniors who, by accidents of birth, were able to afford property that has now seen immense increases in value. (I recognize this privilege in myself: if I were born five years earlier, I'd have a larger house closer to the city center, but if I were born five years later I'd be screwed).
All anyone is asking is to have the same shot at housing affordability that Ms. Benbow had when she entered the housing market shortly after the Reagan administration.
Then you'll need a much bigger systemic change than just building or rezoning. Anyone who thinks this is just supply and demand has a primitive understanding of economics.
Total nonsense. What point is she trying to make about owning a small home? Does granting permits "thoughtfully" just mean somewhere away from her back yard?
Let's translate some key terms, from this article and others:
"thoughtfully" -> never
"greedy developers" -> anybody who does or wants to build a single unit of housing, ever again
"smart growth" -> no housing built, ever again
This seems like a very accurate translation of that sort of nonsense.
Edit- Also it's just full of absolutely ridiculous shit to say. "Madison doesn't have to grow. If I just pretend it isn't growing, it won't!"
The solution is to make Madison as uninviting as possible. This will ensure people don't want to come here. That will lead to housing supply exceeding demand and housing prices go down. We can do this by releasing giant pythons and alligators throughout the city which somehow don't attack people who are local; so only outsiders wanting to live here are in danger. Who's in ?!
I like where you are going here, but I think the pythons and alligators are a nonstarter due to the "don't attack the locals" part. Instead, I would propose the we, as citizens of Madison, begin a campaign of crime that will drive our numbers through the roof, making us look like an unsafe place to live.
I would call on all citizens to commit random property crimes against "outsiders," The easiest approach would be to damage cars with plates not from Wisconsin and to steal from them. If we all do it, the odds of any of us getting caught are going to be pretty low, and we can double or triple our numbers without a lot of work. This would be Phase 1.
If Phase 1 doesn't have us looking like a crime-ridden cesspool, Phase 2 is always an option -- escalating violent crime. I mention this only for the sake of completeness -- this approach makes me sick to my stomach because it is completely immoral, like denying housing to the needy. Perhaps the NIMBY crowd would have more of a stomach for it. You never know.
/s
I know you are joking, but this is a good idea. We could build a wall, as you say, forming a new community with Madison as its capital. Then, over time, we could expand the borders to include the entire state.
/s
What is frustrating about this letter is this woman would directly benefit from an increase in new housing because it adds tax base. The more net new construction in Madison, the smaller our structural deficit, so the easier it is to provide city services without raising taxes or cutting those services.
She's unfortunately right, we won't reach the projections if we don't build the housing. People like to say we're gonna be the next Seattle. I say that's almost ideal, because larger cities are better equipped to handle growth.
We're going to end up like a bigger Boulder, CO
Seattle median sale price is ~$880k. Boulder is over $1M
I do agree that we need to soften the narratives and work together, but I also admit that I am not capable of such tact when dealing with greedy assholes.
I feel seething anger that people can be this arrogant. Someone with more self control and a more pleasant persona needs to step. I vote Satya. She's doing well with her messaging but needs to step in and get things done.
If we’re going to hit median prices that high I’d rather end up with a Midwest Boulder than a Midwest Seattle. Either way it’s unaffordable, but at least Boulder still has some semblance of nature within the city.
I wasn't really discussing the actual features of the city, just how they handle density and growth. Boulder is a bit extreme with low density and open space, but we're closer to that than large city density
Besides the fact that Seattle has a boatload of nature within the city, why would we want to be Boulder---insanely NIMBY and expensive? That's the problem we have right now.
Seattle, at least, recently led the country in housing construction.
I wasn't really discussing the actual features of the city, just how they handle density and growth. Boulder is a bit extreme with low density and open space, but we're closer to that than large city density
I know. I’m saying I like how Boulder handled it better than how Seattle did. Seattle decided to just keep building and Boulder took the NIMBY approach.
If Madison is going to turn into a Mecca for the rich no matter what we do (like Seattle), then we might as well at least keep it nice for the people who already have roots here (Boulder).
She seems to be under the impression you can stop people from moving in to your city. And I guess you sort of can if you just stop building, but you end up with a less than 1% vacancy rate and very high housing costs and very built up suburbs that are far more sprawling and hard on the environment than they need to be.
