Jonathan Berk 🏠

Here's a new one...

A city council candidate claiming the laws of supply & demand don't exist... we don't need to build more housing... instead, eliminate the $25/month trash fee that the City charges landlords (in place for a decade) to drive rents lower...

Rents in the City have doubled in the past decade. The $25 fee has been in place, and the same amount, for 20-years...

Here's a new one...

A city council candidate claiming the laws of supply & demand don't exist... we don't need to build more housing... instead, eliminate the $25/month trash fee that the City charges landlords (in place for a decade) to drive rents lower...

The #1 thing I have learned about housing policy is that housing is too expensive & supply is limited because *people make it that way.* Some of that is active NIMBY opposition; some is a simple failure to fix broken rules like the one below.

Why five feet of building space can doom construction - The Boston Globe 1973 law on high-rise threshold is out of sync with national recommendations.

“A lot of times, we’re reluctant to change on really dumb things.”

Many of the rules shaping what we can and can’t build today were written 50–60 years ago. If we want to meet Massachusetts’ modern housing needs, everything should be on the table for reform.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/05/o...

Thanks Robin

Salem City Council voted 10-1 to eliminate minimum parking requirements.

What does this mean and how did we get here?

📍Salem, MA

Planning Department calls for scrapping business district parking requirements - Newton Beacon Do parking requirements hinder local businesses, and should they be thrown out? The City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee members, joined by Peter Doeringer representing the Planning and Develo...

www.newtonbeacon.org/planning-dep...

Planning Department Calls For Scrapping Business District Parking Requirements

“Land within the city and within the region is limited, and if we can decouple parking from the businesses, or the spaces themselves, we can provide more space for businesses."

📍Newton, MA

Hey I wonder what other colonial era east coast settlement would really benefit from its city council legalizing parking flexibility 👀

Pew finds something that everybody in codes and standards knows but few will say out loud: we apply far stricter fire safety standards to apartments than to houses. www.pew.org/en/research-...

Salem City Council voted 10-1 to eliminate minimum parking requirements.

What does this mean and how did we get here?

📍Salem, MA

Let's do this as well, Boston!

Salem Eliminates Minimum Parking Requirements For New Multi-Family Housing SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS- On Thursday, the Salem City Council voted 10-1 to eliminate onerous minimum parking requirements for new multi-family housing, with Ward 1 Councilor Cynthia Jerzylo casting the s...

🚨 BREAKING: Salem, Massachusetts, my City, has eliminated multi-family parking requirements citywide after a 10-1 vote at City Council and unanimous support of Planning Board.
www.remainplaces.com/post/my-city...

Salem eliminates parking minimums for new development, in bid to make housing cheaper - The Boston Globe Salem is the latest Greater Boston municipality to make such a move.

“Eliminating minimum parking requirements is a historic-preservation strategy, a climate action, a mobility win & housing-affordability policy in one. It helps make housing more affordable, neighborhoods more walkable, & city more livable.”

- Salem Planning Board
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/29/b...

Great news out of Salem, let's make it happen state-wide!

Thanks Anna!

Salem eliminates parking minimums for new development, in bid to make housing cheaper - The Boston Globe Salem is the latest Greater Boston municipality to make such a move.

“Eliminating minimum parking requirements is a historic-preservation strategy, a climate action, a mobility win & housing-affordability policy in one. It helps make housing more affordable, neighborhoods more walkable, & city more livable.”

- Salem Planning Board
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/29/b...

Mayor Pangallo Signs Ordinance Eliminating Parking Mandates for New Multifamily Housing in Salem
www.salemma.gov/CivicAlerts....

Salem Eliminates Minimum Parking Requirements For New Multi-Family Housing SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS- On Thursday, the Salem City Council voted 10-1 to eliminate onerous minimum parking requirements for new multi-family housing, with Ward 1 Councilor Cynthia Jerzylo casting the s...

🚨 BREAKING: Salem, Massachusetts, my City, has eliminated multi-family parking requirements citywide after a 10-1 vote at City Council and unanimous support of Planning Board.
www.remainplaces.com/post/my-city...

Doing things efficiently in response to a crisis? That’s so not the Massachusetts way though…

Do apartment buildings really need two stairwells? - The Boston Globe Fire safety advances have made single-stair construction safer.

“Regulations that hinder building or add costs should be reexamined… State policy makers should, in consultation with developers & fire safety professionals, change the state building code to allow more single- stair construction.”
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/28/o...

Decades in the making: South Burlington is building the walkable downtown it’s long needed, mixing student, senior & market-rate housing with shops and gathering spaces. Hundreds of new desperately needed units of housing, while most of the city’s wilderness stays preserved.

Decades in the making: South Burlington is building the walkable downtown it’s long needed, mixing student, senior & market-rate housing with shops and gathering spaces. Hundreds of new desperately needed units of housing, while most of the city’s wilderness stays preserved.

As @timczerwienski.bsky.social said, the Affordable Homes Act applied the ADU reforms to Ch. 40A which sadly does not apply to Boston.

SB 962/ HB172, An Act To Promote Yes In My Backyard

🏘️ allow up to 5-homes per lot
🚗 eliminate parking mins
🚂 allow more homes near transit

Send Massachusetts legislators your support now;

✅ Sign on: tinyurl.com/yadt8bmh
✅ Submit testimony: tinyurl.com/3waz26ms

SB 962/ HB172, An Act To Promote Yes In My Backyard

🏘️ allow up to 5-homes per lot
🚗 eliminate parking mins
🚂 allow more homes near transit

Send Massachusetts legislators your support now;

✅ Sign on: tinyurl.com/yadt8bmh
✅ Submit testimony: tinyurl.com/3waz26ms

if Tylenol wins their upcoming lawsuit against the Federal Government…

Few cities blend eras like Boston with Back Bay towers framed by the nearby South End brownstones. That evolution is what makes the City great, but Boston must be allowed to continue its evolution, realizing the next version of itself.

Roll back regulations to lower housing costs - The Boston Globe The sheer volume of Massachusetts’ regulations can drive up the total cost of construction in significant ways. But some rules are no longer necessary.

“The average construction cost for a residential unit in Massachusetts, excluding the value of the land, was $334,280, one of the highest in the country. In the state with the lowest construction costs, Delaware, the average unit costs just $143,579 to build.”
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/21/o...