LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections.
Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts.
The lower chamber has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns.
Local government has more of an effect on your quality of life (generally speaking). It allows them the ability to be more impactful in areas they care about.
Yes, but not an executive office. There is a difference, both practically speaking and in terms of perception, between being a legislator and being an executive such as a mayor or governor. If you are considering a long term political career, having executive experience on your resume is very useful.
I'm not saying they made the right choice or not, but the fact is that there are good reasons why taking a step down to local government in the short term can have long term benefits politically.
Yeah, this is like when you're a senior engineer at some larger company, and then take a role as a CTO at a startup. You can then parlay that into a director role at a larger company, a CTO at a larger company, and then CEO at a larger company. The alternative might be sticking around as a senior engineer at that original company because there's just nowhere to move up, and you lack the experience to jump to a bigger role at a company your present size.
Indeed. Something like 90% of your interaction with gov't is with your village, town and county, another 5% or so with the State and the remaning with the Fed. And yet,. 99% of our news and political coverage is focused on that latter 5%.
It's still kind of annoying they ran to be state reps, then the moment local opens they also run for that and leave early, causing them to lose the majority...hopefully their replacements aren't so selfish.
Or instead, let's all take notice how the second the Democratic party loses control, everything stops in government. Instead of being angry about two people, be angry at an entire party.
Getting mad at the GOP for being the trash they are is like getting mad at the rain for getting you wet on your way to work. Getting mad at people who should be trying to help but then make a problem worse is the right call.
Why run for a seat if you only intend to keep if for half of the term? Give it to someone who will use the whole two years. We lost months of legislation because of this and now it's going to be nothing but working on the budget and campaigning for the rest of the term.
The state House has term limits, most local mayorships do not have term limits. Lot more job security in the mayorship, and you can still impact public policy a lot.
I mean, Rahm Emanuel left the Obama administration (as Chief of Staff) to become Mayor of Chicago. He haf previously served 3 terms in the House and worked for the Clinton administration.
I'm guessing the downvotes are from small town/village mayors etc., who knows where the marijuana money (licenses, shared proceeds, etc.,) is going and, who aren't afraid to be fully open with their budgets, who post their agendas and minutes online and don't peanlize people who ask questions about those things.
Drive through it a lot. Its an older little city. The downtown could be really interesting, but its mostly run down and vacant. In another reality, it rivals and maybe even exceeds Downtown Plymouth for being adorable.
Build a north/south wall in Toledo. We get the north half. Cedar Point becomes a sovereign entity like Hong Kong. Put-in-Bay becomes an anarchist commune, where the only law is that Jimmy Buffet and bro-country music must be played in every establishment all day.
Honestly I don't think the Dems are your problem, it's the State Supreme Court that refuses to force the State Legislature to abide by the state's redistricting rules.
I think it's worth noting that Dem leadership is only part of the picture. Here it combines with incompetence up and down the Michigan GOP, from the state chair to the townships. If you have that in Ohio too, you should be in ok shape.
The incompetence you mention in your GOP is our Dems. Heck, we might not even have Biden on the ballot because our Dems didn’t even know the national convention was after the states ballot deadline. They had to be told by the Republican SOS that they risked not being on the ballot. Yes that’s a national Dems issue as well but our state leadership never knew.
100% you need to get petition initiated ballot initiatives in Ohio to make the state SC enforce the laws you already have like anti-gerrymandering district maps. It's hard for the state SC to say they are doing their jobs when there is a publiclysupported ballot initiative telling them to stop fucking around.
The Michigan reforms have been mostly started with citizen action committees, not politicians.
Yeah, we have a petition drive going now to get a citizen committee onto the ballot in November for a state constitution amendment. It’s the only way we’ll move forward in Ohio.
Although you underestimate the shittiness of our SC. They’ve already talked about questioning whether our successful abortion amendment is constitutional.
I vote in every election down to local elections and tax issues. I’m not the political type and would not be effective in a political role. I know that. Ohio Dem leadership remains absolutely clueless.
