Mixed-income neighbourhoods

There's certainly something to be said for projects like this one, intended to decrease the ghettoization of the poor, rebuild crumbling neighbourhoods, and promote communities.

My problem? Why is it always about building market condos in poor areas? If mixed-income was really meant to benefit poor people, they'd be building social housing in Rosedale and Yorkville. In every case I can think of where mixed-income developments happen in an existing neighbourhood, it's always about the invasion of the rich into prime real estate that someone has inconveniently built a housing project on.

I sense ulterior motives, and a very local sort of imperialism.

That post about toxic activists and trainspotting

As promised/threatened, I want to start a discussion about dealing with people in activist organizations and communities that make life difficult for everyone. It's not, of course, just about activists. Toxic individuals surface in every community. In my second home, geekdom, there's just as much if not more problems in this regard. But activism is a space where your sole purpose in functioning as a community is about making the world a better place, and thus it's doubly frustrating when someone's behaviour or person interferes with that.

Our troubled hypothetical activist group is above ground and not engaged in any sort of illegal or clandestine activities, but is nevertheless monitored with intermittent interest by the authorities. It is a small group, with no controls right now on membership because it's trying to grow and reach a wide audience. It doesn't operate on consensus, but votes only happen after long periods of protracted, often pointless discussion.

In an attempt to avoid singling out any one group, cause, or individual, I'm just going to go ahead and use the names of aliens from Babylon 5 to talk about the kinds of tensions that arise.

( scenarios )

On a quasi-related note, interesting discussion about Readercon and what happens when someone you like does awful things.