New infill housing in a dense, walkable area like Locus Point will result in far less CO2 emissions than in a sprawled out suburb. If you want to criticize material waste in housing, criticize the suburban McMansion hell that characterizes most of America.

Is there not? Looking at rents in Locust Point and Harbor East, it certainly seems like there’s one to me, even if it’s not as egregious as in other cities. After all it’s not like those particular places have vacant housing - it’s the blighted blocks people are moving out of that bring down the citywide average.

And even if there wasn’t a housing shortage per se, it would be good to build more housing anyways to bring prices even lower. And that can happen while the city gets rid of vacant housing at the same time.

I do think it’s admirable that you’re passionate about your local community, and I also don’t oppose community gardens in general (see my quip about putting them in parking lots). But I do believe given the housing shortage around the country (and in the Northeast in particular) that building more housing is imperative, and I’ve seen a lot of instances nationwide where locals abuse the idea of “preserving their community” to block development, ultimately harming fellow community members for the reasons I stated elsewhere.

> Adding more houses benefits no one

It would definitely benefit Locust Point renters who would have their rent prices decrease (unless you’re one of the people who thinks building new housing increases rents). It would also benefit people who would want to move there in the future (unless you think, for whatever reason, that more people shouldn’t move there in general).

> And leads to more vacant housing

How does that lead to more vacant housing??? If this was built in a blighted area sure, but I bet new housing in Locust Point would get snatched up like hotcakes.

> It’s wasteful to build more houses

Whose resources are being “wasted?” This is a private developer who will be using their own funds to build housing on land sold by Under Armor, none of whom would otherwise be using their resources to tear down vacant housing.

As I explained in my other comment, new development will make overall rents cheaper than what they would’ve otherwise been, regardless of if the new development is affordable, luxury, or anything in between. This article explains it in more detail.

If you suggest they should develop affordable instead of market rate housing, then that’s a fair sentiment, but even market-rate housing will be better than not building at all. If you are actually suggesting not building anything at all, well…

Also I do wonder how common the last thing you said actually is. The usual complaints I see online is about developers advertising “luxury” apartments when they’re just bog-standard 5-over-1s.

It’s more NIMBYism protects the property values of existing homeowners (or they think it does) at the expense of both existing renters and potential new renters/homeowners.

Or turn those into community gardens.

Uh yes, unlike Reaganomics building housing does indeed reduce rents and homelessness.

Give it time. The new developments will weather and age and will after decades become beloved assets to the community, to be protected against all costs from there encroaching space-pods and floating houses that’ll be built.

Oh lookee here, a left-NIMBY out in the wild.

What happens is that people who can pay for new “luxury” housing can go live there instead of fighting with low-income residents over pre-existing housing. Simple supply and demand.

But what can I say, we live in a fucked up country where most people think housing gets more expensive the more there is.

“NIMBY” stands for “Not in my backyard,” i.e. people who do not want additional construction of housing or infrastructure in their communities. There are a lot of reasons for this, and one commonly cited one is “loss of community character,” which is most likely the OP’s reason for the petition here.

Even if OP’s commitment to preserve their community garden is admirable, the consequences of NIMBYism are extremely severe. The lack of affordable housing due to NIMBYs preventing construction (like the developers wanting to build townhouses here) is directly implicated in rising housing costs and homelessness rates across the country.

This petition smells like NIMBYism

In better weather I might’ve got on and went on a day trip to DC. But alas it so happens to be like 20 degrees Fahrenheit today.

I went in and took pictures with friends at their pool at one time. Granted one of those friends was staying at the hotel, but there weren’t any guards guarding the pool or anything.

Reading through your and others’ comments I see your valid points. If this was a public park this would totally fall under “benefits for the whole neighborhood.” But since it’s not then yeah.

Ok I will state I don’t know the details of the buildings’ decay - I’m just going off of what I read from the other comments. If what you said is true though, it is symptomatic of Baltimore’s age old problem of absentee landowners not maintaining their properties.

I will admit my initial post was a knee-jerk reaction to seeing this thread, since so many times NIMBYs would use historical preservation as an excuse to block new housing (or transit). But since in this case it’ll result in less nominal housing stock, not more, I can see why this situation would be different.

Yeah, the fact that it’s housing being replaced with a private park rather than more housing (or even a public park) is what makes this more gray for me. Unfortunately it seems like these cannot be “easily used for housing” due to decay (as opposed to a total teardown and replacement).

Exactly. Not to mention that these houses are blighted beyond repair (even if it doesn’t look like it). That said I do wish they would replace it with additional housing.

Unpopular opinion: while seeing history go away is a loss, trying to preserve every single historical building mutates into the NIMBYism that holds America back.

Side comment but I grew up in NJ and never knew Taylor Ham vs pork roll was a thing until this sub. I guess that’s what having immigrant parents does.

OP asked about buying a fully assembled new desk.

I included Pigtown because of Mobtown Ballroom which I go to some nights.

What’s there at Station North and Old Groucher?

EDIT: Ok there is the Crown at Station North. Maybe I should find a time to go there (though heard it can be very hit or miss depending on who’s playing).

Wow as someone who lives in Mount Vernon I really feel that. It feels like I have to go to DC, or at least Fells Point or Pigtown, for an actual nightlife and it’s partly why 99% of the time I sit at home doing nothing but Reddit because there’s nothing interesting in my immediate vicinity.

It’s Metropolis vs Gotham