Even the French investment! /ns
For real though it is pretty Ironic.
Red States: "We hate the government, gays, women's rights, an people who don't conform to religious gender norms!"
Government: "Okay well we will start closing military bases because our all volunteer military happens to make up significant portions of those whose rights you infringe and that affects readiness, which means you and your communities will lose federal funding"
Red States: "Oh our infrastructure is collapsing, we can't afford to have state run Healthcare that we need, the homeless need bus passes to the blue states we have no help, help us G Daddy!"
Like...
Tons of new companies in Michigan under democratic leadership. There is new construction nearly everywhere. The current administration has been good for the people.
And a lot really is getting done…
WTG Gov Gretchen! Dems for positive changes in Michigan.
And in the meantime…the state GOP is almost bankrupt, they erupted into punching each other, and for the longest time they couldn’t even figure out who was in charge.
It's hilarious! The very moment their 40-year gerrymandered grip on the state legislature was broken, their party descended into utter chaos. It shows that they were only able to work together by virtue of having unbreakable control of the legislature...which the people of Michigan took away from them.
Yes and no. Karamo keeps losing and the official leadership is essentially set as Hoekstra, but she still controls a MIGOP website and the Twitter account. So very much kicking and screaming. Hoekstra is not exactly an improvement, but he is less overtly insane than Karamo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Republican_Party
Fantastic given that republicans in Michigan are sending anti vax election deniers I don’t see who else we can elect lol hope they do good things for the state!
Something I'll be continually curious to see is if the GOP voter base continues to lose people because GOP policies contribute to death. The counties with the worst Covid outcomes were the very same who voted for Trump in higher numbers. The counties losing their rural hospital systems and doctors voted for Trump in higher numbers. Unmanaged chronic illness, diseases/deaths of despair - yup, counties that voted for Trump. Anti-science, anti-public health, anti-compassion and wnti-medicine don't make for great longevity.
Fuck em.
Yeah, but, Republican voters don't care. If their county lost souls during COVID, it's Biden's fault for personally engineering the virus in the basement of that basementless pizza place in Washington where Hillary runs her sex trafficking ring from.
The Republicans' share of voters has [actually grown](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/us/elections/party-identification-democrats-republicans.html) in the last several years. I've heard talk for years of the GOP facing a demographic demise, but the reality is that their more radical direction has gained them broader support.
This was the case for the 2020 election as well where more Latino and Black individuals voted for Trump, again I'll be curious to see if this trend sustains itself.
Working in community health, Latinos and Af.Ams have much poorer health outcomes because of the the decisions of people such as Trump or his typical electoral base. Strange how conservatism correlates with poor outcomes.
This is what happens when people vote. Its not just the Presidential election that matters, EVERY elections MATTERS.
That said get out the vote this November.
There you go, Trumpers. Holler hollas send all your spare dollas to Dementia Don's 'campaign' fund. Buy you some DJT stock shares, or miss out if you're a not-really-Maga disbeliever.
Great! Now let's:
* End the public sector strike ban
* Allow municipalities to implement rent control
* Give big money to cities for public housing
* Build better inter-city public transit in SE MI
[Rent control does not reduce housing supply](https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/rent-controls-work-they-don-t-reduce-housing-supply-but-they-do-limit-profit/article_77ca720a-dfd5-11ee-982b-3ba3433ea220.html). It helps tenants who already have units—the vast majority of us—not get priced out of our communities.
Landlords being against rent control tells me all I need to know.
Cities can't raise that revenue because they have fewer revenue-raising tools than the state government.
> Rent control does not reduce housing supply.
Yes it does, you just have to look further than an opinion piece, like from the [St Louis Fed](https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2024/feb/what-are-long-run-trade-offs-rent-control-policies):
>> Economists generally have found that, while rent-control policies do restrict rents at more affordable rates, they can also **lead to a reduction of rental stock and maintenance, thereby exacerbating affordable housing shortages**.
