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Anika Singh Lemar

@anikasinghlemar.bsky.social
419 followers 658 following 153 posts

Some of my thoughts on what community development means and my affection for New Haven here: bit.ly/3AawrCb

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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Half of being a free range ish parent is knowing what age your child should lie and say they are when asked by an authority.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Absolutely.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
It is strange to call zoning reform the primary policy response but it is true that it is a key policy goal. Not because it alone can solve the housing crisis but because it is a necessary precondition to most of the other solutions, including the construction of government-built housing.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
In any event, whether or not I'm married to them, New Haven's state legislators ought to stand up against exclusionary zoning, I said more about that here: www.newhavenindependent.org/2026/07/21/o...
newhavenindependent.org
Opinion: New Haven's Leaders Must Continue To Defend Connecticut's Most Effective Affordable Housing Law - New Haven Independent
Yale Law School professor Anika Singh Lemar speaks up for 8-30g, in response to Justin Farmer's critique at a recent 92nd District debate.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
I am pretty sure, Ethan, that if it were important you would have written your comment as, "It is important to disclose that Anika is married to a state representative because [insert a reason because I can't think of one]" rather than as a question.
Comment by "Ethan" on an op-ed I wrote in the New Haven Independent. Comment reads, "Isn't it important to disclose somewhere here that Anika is married to a state legislator?"
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
"This place isn’t nice because the houses are all old,” he says. “It’s nice because we’re very fortunate. It’s wealthy. It’s near the water. We’re not nice because there’s an old building with a plaque.”
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Tom Broderick @trumbullbrod.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
We’re witnessing the single greatest energy transition since coal and instead of celebrating the adaptive refuse and carbon free abundant energy, CTs news outlets have blanketed the state with NIMBY anti solar talking points Absolute madness (of course it’s Haar) www.ctinsider.com/news/article...
ctinsider.com
Dan Haar: The rural CT neighborhood that could soon be surrounded by solar projects
"We built our home here because of the farmland, the peace, the quiet. We wanted to raise our kids here," Amanda Berube said.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
he wants accelerated rehab? so did his tenants.
Headline from the New Haven Independent: "Landlord Requests Accelerated Rehab"
Lede: "Jianchao Xu applies for pretrial diversionary program, in criminal housing court appearance related to state building code violation on Avon St."
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Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 18/04/2026
The housing crisis is echoing across the nation. Our BUILD plan is one of the most comprehensive to tackle it — making it easier, faster, and more effective to build homes here.
chicagotribune.com
Gov. JB Pritzker’s ambitious housing plan for Illinois: More four-flats, looser rules
A cornerstone initiative from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker would loosen zoning restrictions for multiunit buildings, drawing excitement from housing advocates but concerns from local officials.
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Open New York @opennewyork.org · 31/03/2026
The current 12-game Jeopardy champion works at an affordable housing finance agency in NJ, and shamed New York for not building more housing: "NJ's doing really well, we're ahead of NY, CT, PA. If you're from one of those states, shame on you, build more housing."
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
Deeply focused today on a very crucial part of the writing process. It goes by many names but I like to call it, um, "not writing."
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Self-described property rights advocates in Connecticut want to give every local government an automatic option to purchase private property if its owner has the gall to propose building affordable housing on its own land. cga.ct.gov/2026/TOB/H/P...
cga.ct.gov
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Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
I wrote about the Epstein files (gift link) www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
theverge.com
How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
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Vox @vox.com · 04/02/2026
Apartments are safer and more affordable than single-family homes. Why do we treat them like a hazard? www.vox.com/future-perfe...
vox.com
The hidden double standards driving our housing crisis
Apartments are safer and more affordable than single-family homes. Why do we treat them like a hazard?
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 03/01/2026
feeling a little bit too seen, @rolandlemar.bsky.social
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
"Here’s what I don’t get. The collective gnashing of teeth over the construction of developer-initiated housing in town." Preach, Greenwich.
greenwichtime.com
David Rafferty (opinion): More housing is just Greenwich changing with the times
'People want to live in Greenwich and we should have more options for entry-level and retirement-age buyers and renters,' columnist David Rafferty writes.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
I assume this is the sortof thing that (temporarily, one hopes?) derailed Tim Scott's bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act. A nominally libertarian organization questioning the relationship between supply and demand. www.cato.org/briefing-pap...
cato.org
The ROAD to More Federal Control: How Congress Is Misdiagnosing America’s Housing Problems
Overall, it is unlikely that the policies in the ROAD to Housing Act will satisfy many critics of federal housing policy over the past few decades.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
In any event, any talk of aesthetics-driven NIMBYism requires a shout out to Connecticut's own Arnold Karp: “I’ve driven by a lot of these peoples’ homes,” he said. “How do I say it? I don’t think they’re the arbiters of design in New Canaan.” www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/r...
nytimes.com
A Wall Divides a Connecticut Town (Published 2019)
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
Idk, I am pretty sure that thinking it's your business whether someone else's house is ugly is NIMBYism.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
gift link: Amid housing shortage, CT spends millions managing homelessness other ways
ctinsider.com
Amid housing shortage, CT spends millions managing homelessness other ways
Amid a housing shortage, Connecticut is spending millions managing homelessness through foster care, jails and ERs. Lawmakers say the issue can be solved.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I am reading the written testimony in support of Downtown for All, an upzoning of downtown New Haven supported by all three of its city council people and, yay, New Haven, honestly, your (our!) idealism and hospitality and just basic desire to make life better are so needed here in Connecticut.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
