Hugh Bailey
@hughsbailey.bsky.social
550 followers 1.2K following 520 posts
Policy director, Open Communities Alliance, Connecticut
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hughsbailey.bsky.social
The governor has all the power here. He can get a bill and sign it whenever he chooses. If he doesn’t, it’s entirely because he decided it is not in his political interests
hughsbailey.bsky.social
The Governor ultimately did not sign the housing bill into law because of concerns he had around whether local leaders would be able to achieve the goals outlined in the bill.”

So the alternative is, what, exactly?
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Attention Ned Lamont. All the cool governors are doing it
resnikoff.bsky.social
UPDATE: Newsom has signed SB 79 into law!!

This is a great day for anyone who cares about ending California's housing and homelessness crisis, getting the state to net zero emissions, and recovering American democracy.
resnikoff.bsky.social
If you live in California, please call @gavinnewsom.bsky.social at (916) 445-2841 and urge him to sign SB 79. Here's my post about why the bill is so important: publiccomment.blog/p/newsom-s-f...
hughsbailey.bsky.social
This is some weird Trump-ian language from Lamont here. Reversing himself from one sentence to the next, totally vague, not clear he knows what he's talking about, the "by the way" thing.

Not great!

ctmirror.org/2025/10/10/a...
He also said he was not ready to commit to adding a reworked housing bill to a special session that will likely take place later this year — even as he hinted that a deal may soon be forthcoming.

“There are some other things that I thought would have made the bill better,” Lamont said. “They’re not big things. I think we got them resolved, by the way.”
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Also, by the by, in case anyone was under the impression that the governor's veto message, that he was determined to get this right in a special session, was sincere: “We’ll either do it in a special session in the next six weeks (or) we’ll do it in the next session in February."

No rush, Ned!
hughsbailey.bsky.social
In case you missed it, since it was in some obscure publication called CT Insider: "data from Lamont’s office shows the number of state-financed units completed in Connecticut declined in 2024 and has steadily declined while he’s been in office." www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/...
Gov. Lamont says CT is building lots of housing. The data says otherwise
A CT Insider review found the 2024 total marked a 13-year low, dating back to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s tenure.
www.ctinsider.com
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Listen, CT Insider, I know Lamont said this, but you could take the time to point out that **it isn't true.**

And we know this because of reporting **in the publication that you work for.**
www.ctinsider.com/politics/art...
Lamont disagreed, saying more housing has been built in recent years than in the decades prior.
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Characterizing distribution centers as "massive," "horrible" and "destructive" is certainly a choice.

Quick question, though: When you order stuff online, where do you suppose it comes from?
hughsbailey.bsky.social
There was a thought once that, even though Trump is president, we didn't need to report every insane thing he says on social media as if it's news. That doesn't seem to apply to this decade-and-a-half old story.

www.ctpost.com/news/article...
Trump calls for investigation into Blumenthal after senator grills Bondi at Senate hearing
The president criticized the Democratic lawmaker Tuesday night in a post on Truth Social.
www.ctpost.com
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Wow, everyone's optimistic, great to hear, I know I feel better

PODCAST: When will Lamont announce he's running for governor of CT again? ctmirror.org/2025/10/06/p...
You know, these are two men who tend to offer an optimistic view of how things are going, but that is something that they hope to get done,
hughsbailey.bsky.social
I've got to say, watching a Democratic governor run out the clock on what is called the most significant housing reform his state has seen in maybe forever is giving me really bad early-summer-2025 feelings
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Finally got around to reading this, and yeah, four more years of fiscal guardrails in an age of never-ending constitutional crisis is hard to square.

It's clear Lamont wants a 3rd term, less so what he would do ctmirror.org/2025/10/05/n...
It's clear Lamont wants a 3rd term, less so what he would do
Gov. Ned Lamont has intended to contrast his steady pragmatism with the drama of Trump. To that end, the federal shutdown has been a gift.
ctmirror.org
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Pre-Covid his approval rating was Malloy-esque. His one policy goal is keeping the guardrails, which weren’t even his idea, and we get all that tax revenue from Malloy policies.

Four more years!
hughsbailey.bsky.social
Not to mention his halfway “let’s regionalize schools” policy that lasted about 10 minutes.
hughsbailey.bsky.social
The story then details a line of people complaining about traffic, which is a legitimate issue, but also clearly predates this project, which is of course unbuilt. Maybe take those complaints somewhere else?
hughsbailey.bsky.social
What do people think this means?

You don't live in a farm town in the middle of nowhere, you're in a very high opportunity suburb.

"... an extremely rural community"? That's why people are beating down the door to build housing there?

www.newtownbee.com/10032025/pla...
Rosen raised a few concerns about the grading and driveway during the winter. Mazzucco responded, “It is a steep driveway, and we are making some modifications to the entrance, as well as the parking areas. We’re trying to flatten them out with the retaining walls and some grading so it’s not as steep. We did eliminate, I think, a couple, maybe two or three spaces, when you came up the driveway … they weren’t really practical.”

Rosen then requested that there be a bit more vegetation near the street to make the development “a little more subtle.” He then asked if the percentage of nonpermeable surface is changing with this new development. Mazzucco said he would get that information for Rosen.

Widmann shared that she agreed with Rosen strongly, “We live in a rural community and the images, while they may be beautiful, represent to me a city dwelling versus a country dwelling. So, it would be a major change to our community to have something that dramatic on that corner with the stone walls and towering buildings when we live in … an extremely rural community, and I just would hope that you would take a little more of that into consideration.”
hughsbailey.bsky.social
A lot going on behind closed doors but why are we taking this guy's word for it?

CT legislators want to fix housing, insurance, federal cuts. But after 3 months, they still don’t agree how www.courant.com/2025/10/01/a...
The housing market has remained hot in recent years as many buyers have engaged in bidding wars and thus paid more than the asking price. That includes all levels of housing – from small condominiums in New Haven to single-family homes in Greater Hartford to mansions in Greenwich.

While lawmakers said in June that they would be negotiating with Lamont, Candelora said he has not heard much progress on the housing legislation.

“I continue to hear that the housing bill has not progressed in any direction, so I don’t anticipate that we would be taking it up,” Candelora said.
hughsbailey.bsky.social
I guess knocking on the door is out of the question?
A key sticking point between the commission and Vessel concerns the integrity of water wells owned by three neighbors of the development property in question at 48 and 50 Nashville Road. Vessel says those three wells could be compromised by construction, and as a result, the developer would offer those well owners the option of being hooked up to public water.

The problem, commission members say, is Bethel doesn’t know who the affected homeowners are and therefore the town cannot ask whether the homeowners agree to the developer’s offer.
hughsbailey.bsky.social
I get that there are a lot of pressures in running an opinion section. You get a lot of nonsense submissions. But you don't actually have to print everything you get.