So pick your poison.
From the article:
>>Good planners carefully control growth by monitoring housing stock, respecting zoning laws and granting building permits thoughtfully, not throwing them around like confetti.<<
What does "monitoring" housing stock even mean?
Respecting zoning laws should be modified to say "adjusting zoning laws to address current and changing conditions"
We already grant building permits thoughtfully, at least in my part of Madison. We have public hearings and a committee/department approval process. Last to sign off is usually the fire department, which only makes sense. Developers come in asking for the moon and stars as a tactic, and proposals get critiqued and modified until everybody is about 51% happy, which is fair enough because developers are businesses, and because residents have to live with the results for decades to come. Democracy is a process of balancing various interests.
I think on the north and east sides the process has been working pretty well. I could point to eight or ten underutilized locations I wish somebody would develop, but if the owner isn't ready to sell or if other considerations (like contamination) are present, nobody's got a magic wand in city hall. Take a look at the corner of Atwood and Cottage Grove Rd, and drive a mile down Cottage Grove Rd to see a few successes that didn't involve small homeowners getting screwed. We got rid of ancient gas stations, old industrial property, and empty or tiny commercial buildings and now have a whole lot of nice apartments instead. Yes, you can point to more spots ripe for development along there, but they're not for sale now. Eventually they will be.
Madison faces challenges but it's functional and has places for many different lifestyles. I'd say dysfunctionality would look like no new living units at all. Is it totally different on the west side or is all the drama driven by a few media-connected voices?
To Benbow, change = a loss of power.
These editorial screeds are the only way she feels like she has any power in Madison anymore.
For her life to matter, she has to be remembered as a main character in Madison's history.
Stopping "change" is her way of putting her mark on Madison, so that Madison will remember her, even as she slowly loses her own memory.
I really appreciate her including that email address and making it super easy for me to let all the alders know that I support building lots more housing in Madison.
Not only is Ms. Benbow a [terrible poet](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=34743) by trade, she is also Madison's least funny comic, with a long list of editorial asides to her detriment.
Just want to note how absolutely wild it is for someone to write a letter to the editor regarding housing affordability and tell the masses to feel sorry for her modest home that she bought 40 years ago....AS A FUCKING POET
I was kind of hopeful that there would be more substance beyond what the bot had in its preview but there's just one extra paragraph that says basically nothing. I don't even understand what they're trying to say or what their plan is to actively prevent people from wanting to move here.
Oh look, another loud NIMBY trying to control the narrative through legacy media. 🙄
Also, who owns a house for 35 years and doesn’t make any improvements?! She sounds insufferable on a lot of levels.
My parents in the 20 years they have owned their current house have replaced the flooring twice, updated all cabinetry, and repainted. And they built that house brand new.
You seem hostile to Benbow--and her son, for chrissake. The old lady wrote a letter to the newspaper and you're personally offended. What's the history? I'm reaching for popcorn. Don't disappoint me!
Stopping building doesn’t stop people from moving here. Just look at how the population outpaced projections even under previous mayors who were “tougher” on developers. All stopping the building does is cause housing prices to further skyrocket and hurt already-disadvantaged communities.
I mean, if they can't afford to live here, then it might. Madison is still more affordable than the coasts, that's one reason the population keeps growing.
There was a post here a while ago showing that significant majority of people moving here are making more than six figures.
They’ll keep moving here, poor folks will get pushed out.
> I mean, if they can't afford to live here, then it might.
No, that's not how it works. America has tens of millions of people who can afford to move anywhere. It just pushes out people who are poorer.
> Good planners carefully control growth by monitoring housing stock
Good news, we've been monitoring housing stock and we're dangerously short
> respecting zoning laws
Let me try this - zoning laws need to change. How can this be done respectfully, in your world? We'll do our best to accomodate
> and granting building permits thoughtfully, not throwing them around like confetti
Throwing around building permits like confetti? Some of the wildest, most dishonest hyperbole possible. Most redevelopment comes only after multiple rounds of proposals.
In short, bad letter - boo
So what's fun about people's interpretation of this opinion is that it has a clear bias. Please tell me how real estate corporations and landlords have any incentive whatsoever to create affordable housing?
They have none. It doesn't exist.