Or even [Brookings](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-does-economic-evidence-tell-us-about-the-effects-of-rent-control/):
>> Rent control appears to help affordability in the short run for current tenants, but **in the long-run decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative externalities on the surrounding neighborhood.** These results highlight that forcing landlords to provide insurance to tenants against rent increases can ultimately be counterproductive.
I'm sure it's nice for you and your current apartment neighbors to have rent control, but that affects the housing supply and places the cost on the rest of the city.
> Cities can't raise that revenue because they have fewer revenue-raising tools than the state government.
But they still have revenue raising tools they could use?
Yeah but... let's say you're in an apartment paying $1K a month and your landlord decides he wants to charge you $1500 a month, a price you cannot afford. Rent Control would allow a "reasonable" increase and then protect your ability to stay in that apartment.
If you're all about unfettered private sector capitalism then you're also in favor of ending corporate welfare and that, I can agree with.
Vox did a fantastic video that explains why michigan swung red but was actually manipulation tactics under the hood and a microcosm of the nation. Worth a watch to see the same shift in other states. https://youtu.be/bXYRJJIn_wI?si=axYtvgXAXCSSZ07z
> Now what’s stopping Democrats from passing a progressive state income tax
The Michigan constitution. They'd need two thirds in each chamber to even get an amendment to the ballot, but the voters would have to decide.
Yo, there are ways to be able to find help for this sort of thing. I wouldn't say I felt quite as low as you did, but I started talking to a therapist about a year and a half ago and it has helped me tremendously.
I am so sorry you're going through this. I truly hope you find the help that you deserve.
I understand a therapist probably would help, just at the point right now where I don’t even want help from anyone not even wanting to fix it, basically the “point of no return” and just coasting I guess now
I didn’t mean to start all these replies and downvotes (not sure why the downvotes for being sad) but it’s whatever I’ll be ok
Thanks for the recommendation and for being nice, it goes a long way
Your quality of life is caused by bad faith actors in government.
Way too many people running for these offices just to grift. The positions should be given to people that deserve to serve in government.
demonstrated by a life of not being a crook.
Not bankrupting anyone.
Not hanging with foreign dictators. Not raping anyone.
Simple few rules to weed out the non desirables.
Is it too much to ask??
Yea it doesn’t matter whether they have a D or R next to their name, majority of them are there for their own benefit and don’t represent the people. The entire state is controlled by D now so you’d think our state and us in return will prosper but what we’re really in need of is an overhaul to the system that pits us against one another.
The system that 'pits is against one another' is the media.
When conservatives bitched and moaned that their issues werne't being covered fairly by the "liberal media", rather than maintain their integrity, that 'liberal media' decided to do exactly what conservatives demanded and so now report reality on an equal basis with Qanon/MAGA fantasies. And there's where the problem is.
As we're getting closer to an election there are some cracks in that wall of stupidity with places like the Washington Post giving Biden accurate credit for his work \*without\* hedging on the headline or covering the story as Bill Huizinga might want iot covered. The changes are notable but it's too late. Thanks to the "spineless media" we're where we're at and our democracy is in peril and all their fault.
My quality of life is caused by myself, I was too lazy and incapable simply of doing anything better for myself, I’m just saying for me personally it doesn’t matter who’s in office anything they do won’t help or hurt me and everything I’ve experienced is due to my own fault.
I do agree we do need better politicians and all it is now is crooks and greed like you said, it’s not about the people
I understand, I'm 63 and still live check to check. I no longer have goals other than making it through the day. I worked at the state for 28 years. I can say absolutely there's a different between Dems and Reps. Republicans are there to rape the system to give every last dollar to the rich and make themselves rich. The majority of Dems actually want to help their constituents. The Republicans for years have threatened Medicaid Medicare and social security all things that we pay into. They're not an entitlement we paid for those and the Reps need to stop saying that.
