Nate Baker

Congratulations to the winners of the Durham municipal race, including Leonardo Williams, Chelsea Cook, Shanetta Burris, and Matt Kopac.

And congratulations to fellow Democratic Socialists outside of Durham and across the country from Danny Nowell in Carrboro to Zohran Mamdani in New York.

Local government has enormous power to regulate real estate. Let’s be clear: Accepting big real estate campaign money is incompatible with progressive local politics.

We need big real estate donations and schmoozing with big developers OUT of Durham local and state legislative politics.

The Onion couldn’t write a better headline

It’s the most corrupt administration in American history and nothing else even comes close

I’d love for them to make it a policy priority because it’s good policy and because I think it is a broadly popular program among both democratic and republican voters that the GOP would need to defend opposing.

North Carolina is not a democracy. We just cosplay democracy. We don’t need a strong GOP—they’re an existential threat to this country and world.

I’d like to see NC democrats make resident ballot measures a top priority to show North Carolinians that the serves the billionaires over everyone else.

Disdain for democracy has ALWAYS been inherent to rightwing ideology, which is why we must always do everything we can to keep them from power.

Now that they have full power, they are comfortable carrying out crimes & corruption. We must do all we can to defeat and dismantle this rotten system.

Because neoliberalism has failed to provide for the people but has provided great wealth for a few, it needs to be repackaged. A new name, a new coat of paint.

We are seeing a lot of that happening these days among pundits who can’t stomach Trump’s personality and social policy.

Preventing gentrification should be a core function of good planning and development. We lack some of the tools we need but are also not doing nearly enough locally in Durham using tools we do have available. If we keep allowing developers to do whatever they want it will make the problem worse.

Often when we talk about places being “overdeveloped” what’s actually happened is those places are just poorly developed. It’s not that there are too many people/jobs/things to do, it’s that car-centric development has made cities unbearable.

How did Dr. Monarez go from being “a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials” who had the “full confidence” of Secretary Kennedy into being a “liar” and “untrustworthy” in less than a month?

She refused to rubber stamp his anti-vaccine recommendations.

Locking thousands of acres into low density single-family sprawl, just because that’s what homebuilders want, is not pro-housing or pro-urbanist, despite what many well-funded organizations and individuals say.

We can truly build sustainable cities but we need to cut through the noise and lies.

Amazing reporting by Lisa Sorg. Please read.

A Plan for Bus Rapid Transit in Durham is In the Works The City of Durham is designing and seeking funding for a central Durham bus rapid transit system that would run from Duke to Wellons Village.

Durham’s Transportation Department wants to give one of the city’s busiest traffic corridors a major upgrade by developing its first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) route.

Op-Ed: The Left Can Defeat the Rising Tide of Fascism History shows that oppressive systems can be overthrown, even when they seem insurmountable. What can we do locally?

For as long as I've known him, @natebakerdurham.bsky.social has preached the same policy agenda Zohran Mamdani has put a spotlight on in NYC.

Here for @indyweek.bsky.social, he makes the case for this Democratic Socialist agenda as the last best hope against fascism.

indyweek.com/news/opinion...

Emergency Protest from LA to DURHAM: ice out! July 23 7 pm CCB PLAZA

We do not want ICE in our community. We do not welcome ICE in our community. ICE makes Durham more dangerous. ICE is a waste of taxpayer money when we have many other urgent needs. ICE is Trump and Stephen Miller’s personal police force. ICE has fascist tendencies.

Abolish ICE.

Whether we prioritize the voices of community on safety/gun violence, environment, and governance or voices of big business and developers.

Whether we listen to scientists and environmentalists over corporate citizens.

Whether we take our housing advice and expertise from apartment tenants and city planners or instead from the apartment and homebuilders associations.

Do we have the courage to speak out with moral clarity during this modern day McCarthyism and rise of authoritarianism.

Whether we understand our city in a global context and are willing to speak with our voices and choices on our own nation’s inhumane actions at home and abroad, including ICE raids and American bombs dropped on Gaza.

Whether we begin holding developers adequately accountable for contributing their fair share of their profits toward the public good in the form of affordable housing, parks, art, public space, and other community benefits during the development process.

Whether we self-inflict more fiscal wounds like the one redirecting an annual 3.3 million dollars from the city’s own initiatives to a new nonprofit that promotes tourism.

Whether we create true representative wards rather than a council entirely at-large that currently lacks the local representation residents across our city need.

Whether we have the political will not just to say we want it but to leverage our local powers to pursue a just outcome and commit to concrete actions.

Whether we don’t just make residents and small businesses pay for our collective needs but have the courage to hold Duke University and other wealthy institutions accountable for contributing a portion of their fair share too.

Whether we’ll hold the line on worker’s rights: raise city worker wages above $25/hour next year and strengthen the Durham Workers Rights Commission.

Whether we make it a goal to increase the percentage of residents that can reach a park, playground, or greenway within a quarter mile walk (we’re currently moving in the wrong direction).

Whether we empower our residents and city planners to plan our communities collectively or choose to leave that job to the real estate industry.

Whether we make it a priority to address our city’s food deserts or downplay that urgent problem.

Whether the city green lights real estate speculation and pours gasoline on the fire of gentrification by supporting widespread upzoning and land deregulation as part of the overhaul of the city’s zoning laws.