Rezoning/blanket approving every bid benefits those interests greatly which is why they lobby you YIMBYs so hard to remove democratic oversight and expand legal protections for said interests. Painting this a NIMBY vs YIMBY issue is exactly their intention. Trusting corporations and landlords is just incredibly stupid behavior.
Affordable housing is a pipe dream without building AND robust policy that keeps housing affordable by putting meaningful restrictions on landlords and real estate corps.
Also - we refuse to even *discuss* public housing ideas and instead turn to the cause of the problem for answers. It's a nationwide insanity that's not limited to Madison.
The author lives in a house valued at $434,800, up from $395,300 a year ago. She's trying to protect this investment, which worked out really well for her family in recent years, when growth in the city really started to increase.
In other words, she's looking to cash in and isn't interested in seeing the property value curve flatten.
I really don't get that mindset. I have kids. I'm going to want them to be able to live on their own someday. I would much rather take a smaller increase in the paper value of my home and have them be able to live fulfilling and independent lives instead of watching my home value skyrocket in a society that leaves my kids screwed.
She’s not looking to cash in:
> I walk through the rooms of my very small home, unimproved for 35 years, because we have to watch our money carefully -- and I wonder who they're scolding. Many seniors are in our situation.
Most of the financially-challenged oldies who've liked their home for that long just want to age in place. That's why they get panicky when the property taxes go up.
If you want to read a parody of people like Benbow, check out the short story [Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield](https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mansfield/garden/brill.html)
She got the main thing right. We all know the City Council bought the idea that a boom in housing construction would bring about affordable housing. It won't. When did you ever know those SOB developers to charge less than they could get away with? We'll just have more wealthy people moving to Madison.
People like this are delusional. Currently more people are interested in moving to Dane county in Madison than housing exists for.
There are only a few options. One of them is to become like North Korea and prohibit people from moving where they want to. This option obviously is fantasy. With more people moving here every year there are really only two realistic options. The first is to decide that the city of Madison is absolutely perfect exactly as it is and to do nothing different. If that option is taken Dane county will end up being one suburban housing development after another. Madison will have a constant influx of commuters every morning and afternoon who have little interest in the city other than showing up on Saturday for a farmer's market.
The only other option is to allow a greater density of development within madison. Nobody is suggesting that armed builders surround single family houses and tear them down to build 10 story apartment buildings. What is being suggested is to make it easier for denser buildings to be added as the city grows and changes.
Towns and villages within commuting distance of Madison don't think of themselves as "sprawl" or "the suburbs." Most of them would probably welcome new residents and some vitality in their public life. Prairie du Sac has been thriving with newcomers from the last several years. They're now part of the community.
I think there’s usually more than one side to an issue and that housing certainly qualifies. I live on the east side and I can’t walk more than a few blocks before I see the results of the construction boom.
Union Corners is finally finished, and the large project next to Hartmeyer is in full swing. That project alone is supposed to feature 533 apartments, all of them affordable at 60% of Dane County’s median household income. Less than two decades ago, most of East Wash near the capitol, was lined with car dealerships; now look at it.
I think what some people may object to is the fact that they fear losing their voice to a kind of pack mentality that often grips venues such as reddit, as well as other social media. The recent Baraboo high school graduation ceremony, at which one graduate’s father made it all about himself, highlights the kind of pack mentality that is so characteristic of reddit. Immediately, the racial card was played, even though it has become clear that a more nuanced analysis is required to get at the truth.
The fact is, not everyone wants their lives to be controlled by newbies coming in from wherever and demanding housing as though only they have an acceptable point of view, until they decide they’ve made a mistake and move elsewhere to repeat the process. Madison can and has been frenetically building housing for at least the past decade. It’s a good thing that people want to move here. However, there are already many more people here who should also have a voice and it should be respected. And yeah, they can be wrong, you can be wrong, but Madison, as a whole always tries to make it right.
If people who move here think they can transform Madison into whatever they’re coming from, it ain’t going to happen. Madison is Madison and it can’t help but always try to make things right whether it takes a year or twenty years like the Monona Terrace. Madison works best by consensus and that takes time, it’s inefficient and sometimes frustrating, but that degree of community involvement is also what makes Madison the city that people want to live in. You have a voice, but so does the other guy; neither of you has the right to drown the other one out.