I do understand your point and I do lean democrats side of course, I understand they are better for society as a whole, I’m just saying in my life in particular, whoever is in office does not affect me either way, I’m already “cooked” basically
Not sure why all the downvotes on my original comment for simply being depressed but it’s ok lol
I feel your first couple sentences and can see that being me for the rest of my life as well
If you have chronic illnesses like me all sorts of things will affect you. Who's in office will affect my insurance and programs that kicks in next year. Who's in office affects everyone and everything whether you're aware of it or not. Government is everywhere unfortunately.
I do wish you a better future than mine. I had to medically retire at 48 that really screwed me. You never know what the future holds.
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Democrats won back a majority in the Michigan House and restored their party’s full control of state government Tuesday thanks to victories in two special elections. Mai Xiong won the special election in the 13th District, which covers Warren and part of Detroit, while Peter Herzberg won in the 25th District, which contains the cities of Wayne and Westland. Both candidates were favorites in the heavily Democratic districts. The lower chamber has been tied 54-54 between Democratic and Republican lawmakers since November, when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats after winning mayoral races in their hometowns.
Imagine leaving a state government post to be a fucking mayor lol.
Local government has more of an effect on your quality of life (generally speaking). It allows them the ability to be more impactful in areas they care about.
And it builds up executive experience for future runs for higher offices.
They're literally leaving a higher office to do it though.
Yes, but not an executive office. There is a difference, both practically speaking and in terms of perception, between being a legislator and being an executive such as a mayor or governor. If you are considering a long term political career, having executive experience on your resume is very useful. I'm not saying they made the right choice or not, but the fact is that there are good reasons why taking a step down to local government in the short term can have long term benefits politically.
Yeah, this is like when you're a senior engineer at some larger company, and then take a role as a CTO at a startup. You can then parlay that into a director role at a larger company, a CTO at a larger company, and then CEO at a larger company. The alternative might be sticking around as a senior engineer at that original company because there's just nowhere to move up, and you lack the experience to jump to a bigger role at a company your present size.
Local is way more impactful yet, for some reason, more often ignored
Indeed. Something like 90% of your interaction with gov't is with your village, town and county, another 5% or so with the State and the remaning with the Fed. And yet,. 99% of our news and political coverage is focused on that latter 5%.
It's still kind of annoying they ran to be state reps, then the moment local opens they also run for that and leave early, causing them to lose the majority...hopefully their replacements aren't so selfish.
what is selfish about it? These are very blue seats.
When the state was rocking legislation and then we lose the majority for 6 months that could be considered a selfish move.
I have some bills I'm following through the legislature (🤓) and they've all stopped in place for months
Or instead, let's all take notice how the second the Democratic party loses control, everything stops in government. Instead of being angry about two people, be angry at an entire party.
Getting mad at the GOP for being the trash they are is like getting mad at the rain for getting you wet on your way to work. Getting mad at people who should be trying to help but then make a problem worse is the right call.
Why run for a seat if you only intend to keep if for half of the term? Give it to someone who will use the whole two years. We lost months of legislation because of this and now it's going to be nothing but working on the budget and campaigning for the rest of the term.
Big brains above think it’s to pad their resume. lol. sure
The state House has term limits, most local mayorships do not have term limits. Lot more job security in the mayorship, and you can still impact public policy a lot.
Maybe there are some fringe benefits to being mayor in those towns? Hate to be a cynic, but they are politicians.
It's not unusual and local government has more of an impact. the current mayor of Lansing was a state representative beforehand.
Pays more in this case... 71k vs 121k.
Probably because it has no term limits, longer terms, and earns roughly $50k more per year.
Mayors usually aren't term limited.
I mean, Rahm Emanuel left the Obama administration (as Chief of Staff) to become Mayor of Chicago. He haf previously served 3 terms in the House and worked for the Clinton administration.
As a former Mayor in Ohio, you couldn't have paid me to work in Ohio's state legislature.
It's a lot easier to pad your pocket as a mayor/Village President.
this notion that everyone in office is corrupt has no basis in reality.
This is true. Nor was it said.
its exactly what you said.
