Anika Singh Lemar

Restaurant owners excited to serve more customers, public high school principals who see what their housing insecure students face, renters who would like to continue to live here, and homeowners who want even more people to enjoy the City we love: this is New Haven.

I am reading the written testimony in support of Downtown for All, an upzoning of downtown New Haven supported by all three of its city council people and, yay, New Haven, honestly, your (our!) idealism and hospitality and just basic desire to make life better are so needed here in Connecticut.

"Why can't blue states build housing?" asks USA Today in an article about Lamont's veto of 5002.

The idea that there are talented and gifted 4 and 5 year olds is bonkers. Nothing makes people crazier than becoming parents.

Justice Kavanaugh: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully
in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”

Thankfully this conversation is live and evolving, in part because thanks to YIMBY legislative wins, they are now forced to move some of their fights into the courtroom. Was really glad to be part of these conversations @yimbytown.bsky.social over the last couple of days.

There is a real conversation to be had about YIMBYism and race and it's not that "the vibes are off." It's that it's taken YIMBYs a minute to connect their work to the racial justice movement that understood exclusionary zoning as a problem 75 years ago, decades before YIMBYs came to it.

"The capacity of government to deliver is really important for all the flavors of abundance." Stephanie Pollack speaking to @yimbytown.bsky.social

Homelessness rises in CT as federal funding remains in flux There were 3,735 people living in shelters or outside in CT in January 2025, compared to 3,410 in January 2024. That’s nearly a 10% increase.

The good news here is that the governor knows there's a crisis and is laser-focused on getting a housing bill passed that will start to take on some of these systemic issues.

right?

Homelessness rises in CT as federal funding remains in flux ctmirror.org/2025/09/11/c...

Also made a plug for local public day care. #yimbytown

Unexpectedly, North Dakota Gov Kelly Armstrong just told @yimbytown.bsky.social to advocate for forming state banks to finance affordable housing.

Great panel, depressing (though not surprising coming from New Eng) to hear that MBTA communities is dampening legislators' willingness to do more rather than inspiring them to iterate and continue progress. This is my fear here in CT.

Yep, I am in a standing only room, at a session on building codes, @yimbytown.bsky.social. No one call the fire marshal, please.

Love hearing from @billmckibben.bsky.social talking to @yimbytown.bsky.social about how it takes months to install solar panels in the US rather than days in Europe, Australia...15,000 America. municipalities, each with its own regulations and inspectors... sounds familiar!

Like 150 people just booed and hissed Ned Lamont, pretty sure most of them had no idea who he was six hours ago. Totally well deserved. @yimbytown.bsky.social #yimbytown

Zoning receivership is a phrase I have never heard before. Like it. @yimbytown.bsky.social #yimbytown

Hearing from a Montana community land trust, originally focused on low and moderate-income households, that got YIMBY-pilled when they started getting pressure to build subsidized housing for families at 200% of median income. Sounds very familiar here in CT. #yimbytown @yimbytown.bsky.social

very excited to be in conversation with old friends and new, advocates and attorneys from California, New Jersey, DC, Massachusetts and, yes, Connecticut

also Monday!!

Join me, YIMBYtown 2025, What role can lawyers play in advancing equitable zoning, September 15, New Haven, CT.

Monday!!

I will for sure be citing Alan Mallach when I talk about the role of lawyers in zoning reform and theimportance of focusing advocacy efforts on enforcement state laws alongside some fabulous lawyers at two @yimbytown.bsky.social panels on Monday.

To sprawl or not to sprawl But is that really the question?

"One of the major reasons why housing is so expensive in New York City is because so little housing is being built in its suburbs...To the extent that housing costs have moderated in Austin, it’s the result of the sum of urban and suburban production, not Austin’s growth alone."

Connecticut's sortof prominent here. Not a good thing.

congrats, shark officially jumped.

At least 2 students shot at a Denver-area high school, authorities say | CNN At least two students have been shot at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The shooting of Charlie Kirk was the 46th school shooting of the year. The 47th one happened moments afterwards. www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/u...

And these NIMBYs are who Gov Lamont thinks should lead our state's housing policy.

These people are losing it, btw, and their electeds are enabling them, over 70 townhouses on 6 acres "near a new medical facility, a half mile from a bus stop and mall in Trumbull and near access to the Merritt Parkway."

Local news headline: "Affordable housing plan angers Easton, Trumbull residents, officials. 'Out of place'"

When the thing that makes you angry is the affordable housing plan, rather than the affordable housing crisis, you should be finding time to meet with your therapist, not screaming your head off at a planning and zoning hearing.

Wealthy New York Developers Hold Meeting to Plot Mamdani’s Defeat

For anyone who cares to pay attention, the fact that major developers are lining up behind the NIMBY mayoral candidate tells you a lot about real-world housing politics and who the real shills tend to be in local YIMBY/NIMBY fights. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/n...

Connecticut leaders push for deal on affordable housing amid ongoing stalemate "Listen: Bring us to the table. Let's knock out things we can agree on," said state Rep. Tony Scott, R-Trumbull.

Yes. "I would encourage municipal leaders to take time to review CCM's advocacy role and compare the benefits of membership with its messaging efforts opposing policies that could help them. The results could be striking." www.ctinsider.com/politics/art...