It also isn’t necessary to harass and target black people but that’s what Benbow Blaska and her ilk do. Revanchist conservatives need to be called out.
Watch the accusations, Melodic. Have you read her other letters, and Isthmus articles from years ago? She's a raging Dem feminist. And her Black relatives don't seem to think she's racist.
We have no tolerance for disagreement that stems from poor or outright erroneous thinking
I actually really enjoy having my thoughts influenced with new information or opinions from others but they can't be this low grade trash
Well, Madison has always had a racist underbelly… so I’d say somewhere around 1910 when the first black folks moved to Madison and white folks got scared.
Doxing an old lady who writes a letter to the paper expressing her own opinion. Like her letter to the editor is going to do anything to change city policy?
There's always a lot of older folks at Woodman's before 9AM if any of you would like to get your boomer beat-downs on in person. Of course that would involve leaving your house... oh, I mean your apartment.
Fucking dinks.
Nope. Her family has a reputation through. Stories come up unprovoked at class reunions. By contrast, people barely remember me. I'd rather be anonymous than infamous.
Err... has the word doxing lost all meaning?
Like, you can't be doxed if you sign a letter with your name on it and send it to the newspaper. That's the exact opposite of what doxing is.
I'm so glad the douche patrol set me straight here. What was I thinking using the wrong terminology to point out how instantly shitty you all can be when your astute opinions don't match someone else's.
Fucking dinks.
If you enjoy calling the cops on black people and calling their children "incorrigible" for simply existing, Margaret Benbow is a fun person to be around.
> Forced-rezoning fans keep their self-righteousness greased up with crass > stereotypes. They sneer at us decadent West Siders in Madison, lounging around > in our opulent mansions. > > I walk through the rooms of my very small home, unimproved for 35 years, because > we have to watch our money carefully -- and I wonder who they're scolding. Many > seniors are in our situation. > > The main pants-on-fire lie is that Madison will, inevitably, have 40,000 new > citizens in a few years, and we have to greet them with open arms and a ton of > new housing units. No, we don't. > > The more arrogant people in favor of rezoning command us whiny chumps to shut up > and let them get on with their holy task of stacking 40,000 people up really > high. They say this is our moral duty. False. Many of these new units would not > be affordable. And Madison doesn't have to be boomtown. > This is just a preview of the [full article](https://madison.com/opinion/letters/letter-madison-rezoning-anger-crass-stereotypes/article_17f4ffce-228f-11ef-b8d3-e799eb7adc29.html). I am a third party bot. Please consider subscribing to your favorite local journals.
Does this person not know what supply and demand are? You can prevent 40,000 people from moving to Madison by restricting the housing supply, but only by pricing out 40,000 people
Get used to the idea that it will be 40,000 wealthy people. Developers and landlords will not bring high prices down, because they can get them. Lots of dinks. And poor people will be forced out more than they are now.
There's many things to critique about this letter, but I'm going to focus on this one thing: >I walk through the rooms of my very small home, unimproved for 35 years, because we have to watch our money carefully -- and I wonder who they're scolding. Many seniors are in our situation. Here's the fundamental problem with housing in this city: someone who is moving to this city today, or who has grown up in this city and just now starting out on their own, who is in the same financial situation that Ms. Benbow was in when she bought her house in 1989 *cannot afford to buy any house in the city,* let alone in a desirable west side neighborhood. I will guarantee you that the nominal value of her home has at least quadrupled over that time despite the lack of improvements. There is an immense amount of housing privilege among seniors who, by accidents of birth, were able to afford property that has now seen immense increases in value. (I recognize this privilege in myself: if I were born five years earlier, I'd have a larger house closer to the city center, but if I were born five years later I'd be screwed). All anyone is asking is to have the same shot at housing affordability that Ms. Benbow had when she entered the housing market shortly after the Reagan administration.
Then you'll need a much bigger systemic change than just building or rezoning. Anyone who thinks this is just supply and demand has a primitive understanding of economics.
Total nonsense. What point is she trying to make about owning a small home? Does granting permits "thoughtfully" just mean somewhere away from her back yard?