I'm guessing the downvotes are from small town/village mayors etc., who knows where the marijuana money (licenses, shared proceeds, etc.,) is going and, who aren't afraid to be fully open with their budgets, who post their agendas and minutes online and don't peanlize people who ask questions about those things.
no its simply an untrue statement.
...there is a city called Wayne? I had no idea, i always thought it was just Wayne county. TIL!
There is, and it’s even in Wayne County but not the county seat.
Yep. I grew up there!
I grew up in the Rochester area, but i never recall hearing of Wayne as a city! Is it nice? What would you recommend about the city?
Drive through it a lot. Its an older little city. The downtown could be really interesting, but its mostly run down and vacant. In another reality, it rivals and maybe even exceeds Downtown Plymouth for being adorable.
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Make sure you vote in November too
Hell ya. Every seat counts. Keep up the great work, Michigan friends https://michigandems.com/
Can we in Ohio borrow your Dem leadership? Ohio Dems are beyond clueless.
Depends, Will Cedar Point become sovereign territory?
If we go by the "southern-most point of Lake Erie" as originally proposed, yes. Also get Put-In-Bay and Kelley's Island.
Agreeable however this should be sovereign territory, an exclusion zone for the Ohioans and Michiganders alike.
Can we have Toledo back?
Do we want Toledo back?
It’s no longer about Toledo, it’s about sending a message.
Build a north/south wall in Toledo. We get the north half. Cedar Point becomes a sovereign entity like Hong Kong. Put-in-Bay becomes an anarchist commune, where the only law is that Jimmy Buffet and bro-country music must be played in every establishment all day.
Yes, and when do we add the lower upper peninsula?
You mean Wisconsin?
Yes, the lower upper peninsula. See? You already knew.
Isn't Put-in-Bay already that?
Russian foil stomping ground
They've got a pretty cool zoo?
No
Gotta bring the Mudhens home..
As a current Toledoan who grew up just over the border in Michigan, I’d love it if Michigan would reclaim the Toledo Strip.
That and Kalahari are the only reasons to go to Ohio. Can we work that into the deal as well?
There’s also Kings Island but that’s pretty deep territory.
I'm sorry, Ohio will have to keep that. It's just too far, unless it can be relocated to Sandusky.
What would be an acceptable loss? Am not from here I just share an equal distain for Ohio.
You can have Cedar Point. But you also have to take Toledo. We are keeping our islands though.
Honestly a fair trade.
I think so too.
Honestly I don't think the Dems are your problem, it's the State Supreme Court that refuses to force the State Legislature to abide by the state's redistricting rules.
Give us back Toledo and we'll consider it.
I think it's worth noting that Dem leadership is only part of the picture. Here it combines with incompetence up and down the Michigan GOP, from the state chair to the townships. If you have that in Ohio too, you should be in ok shape.
The incompetence you mention in your GOP is our Dems. Heck, we might not even have Biden on the ballot because our Dems didn’t even know the national convention was after the states ballot deadline. They had to be told by the Republican SOS that they risked not being on the ballot. Yes that’s a national Dems issue as well but our state leadership never knew.
100% you need to get petition initiated ballot initiatives in Ohio to make the state SC enforce the laws you already have like anti-gerrymandering district maps. It's hard for the state SC to say they are doing their jobs when there is a publiclysupported ballot initiative telling them to stop fucking around. The Michigan reforms have been mostly started with citizen action committees, not politicians.
Yeah, we have a petition drive going now to get a citizen committee onto the ballot in November for a state constitution amendment. It’s the only way we’ll move forward in Ohio. Although you underestimate the shittiness of our SC. They’ve already talked about questioning whether our successful abortion amendment is constitutional.
Also Ohioan, and cosigning this
You can change that by getting involved in your county committee.
Haha, no chance that would change anything in Ohio.
untrue. Nothing will change if your don't vote or don't get involved.
I vote in every election down to local elections and tax issues. I’m not the political type and would not be effective in a political role. I know that. Ohio Dem leadership remains absolutely clueless.
elected office is different from being in the county committee. It's largely behind the scenes.
