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Really disappointed to hear that @SunriseBoston is working on a campaign with @ABetterCambMA, a pro-developer YIMBY group in Cambridge. There's a bunch of misleading information put out by YIMBY groups and I'll respond to that, but I'll start with talking about interests (a 
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Also worth saying I have been a fan of @SunriseBoston for years. I think they're getting a lot of things right and are doing some really great organizing right. So throwing that out there, that this disagreement is coming from a place of respect and strategic difference. (2/19)
So let's start with the trouble with YIMBYs. For those that don't know, YIMBY is a play on the acronym NIMBY (not in my backyard). NIMBY is a blanket label who have objections to new development near their homes. (3/19)
Obviously when you account for racial and class divides, NIMBYism has served as a way for wealthy, well connected white people to thwart any semblance of integration of their neighborhoods to "protect the value of their property" ie to protect their personal self-interest (4/19)
But then the YIMBY narrative is swinging the pendulum from one dysfunctional side to the opposite, still dysfunctional side. The response to requests for zoning variances shouldn't automatically be "YES" it should be "WHAT FOR." (5/19)
Basically the YIMBY perspective swings influence from one set of interests (those of abutting private property owners trying to maintain their equity) to another (those of corporate developers and gentrifies) at the EXPENSE OF working-class communities of color. (6/19)
In court, both sides of a case are heard. Both parties (the developer and the community) should have to justify their position. Is the developer pushing for increased density to maximize profits OR b/c they're trying to increase affordable housing? (7/19)
And is the neighborhood pushing back because they don't want to see their neighborhood integrated OR because the developer has a track record of displacing families in favor of higher-paying renters? (8/19)
So the question shouldn't be whether people get to build or not. The question should be WHAT ARE WE BUILDING and HOW IS THE COMMUNITY INFORMING THAT PROCESS? (9/19)
There is no doubt that we need to change how development happens in our cities. Communities deserve to have a say in what gets developed. But this requires a completely different orientation to governance and neighborhood planning, not blanket permission. (10/19)
Back to Sunrise and YIMBYs. The timing is ironic considering that @MassGovernor recently defeated bills being championed by our climate AND housing justice organizing (climate bill, TOPA, HOMES/Eviction Sealing) due to pressure from big real estate. (11/19)
The interests of the working class poor fighting for housing justice are far more aligned with climate justice than big real estate. This is a perfect example of having others who's liberation is bound together with ours and that's why this feels especially short-sighted. (12/19)
Now back to some of the points that were made in this misleading thread https://twitter.com/ABetterCambMA/status/1352235207739518977?s=20 (13/19)
Building new apartments is not "banned in 3 neighborhoods in Cambridge." There is an affordable housing overlay, so you can still build affordable housing. The problem is that developers don't want to do this because it minimizes their profit. (14/19)
The entire YIMBY argument is based on supply and demand. Basically they say that because new units aren't being built, old units are increasing in cost. Guess what? New units aren't going to be cheaper than existing units, and rent for old units aren't going to go down (15/19)
Anybody who knows how averages work means that this creates a larger pie to speculate over without actually addressing the problem of speculation. It's the same reason the response to climate change can't just rely on supply and demand, it has to include regulation. (16/19)
This tweet is especially misleading because it seems to imply that as zoning has created "forced scarcity" that rents have gone up. This conveniently starts in 1995. What else happened around that time? (17/19) https://twitter.com/ABetterCambMA/status/1352235224088907778?s=20
Oh yeah, the repeal of rent control. It turns out that if you repeal a cap on rent increases, rents will go up dramatically. Ironically this chart illustrates what happens when the real estate industry is allowed to "self regulate" (18/19)
So I hope @SunriseBoston will reconsider this campaign and move toward one that actually increases dense, sustainable and healthy affordable housing. (19/19)