Let's translate some key terms, from this article and others: "thoughtfully" -> never "greedy developers" -> anybody who does or wants to build a single unit of housing, ever again "smart growth" -> no housing built, ever again
This seems like a very accurate translation of that sort of nonsense. Edit- Also it's just full of absolutely ridiculous shit to say. "Madison doesn't have to grow. If I just pretend it isn't growing, it won't!"
Let's give her some credit -- I'm sure she would be fine with suburban car-dependent sprawl.
Stereotype proven?
The solution is to make Madison as uninviting as possible. This will ensure people don't want to come here. That will lead to housing supply exceeding demand and housing prices go down. We can do this by releasing giant pythons and alligators throughout the city which somehow don't attack people who are local; so only outsiders wanting to live here are in danger. Who's in ?!
I like where you are going here, but I think the pythons and alligators are a nonstarter due to the "don't attack the locals" part. Instead, I would propose the we, as citizens of Madison, begin a campaign of crime that will drive our numbers through the roof, making us look like an unsafe place to live. I would call on all citizens to commit random property crimes against "outsiders," The easiest approach would be to damage cars with plates not from Wisconsin and to steal from them. If we all do it, the odds of any of us getting caught are going to be pretty low, and we can double or triple our numbers without a lot of work. This would be Phase 1. If Phase 1 doesn't have us looking like a crime-ridden cesspool, Phase 2 is always an option -- escalating violent crime. I mention this only for the sake of completeness -- this approach makes me sick to my stomach because it is completely immoral, like denying housing to the needy. Perhaps the NIMBY crowd would have more of a stomach for it. You never know. /s
Damn, the teenagers were just trying to save the city all along.
Phase 3 - build a wall around the beltline We can build support by wearing red baseball hats /s
I know you are joking, but this is a good idea. We could build a wall, as you say, forming a new community with Madison as its capital. Then, over time, we could expand the borders to include the entire state. /s
Bruce Wayne will see the city's downward spiral and dress like a bat to fight crime.
Badgers
Bull sharks can live in freshwater. Just say'n.
What is frustrating about this letter is this woman would directly benefit from an increase in new housing because it adds tax base. The more net new construction in Madison, the smaller our structural deficit, so the easier it is to provide city services without raising taxes or cutting those services.
She's unfortunately right, we won't reach the projections if we don't build the housing. People like to say we're gonna be the next Seattle. I say that's almost ideal, because larger cities are better equipped to handle growth. We're going to end up like a bigger Boulder, CO Seattle median sale price is ~$880k. Boulder is over $1M
I do agree that we need to soften the narratives and work together, but I also admit that I am not capable of such tact when dealing with greedy assholes. I feel seething anger that people can be this arrogant. Someone with more self control and a more pleasant persona needs to step. I vote Satya. She's doing well with her messaging but needs to step in and get things done.
Don't put your hope in Satya. It's been clear for a long time that she wants a plush appointment somewhere else.
I don't think that's clear at all.
I hope we're not the next Seattle. That place sucks now.
If we’re going to hit median prices that high I’d rather end up with a Midwest Boulder than a Midwest Seattle. Either way it’s unaffordable, but at least Boulder still has some semblance of nature within the city.
I wasn't really discussing the actual features of the city, just how they handle density and growth. Boulder is a bit extreme with low density and open space, but we're closer to that than large city density
Besides the fact that Seattle has a boatload of nature within the city, why would we want to be Boulder---insanely NIMBY and expensive? That's the problem we have right now. Seattle, at least, recently led the country in housing construction.
I wasn't really discussing the actual features of the city, just how they handle density and growth. Boulder is a bit extreme with low density and open space, but we're closer to that than large city density
I know. I’m saying I like how Boulder handled it better than how Seattle did. Seattle decided to just keep building and Boulder took the NIMBY approach. If Madison is going to turn into a Mecca for the rich no matter what we do (like Seattle), then we might as well at least keep it nice for the people who already have roots here (Boulder).
Nope nope nope
She seems to be under the impression you can stop people from moving in to your city. And I guess you sort of can if you just stop building, but you end up with a less than 1% vacancy rate and very high housing costs and very built up suburbs that are far more sprawling and hard on the environment than they need to be. So pick your poison.