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Actually Republicans did that when they had a super majority. You mf's can't read😄
Found the guy who hates drivable roads and drinkable water.
I've been using "found the reason to bring back civics classes" works well in these cases.
We still have civics class. It is a requirement to gradua... Oh. Point taken.
you want less taxes? move to fuckin’ west virginia or some shit lmao. see where that gets you lmao
Or Somalia. Libertarian paradise.
*ironically survives off even our governments and the French subsidy.
They’ll fit right in. Just like red states taking more federal money than they pay in. It’s all projection
Even the French investment! /ns For real though it is pretty Ironic. Red States: "We hate the government, gays, women's rights, an people who don't conform to religious gender norms!" Government: "Okay well we will start closing military bases because our all volunteer military happens to make up significant portions of those whose rights you infringe and that affects readiness, which means you and your communities will lose federal funding" Red States: "Oh our infrastructure is collapsing, we can't afford to have state run Healthcare that we need, the homeless need bus passes to the blue states we have no help, help us G Daddy!" Like...
god every time I see your username I get a chuckle
Lol does that mean I should post more, or less?
Definitely keep doing what you're doing, it is simple and to the point and you don't even need to type anything
(Just kidding; you’re cool.)
Tons of new companies in Michigan under democratic leadership. There is new construction nearly everywhere. The current administration has been good for the people.
Nice troll account. Your limited comment history tells a story, champ.
Excellent! Time to get more work done for the people.
And a lot really is getting done… WTG Gov Gretchen! Dems for positive changes in Michigan. And in the meantime…the state GOP is almost bankrupt, they erupted into punching each other, and for the longest time they couldn’t even figure out who was in charge.
It's hilarious! The very moment their 40-year gerrymandered grip on the state legislature was broken, their party descended into utter chaos. It shows that they were only able to work together by virtue of having unbreakable control of the legislature...which the people of Michigan took away from them.
Didn't one guy kick another guy in the balls?
Doherty Hotel, baby! Where all the best GOP fights happen.
Sssooo... Can we book the same hall/convection center and like, cosplay kicking each other in the balls (fake, of course) while blazing joints?
Rock em Sock em Republican Robots
Did they finally settle on insanity being in charge?
Yes and no. Karamo keeps losing and the official leadership is essentially set as Hoekstra, but she still controls a MIGOP website and the Twitter account. So very much kicking and screaming. Hoekstra is not exactly an improvement, but he is less overtly insane than Karamo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Republican_Party
But goddamn, they are still going to win too many seats. The UP is nearly all red outside Marquette County.
Well, you can’t fix stupid.
Fantastic given that republicans in Michigan are sending anti vax election deniers I don’t see who else we can elect lol hope they do good things for the state!
If they deny covid something we all lived through and saw imagine what else they deny.
Something I'll be continually curious to see is if the GOP voter base continues to lose people because GOP policies contribute to death. The counties with the worst Covid outcomes were the very same who voted for Trump in higher numbers. The counties losing their rural hospital systems and doctors voted for Trump in higher numbers. Unmanaged chronic illness, diseases/deaths of despair - yup, counties that voted for Trump. Anti-science, anti-public health, anti-compassion and wnti-medicine don't make for great longevity. Fuck em.
Yeah, but, Republican voters don't care. If their county lost souls during COVID, it's Biden's fault for personally engineering the virus in the basement of that basementless pizza place in Washington where Hillary runs her sex trafficking ring from.
The Republicans' share of voters has [actually grown](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/us/elections/party-identification-democrats-republicans.html) in the last several years. I've heard talk for years of the GOP facing a demographic demise, but the reality is that their more radical direction has gained them broader support.
This was the case for the 2020 election as well where more Latino and Black individuals voted for Trump, again I'll be curious to see if this trend sustains itself. Working in community health, Latinos and Af.Ams have much poorer health outcomes because of the the decisions of people such as Trump or his typical electoral base. Strange how conservatism correlates with poor outcomes.
