"Either our municipalities need to change how they approach housing development, or they need to have a change forced upon them."
(From the Portland Press Herald editorial board)
10/8/23
Our View: Communities must step up on housing – or step aside
Local control of housing in Maine has resulted in high costs and low supply. Something has to change.
A report from the Mills administration released last week confirmed what everybody involved already knows all too well: Maine has to build a lot more new homes to make housing more affordable and to accommodate the people expected to move here over the next several years.
For the first time, the report puts a number on the problem: Over the next seven years, Maine needs to build 84,000 new housing units, double the current rate. There is no more pressing problem in Maine, and short of the climate crisis, there is no issue that affects more people.
About half of the housing units Maine needs to build by 2030 are needed because of chronic underproduction. In Maine, cities and towns control in large part how much housing is built within their borders and, for a long time now, they haven’t been allowing nearly enough – not in the popular and populated coastal communities, nor anywhere else in the state.
And for the most vulnerable people out there, there’s nowhere at all to go. Maine’s unhoused population is exploding, and it’s nearly all a result of the housing crisis. Fevered demand meets low supply and leaves those with the least money out of luck – while handing taxpayers a huge bill as we pay more in housing assistance than ever before.
This is where we have been left by a system that allows every community full control over housing development.
Either our municipalities need to change how they approach housing development, or they need to have a change forced upon them.
That difficult process started in 2022 with the passing of a landmark law that requires cities and towns to allow additional units on lots zoned for single-family homes. It goes into effect starting early next year.
The full piece can be read at the following weblink:
https://www.pressherald.com/2023/10/08/our-view-communities-must-st...
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Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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