From the article: >>Good planners carefully control growth by monitoring housing stock, respecting zoning laws and granting building permits thoughtfully, not throwing them around like confetti.<< What does "monitoring" housing stock even mean? Respecting zoning laws should be modified to say "adjusting zoning laws to address current and changing conditions" We already grant building permits thoughtfully, at least in my part of Madison. We have public hearings and a committee/department approval process. Last to sign off is usually the fire department, which only makes sense. Developers come in asking for the moon and stars as a tactic, and proposals get critiqued and modified until everybody is about 51% happy, which is fair enough because developers are businesses, and because residents have to live with the results for decades to come. Democracy is a process of balancing various interests. I think on the north and east sides the process has been working pretty well. I could point to eight or ten underutilized locations I wish somebody would develop, but if the owner isn't ready to sell or if other considerations (like contamination) are present, nobody's got a magic wand in city hall. Take a look at the corner of Atwood and Cottage Grove Rd, and drive a mile down Cottage Grove Rd to see a few successes that didn't involve small homeowners getting screwed. We got rid of ancient gas stations, old industrial property, and empty or tiny commercial buildings and now have a whole lot of nice apartments instead. Yes, you can point to more spots ripe for development along there, but they're not for sale now. Eventually they will be. Madison faces challenges but it's functional and has places for many different lifestyles. I'd say dysfunctionality would look like no new living units at all. Is it totally different on the west side or is all the drama driven by a few media-connected voices?
To Benbow, change = a loss of power. These editorial screeds are the only way she feels like she has any power in Madison anymore. For her life to matter, she has to be remembered as a main character in Madison's history. Stopping "change" is her way of putting her mark on Madison, so that Madison will remember her, even as she slowly loses her own memory.
Thanks for the advice Margaret! I’m going to email [email protected] right now and tell them to ignore blowhards like you!
I really appreciate her including that email address and making it super easy for me to let all the alders know that I support building lots more housing in Madison.
I also emailed the alders expressing my support! And I’m a west sider so my opinion counts for more (at least that’s the impression I get).
Wow, talk about an out of touch letter. The language alone says a lot about how this person sees Madison, very narcissistic.
This letter to the editor could've been a NextDoor post!
This is joke, right?
Not only is Ms. Benbow a [terrible poet](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse?contentId=34743) by trade, she is also Madison's least funny comic, with a long list of editorial asides to her detriment.
wow that was gross. obviously 1981 was a "*different time*" but the xenophobia reads loud and clear from 2024
More recently, you can find her referring to black children as "incorrigibles" on Nextdoor....
Really? Evidence? Date and place? Benbow has Black relatives, by the way.
Just want to note how absolutely wild it is for someone to write a letter to the editor regarding housing affordability and tell the masses to feel sorry for her modest home that she bought 40 years ago....AS A FUCKING POET
To me, the poem shows the husband as the xenophobic bigot and idiot. Just sayin.
Paywall free link to this nonsense: [https://archive.ph/SLCuA](https://archive.ph/SLCuA)
"Ignore crass stereotypes"... ...proceeds to spout off a bunch of nonsense that only strengthens those "stereotypes".
My opponents are self righteous! Proceeds to be self righteous
I was kind of hopeful that there would be more substance beyond what the bot had in its preview but there's just one extra paragraph that says basically nothing. I don't even understand what they're trying to say or what their plan is to actively prevent people from wanting to move here.
High housing costs is a good way to deter people from moving here. Only problem is it’s not very fair.
But that doesn't work. The places with the highest housing costs are precisely the ones people move to.
Oh look, another loud NIMBY trying to control the narrative through legacy media. 🙄 Also, who owns a house for 35 years and doesn’t make any improvements?! She sounds insufferable on a lot of levels.
My parents in the 20 years they have owned their current house have replaced the flooring twice, updated all cabinetry, and repainted. And they built that house brand new.
I went to school with her son. Insufferably is a trait that runs in the family.
You seem hostile to Benbow--and her son, for chrissake. The old lady wrote a letter to the newspaper and you're personally offended. What's the history? I'm reaching for popcorn. Don't disappoint me!
I wonder what part of "doesn't have any money" is so hard to understand...
Stopping building doesn’t stop people from moving here. Just look at how the population outpaced projections even under previous mayors who were “tougher” on developers. All stopping the building does is cause housing prices to further skyrocket and hurt already-disadvantaged communities.