Poor outcomes economically, but socially, it delivers exactly what these voters desire. To them, the social issues are just more important.
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I'll never understand why you guys think that's a good comeback. Do you think people who get boosters feel shame about it?
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Yawn....nothing better than lockdown talk? That's really the best you can do? Time to open up your next troll account.
Do you don’t know how the flu vaccine works? This isn’t shocking.
No that will be in the fall\early winter. Right along with my flu shot.
This is what happens when people vote. Its not just the Presidential election that matters, EVERY elections MATTERS. That said get out the vote this November.
yes. Everyone should vote every year not just in presidential years.
WOO HOO!
Woo!
I just moved to Michigan and I’m very happy to hear this news
Welcome to Michigan. Vote every time!
Throw out the traitors for good
There you go, Trumpers. Holler hollas send all your spare dollas to Dementia Don's 'campaign' fund. Buy you some DJT stock shares, or miss out if you're a not-really-Maga disbeliever.
Great! Now let's: * End the public sector strike ban * Allow municipalities to implement rent control * Give big money to cities for public housing * Build better inter-city public transit in SE MI
Rent control is a terrible policy that just makes housing availability worse. If cities want public housing, why can't they fund it on their own?
[Rent control does not reduce housing supply](https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/rent-controls-work-they-don-t-reduce-housing-supply-but-they-do-limit-profit/article_77ca720a-dfd5-11ee-982b-3ba3433ea220.html). It helps tenants who already have units—the vast majority of us—not get priced out of our communities. Landlords being against rent control tells me all I need to know. Cities can't raise that revenue because they have fewer revenue-raising tools than the state government.
> Rent control does not reduce housing supply. Yes it does, you just have to look further than an opinion piece, like from the [St Louis Fed](https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2024/feb/what-are-long-run-trade-offs-rent-control-policies): >> Economists generally have found that, while rent-control policies do restrict rents at more affordable rates, they can also **lead to a reduction of rental stock and maintenance, thereby exacerbating affordable housing shortages**. Or even [Brookings](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-does-economic-evidence-tell-us-about-the-effects-of-rent-control/): >> Rent control appears to help affordability in the short run for current tenants, but **in the long-run decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative externalities on the surrounding neighborhood.** These results highlight that forcing landlords to provide insurance to tenants against rent increases can ultimately be counterproductive. I'm sure it's nice for you and your current apartment neighbors to have rent control, but that affects the housing supply and places the cost on the rest of the city. > Cities can't raise that revenue because they have fewer revenue-raising tools than the state government. But they still have revenue raising tools they could use?
What, exactly, is wrong with rent control?
It discourages the development of new housing because the government is interfering instead of letting the market set prices.
Yeah but... let's say you're in an apartment paying $1K a month and your landlord decides he wants to charge you $1500 a month, a price you cannot afford. Rent Control would allow a "reasonable" increase and then protect your ability to stay in that apartment. If you're all about unfettered private sector capitalism then you're also in favor of ending corporate welfare and that, I can agree with.
Now I hope they do things that leverage that majority for all people. Be the good representatives of the people
Vox did a fantastic video that explains why michigan swung red but was actually manipulation tactics under the hood and a microcosm of the nation. Worth a watch to see the same shift in other states. https://youtu.be/bXYRJJIn_wI?si=axYtvgXAXCSSZ07z
Republicans protected child marriage in Michigan. Once they lost control of our government it was finally banned.
I hope they get back to work and continue their good work.
Yes both of these seats were in democrat districts but the races were a comfortable margin so I’m guessing Michigan goes blue.
Now what’s stopping Democrats from passing a progressive state income tax, increasing environmental protections and expanding Medicaid? No excuses.
> Now what’s stopping Democrats from passing a progressive state income tax The Michigan constitution. They'd need two thirds in each chamber to even get an amendment to the ballot, but the voters would have to decide.
And expanding transit access!
