Thursday, February 22, 2018

Local Development Politics Officially Enter the Trump Era


It was bound to happen. After a year spent enduring the daily trauma inflicted on our country by its own president, concerned residents have adopted the language of resistance to Donald Trump and applied it to the perceived atrocity of new apartments in their backyard.

The subject of my latest documentary film is the Sons of Norway redevelopment project on Lake Street between Holmes and Humboldt Avenues. The concerns are the same as they've always been -- traffic, parking, too many people! -- but it may be harder for some viewers to take seriously (and could make young children uncomfortable).

One person manufactured their own personal Elizabeth Warren moment by declaring, "Nevertheless I will persist." A guy from New York bragged about fighting against Trump in the old days, then told the City Council about Giulian's destruction of the Upper West Side. Lisa Goodman called people who acknowledge that we are experiencing an actual housing shortage "Republicanesque" trickle-downers. Local development politics have officially been nationalized!

Critics are calling "Nevertheless I Persisted: Real, Legitimate Families Against the Bastard Sons of Norway" the spiritual sequel to my 2016 hit film, "LHENA Goes to City Hall." [STREAM IT TODAY and support this important content on Patreon!]