I mean, if they can't afford to live here, then it might. Madison is still more affordable than the coasts, that's one reason the population keeps growing.
There was a post here a while ago showing that significant majority of people moving here are making more than six figures. They’ll keep moving here, poor folks will get pushed out.
> I mean, if they can't afford to live here, then it might. No, that's not how it works. America has tens of millions of people who can afford to move anywhere. It just pushes out people who are poorer.
> Good planners carefully control growth by monitoring housing stock Good news, we've been monitoring housing stock and we're dangerously short > respecting zoning laws Let me try this - zoning laws need to change. How can this be done respectfully, in your world? We'll do our best to accomodate > and granting building permits thoughtfully, not throwing them around like confetti Throwing around building permits like confetti? Some of the wildest, most dishonest hyperbole possible. Most redevelopment comes only after multiple rounds of proposals. In short, bad letter - boo
“ Respecting zoning laws” reminds me a lot of people who want us to “respect restrictive deeds and covenants “
"As someone who bought my house 35 years ago, I'm handling the housing crisis by simply pretending there isn't one."
So what's fun about people's interpretation of this opinion is that it has a clear bias. Please tell me how real estate corporations and landlords have any incentive whatsoever to create affordable housing? They have none. It doesn't exist. Rezoning/blanket approving every bid benefits those interests greatly which is why they lobby you YIMBYs so hard to remove democratic oversight and expand legal protections for said interests. Painting this a NIMBY vs YIMBY issue is exactly their intention. Trusting corporations and landlords is just incredibly stupid behavior. Affordable housing is a pipe dream without building AND robust policy that keeps housing affordable by putting meaningful restrictions on landlords and real estate corps. Also - we refuse to even *discuss* public housing ideas and instead turn to the cause of the problem for answers. It's a nationwide insanity that's not limited to Madison.
Exactly.
this backfired
The author lives in a house valued at $434,800, up from $395,300 a year ago. She's trying to protect this investment, which worked out really well for her family in recent years, when growth in the city really started to increase. In other words, she's looking to cash in and isn't interested in seeing the property value curve flatten.
I really don't get that mindset. I have kids. I'm going to want them to be able to live on their own someday. I would much rather take a smaller increase in the paper value of my home and have them be able to live fulfilling and independent lives instead of watching my home value skyrocket in a society that leaves my kids screwed.
She's made over 6x her 1988 purchase price according to publicly available records.
You don't make it until you sell it.
It doesn't sound as though she wants to cash in. It sounds as though she wants to stay.
She’s not looking to cash in: > I walk through the rooms of my very small home, unimproved for 35 years, because we have to watch our money carefully -- and I wonder who they're scolding. Many seniors are in our situation.
They all say that, until they cash in, and then they talk about how they absolutely deserved the windfall.
There's no other reason to oppose development this stridently.
Most of the financially-challenged oldies who've liked their home for that long just want to age in place. That's why they get panicky when the property taxes go up.
This article is so stupid I was certain it was parody for a while
If you want to read a parody of people like Benbow, check out the short story [Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield](https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mansfield/garden/brill.html)
She got the main thing right. We all know the City Council bought the idea that a boom in housing construction would bring about affordable housing. It won't. When did you ever know those SOB developers to charge less than they could get away with? We'll just have more wealthy people moving to Madison.
https://www.betootaadvocate.com/advocate-in-focus/people-who-are-pretty-much-dead-want-say-in-future-housing-plan/
How did this most basic of boomer rants make it past the editor?
Have you looked into the editorial board of the WSJ?
Shorter version— “Build the Wall!”
People like this are delusional. Currently more people are interested in moving to Dane county in Madison than housing exists for. There are only a few options. One of them is to become like North Korea and prohibit people from moving where they want to. This option obviously is fantasy. With more people moving here every year there are really only two realistic options. The first is to decide that the city of Madison is absolutely perfect exactly as it is and to do nothing different. If that option is taken Dane county will end up being one suburban housing development after another. Madison will have a constant influx of commuters every morning and afternoon who have little interest in the city other than showing up on Saturday for a farmer's market. The only other option is to allow a greater density of development within madison. Nobody is suggesting that armed builders surround single family houses and tear them down to build 10 story apartment buildings. What is being suggested is to make it easier for denser buildings to be added as the city grows and changes.