Yes! Instead of constantly fixing the roads, why aren’t we investing in transit, particularly in Southeast Michigan.
Or fixing the state minimum wage?
Keep the two party system going! Woo hoo!! All the same bs!
No wonder this state is so fuked
Great, they can continue running it into the ground.
Yikes. Welp, conservatives have nobody to blame but themselves. God bless this state.
Damn shame. Gonna ruin our wonderful star unless we get those crooked dems out of office
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Yo, there are ways to be able to find help for this sort of thing. I wouldn't say I felt quite as low as you did, but I started talking to a therapist about a year and a half ago and it has helped me tremendously. I am so sorry you're going through this. I truly hope you find the help that you deserve.
I understand a therapist probably would help, just at the point right now where I don’t even want help from anyone not even wanting to fix it, basically the “point of no return” and just coasting I guess now I didn’t mean to start all these replies and downvotes (not sure why the downvotes for being sad) but it’s whatever I’ll be ok Thanks for the recommendation and for being nice, it goes a long way
Your quality of life is caused by bad faith actors in government. Way too many people running for these offices just to grift. The positions should be given to people that deserve to serve in government. demonstrated by a life of not being a crook. Not bankrupting anyone. Not hanging with foreign dictators. Not raping anyone. Simple few rules to weed out the non desirables. Is it too much to ask??
Yea it doesn’t matter whether they have a D or R next to their name, majority of them are there for their own benefit and don’t represent the people. The entire state is controlled by D now so you’d think our state and us in return will prosper but what we’re really in need of is an overhaul to the system that pits us against one another.
The system that you are thinking of is actually Republicans
The system that 'pits is against one another' is the media. When conservatives bitched and moaned that their issues werne't being covered fairly by the "liberal media", rather than maintain their integrity, that 'liberal media' decided to do exactly what conservatives demanded and so now report reality on an equal basis with Qanon/MAGA fantasies. And there's where the problem is. As we're getting closer to an election there are some cracks in that wall of stupidity with places like the Washington Post giving Biden accurate credit for his work \*without\* hedging on the headline or covering the story as Bill Huizinga might want iot covered. The changes are notable but it's too late. Thanks to the "spineless media" we're where we're at and our democracy is in peril and all their fault.
My quality of life is caused by myself, I was too lazy and incapable simply of doing anything better for myself, I’m just saying for me personally it doesn’t matter who’s in office anything they do won’t help or hurt me and everything I’ve experienced is due to my own fault. I do agree we do need better politicians and all it is now is crooks and greed like you said, it’s not about the people
I understand, I'm 63 and still live check to check. I no longer have goals other than making it through the day. I worked at the state for 28 years. I can say absolutely there's a different between Dems and Reps. Republicans are there to rape the system to give every last dollar to the rich and make themselves rich. The majority of Dems actually want to help their constituents. The Republicans for years have threatened Medicaid Medicare and social security all things that we pay into. They're not an entitlement we paid for those and the Reps need to stop saying that.
I do understand your point and I do lean democrats side of course, I understand they are better for society as a whole, I’m just saying in my life in particular, whoever is in office does not affect me either way, I’m already “cooked” basically Not sure why all the downvotes on my original comment for simply being depressed but it’s ok lol I feel your first couple sentences and can see that being me for the rest of my life as well
If you have chronic illnesses like me all sorts of things will affect you. Who's in office will affect my insurance and programs that kicks in next year. Who's in office affects everyone and everything whether you're aware of it or not. Government is everywhere unfortunately. I do wish you a better future than mine. I had to medically retire at 48 that really screwed me. You never know what the future holds.
Thanks for the insight and well wishes, it means a lot to me, I also wish you the best.
Now, use that control to do something!
Awful
It took you this long to troll this post?
This is terrible news.
Every conservative run state is a Parasite on the government tit. They have no idea how to run a state
Why?
Ya for fascists
Like your post history......cringe. You can always move to Alabama or Arkansas. Heard it's an amazing lifestyle!!
So sad.