NH Political Thread. For Discussion of NH Politics. (Londonderry, Hollis: low income, rentals)

[vter]

Please use this thread to discuss politics in New Hampshire.
Please keep it civil and remember, per the Terms of Service to ATTACK IDEAS/OPINIONS, not the person posting their ideas and opinions.
Thanks you.

[Verseau]

Thank you for making this. I was getting sick of the inundation of political threads.

[Valerie C]

Thanks Vter. This is a good idea. I'd suggest that it be a sticky thread, but I've got a feeling it'll always be at or near the top

I had a response to one of the now-closed threads (closed before I could hit the SEND button). I'd like to post it here.
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But of course! Shouldn't the existing residents have a say in zoning, or in which direction a town is going to move? There is a Master Plan, and a 'build-out" number that needs to not be exceeded. And as tax-paying residents of whatever city or state we live in, I feel that we have a right to determine the future of our town. Many of us CHOSE our current (or future) towns based on schools and average housing price, whether as rentals or purchases.

Now Greg, didn't you move to New Hampshire because Massachusetts housing was too high priced? Using this rationale, you should be able to live in Boston, in the same town you work in. Doesn't work, does it? There are MANY choices of where to live, and you know what? If my circumstances dictated that I must live in an area where there is low cost housing, I would have to move. That's life. And if one cannot afford to live in a highly affluent town (such as Hollis or Bow) then they can not... and it is as simple as that.

We have protected classes, which include race, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, familial status, sexual preference. At this time, Low Income is NOT a protected status in this country (but it seems to be a 'preferred status'. If you qualify for one government program, most likely you qualify for them all, including a "free" (ie: federal government paid) cell phone.

On a not-quite-unrelated topic, I just got the 'summer school' letter from our local middle school. And oh, what's this? "Full and partial scholarships have been approved by the School Board for students who qualify for free and reduced lunch program services". Obviously there are students presently living in town who qualify...

Originally Posted by GregW

Markets are distorted by the existence of government zoning at the behest of the existing residents. There is no open market in housing or nearly anything else so if we want to have our lower wage workers actually live in town we need to zone for lower cost housing. If we wish to continue to discriminate on income we keep the current practice. After all it is an earned privilege to live in Londonderry. BS

[seamusnh]

How about having NH Politics as a subgroup the way "Boston" is under Massachussets. This single thread won't be much use given the diverse subjects that come under "NH Politics"...

[vter]

Originally Posted by seamusnh

How about having NH Politics as a subgroup the way "Boston" is under Massachussets. This single thread won't be much use given the diverse subjects that come under "NH Politics"...

That would be up to Administrator. Feel free to send him a DM.

[OCCASparky]

Board politics, or NH politics? Seems that we have lots of outsiders in the state telling us how we should live, act, think, etc.

Seems that's carrying over to the board, eh? I'm curious--out of the "regular" moderators on the NH board, how many are ACTUALLY FROM NH?

Food for thought.

[GregW]

I was trying to make the point that open undistorted markets would likely provide housing for the less than affluent. Zoning distorts the market to the benefit of the current residents. There are very few open markets in housing anywhere.

I did not say I objected to zoning because I would not appreciate a pig farm in the center of town either. As I said, we moved here 25+ years ago because we found an affordable place to live. It is still affordable, albeit less so, and we still like living here.

[Valerie C]

I sometimes get the feeling that CaseyB would prefer to be in NH

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

I sometimes get the feeling that CaseyB would prefer to be in NH

You sound like my sister, lol. I can't stand the cold weather, though. I couldn't live north of the Mass. Turnpike.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by dognh

What makes online forums interesting, engaging and fun is the free flow of ideas, commentary and user generated content (with editing reserved only for the profane, etc)

Once Moderators, etc try to manage content, tell people what they can and cannot discuss, where to post it etc, the forum usual dries up and people go elsewhere. Hopefully that won't happen here.

What's wrong with "if you don't like the topic of the post, don't click on it." Nobody forces you to click on a political thread. There's a reason why threads like "gay" marriage get 6+ pages of discussion - people want to discuss.

Just my opinion, it ain't my board.

No, you can still discuss the same subjects, just in one thread. See what's happening is that you have the 2 stickys at the top, then several political threads with lots of posts and so the other questions that people have about the state get pushed way down the page.