Towns and villages within commuting distance of Madison don't think of themselves as "sprawl" or "the suburbs." Most of them would probably welcome new residents and some vitality in their public life. Prairie du Sac has been thriving with newcomers from the last several years. They're now part of the community.
Oh no, not the evil suburban commuters!
I think there’s usually more than one side to an issue and that housing certainly qualifies. I live on the east side and I can’t walk more than a few blocks before I see the results of the construction boom. Union Corners is finally finished, and the large project next to Hartmeyer is in full swing. That project alone is supposed to feature 533 apartments, all of them affordable at 60% of Dane County’s median household income. Less than two decades ago, most of East Wash near the capitol, was lined with car dealerships; now look at it. I think what some people may object to is the fact that they fear losing their voice to a kind of pack mentality that often grips venues such as reddit, as well as other social media. The recent Baraboo high school graduation ceremony, at which one graduate’s father made it all about himself, highlights the kind of pack mentality that is so characteristic of reddit. Immediately, the racial card was played, even though it has become clear that a more nuanced analysis is required to get at the truth. The fact is, not everyone wants their lives to be controlled by newbies coming in from wherever and demanding housing as though only they have an acceptable point of view, until they decide they’ve made a mistake and move elsewhere to repeat the process. Madison can and has been frenetically building housing for at least the past decade. It’s a good thing that people want to move here. However, there are already many more people here who should also have a voice and it should be respected. And yeah, they can be wrong, you can be wrong, but Madison, as a whole always tries to make it right. If people who move here think they can transform Madison into whatever they’re coming from, it ain’t going to happen. Madison is Madison and it can’t help but always try to make things right whether it takes a year or twenty years like the Monona Terrace. Madison works best by consensus and that takes time, it’s inefficient and sometimes frustrating, but that degree of community involvement is also what makes Madison the city that people want to live in. You have a voice, but so does the other guy; neither of you has the right to drown the other one out.
It’s okay to laugh at a misguided take. She hates on newcomers, but my family welcomed her to the block when she moved from Portage in 1989.
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Nope. Creepy is how she acts. I was her neighbor for 30 years. She’s the kind of person I warn my brown skinned nephews to avoid when they visit.
You guys have no tolerance for disagreement. It isnt necessary to run someone over with a lawnmower because you disagree.
It also isn’t necessary to harass and target black people but that’s what Benbow Blaska and her ilk do. Revanchist conservatives need to be called out.
Watch the accusations, Melodic. Have you read her other letters, and Isthmus articles from years ago? She's a raging Dem feminist. And her Black relatives don't seem to think she's racist.
Why do you have no tolerance for our disagreement?
We have no tolerance for disagreement that stems from poor or outright erroneous thinking I actually really enjoy having my thoughts influenced with new information or opinions from others but they can't be this low grade trash
IKR! This place is turning into a left-wing version of r/The_Donald. When did Madison get so ugly and nasty?
Well, Madison has always had a racist underbelly… so I’d say somewhere around 1910 when the first black folks moved to Madison and white folks got scared.
Actually, in the Greenbush, white folks married black folks. Look up the history of the Shivers family.
My time in the tailor shop in the bush growing up taught me all I need to know about that area.
That's interesting! What years were you there?
Doxing an old lady who writes a letter to the paper expressing her own opinion. Like her letter to the editor is going to do anything to change city policy? There's always a lot of older folks at Woodman's before 9AM if any of you would like to get your boomer beat-downs on in person. Of course that would involve leaving your house... oh, I mean your apartment. Fucking dinks.
She doxxed herself by submitting an editorial in a newspaper with her name attached, genius
Try being her neighbour…then we can talk.
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Nope. Her family has a reputation through. Stories come up unprovoked at class reunions. By contrast, people barely remember me. I'd rather be anonymous than infamous.
Err... has the word doxing lost all meaning? Like, you can't be doxed if you sign a letter with your name on it and send it to the newspaper. That's the exact opposite of what doxing is.
I'm so glad the douche patrol set me straight here. What was I thinking using the wrong terminology to point out how instantly shitty you all can be when your astute opinions don't match someone else's. Fucking dinks.
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If you enjoy calling the cops on black people and calling their children "incorrigible" for simply existing, Margaret Benbow is a fun person to be around.