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Showing posts from November, 2013

Cambridge Council Elections

People tend to spend a lot of time thinking about national politics and that only makes sense.  We, or people in my social circles, do spend most of our time consuming national news and the New York Times or similar papers aren't going to concern themselves about little old Cambridge.  Even the Boston Globe has barely mentioned the election.  Which makes sense, in a way, since any given local election will only effect a relatively small number of people. But there are some ways in which the cumulative effect of city council elections from around the country have large impacts on the world.  The most significant of these is probably decisions taken by the local government regarding building density.  People frequently talk about the local effects of decisions by the town or city government regarding new development.  It might increase tax revenue or increase the supply of housing on one hand, but it might overload transportation infrastructure or change the character of neighbor