"Why can't blue states build housing?" asks USA Today in an article about Lamont's veto of 5002.
usatoday.com
Connecticut housing crisis persists as Governor Lamont vetoes reform bill
A law that would have encouraged new housing in Connecticut failed after local opponents mounted a campaign, leaving many advocates frustrated.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
The idea that there are talented and gifted 4 and 5 year olds is bonkers. Nothing makes people crazier than becoming parents.
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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Justice Kavanaugh: “If the person is a U. S. citizen or otherwise lawfully in the United States, that individual will be free to go after the brief encounter.”
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
There is a real conversation to be had about YIMBYism and race and it's not that "the vibes are off." It's that it's taken YIMBYs a minute to connect their work to the racial justice movement that understood exclusionary zoning as a problem 75 years ago, decades before YIMBYs came to it.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
"The capacity of government to deliver is really important for all the flavors of abundance." Stephanie Pollack speaking to @yimbytown.bsky.social
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Hugh Bailey @hughsbailey.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
The good news here is that the governor knows there's a crisis and is laser-focused on getting a housing bill passed that will start to take on some of these systemic issues. right? Homelessness rises in CT as federal funding remains in flux ctmirror.org/2025/09/11/c...
ctmirror.org
Homelessness rises in CT as federal funding remains in flux
There were 3,735 people living in shelters or outside in CT in January 2025, compared to 3,410 in January 2024. That’s nearly a 10% increase.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Unexpectedly, North Dakota Gov Kelly Armstrong just told @yimbytown.bsky.social to advocate for forming state banks to finance affordable housing.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Yep, I am in a standing only room, at a session on building codes, @yimbytown.bsky.social. No one call the fire marshal, please.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Love hearing from @billmckibben.bsky.social talking to @yimbytown.bsky.social about how it takes months to install solar panels in the US rather than days in Europe, Australia...15,000 America. municipalities, each with its own regulations and inspectors... sounds familiar!
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Like 150 people just booed and hissed Ned Lamont, pretty sure most of them had no idea who he was six hours ago. Totally well deserved. @yimbytown.bsky.social #yimbytown
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Zoning receivership is a phrase I have never heard before. Like it. @yimbytown.bsky.social #yimbytown
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
Hearing from a Montana community land trust, originally focused on low and moderate-income households, that got YIMBY-pilled when they started getting pressure to build subsidized housing for families at 200% of median income. Sounds very familiar here in CT. #yimbytown @yimbytown.bsky.social
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Monday!!
Join me, YIMBYtown 2025, What role can lawyers play in advancing equitable zoning, September 15, New Haven, CT.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
"One of the major reasons why housing is so expensive in New York City is because so little housing is being built in its suburbs...To the extent that housing costs have moderated in Austin, it’s the result of the sum of urban and suburban production, not Austin’s growth alone."
thesapiensproject.substack.com
To sprawl or not to sprawl
But is that really the question?
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
Connecticut's sortof prominent here. Not a good thing.
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Tony Ho Tran @tonyhotran.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
The shooting of Charlie Kirk was the 46th school shooting of the year. The 47th one happened moments afterwards. www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/u...
cnn.com
At least 2 students shot at a Denver-area high school, authorities say | CNN
At least two students have been shot at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
When the thing that makes you angry is the affordable housing plan, rather than the affordable housing crisis, you should be finding time to meet with your therapist, not screaming your head off at a planning and zoning hearing.
Local news headline: "Affordable housing plan angers Easton, Trumbull residents, officials. 'Out of place'"
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
For anyone who cares to pay attention, the fact that major developers are lining up behind the NIMBY mayoral candidate tells you a lot about real-world housing politics and who the real shills tend to be in local YIMBY/NIMBY fights. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/n...
nytimes.com
Wealthy New York Developers Hold Meeting to Plot Mamdani’s Defeat
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Yes. "I would encourage municipal leaders to take time to review CCM's advocacy role and compare the benefits of membership with its messaging efforts opposing policies that could help them. The results could be striking." www.ctinsider.com/politics/art...
ctinsider.com
Connecticut leaders push for deal on affordable housing amid ongoing stalemate
"Listen: Bring us to the table. Let's knock out things we can agree on," said state Rep. Tony Scott, R-Trumbull.
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Jonathan Berk 🏠 @berkie1.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
"While anti-housing politics can win in public meetings where land-use decisions are made by a small group of similarly minded people, state-level policymakers who reform this system have maintained & gained popularity by representing a broader... constituency." www.governing.com/urban/what-m...
governing.com
What Montana Can Teach Us About Housing Reform
Two years ago, lawmakers in the Big Sky State passed one of the most comprehensive state-level housing reform packages in the country. This year, they doubled down on their success.
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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
LMAO - straight villainy “I grew up here and …. I don’t want to have 1,000 more people in town but at the same time, I do want affordable housing” - From a person who serves on Ridgefield's P&Z For context: 1,000 more people would be a 4% population increase www.newstimes.com/news/article...
newstimes.com
Ridgefield developer proposes affordable housing after townhomes plan is killed
The developer's attorney said the site could make a "substantial dent in the town’s significant affordable housing shortage."
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Nihilism unconvincingly disguised as religion.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
More people are coming to #YIMBYtown than there are residents in Connecticut's smallest town. h/t @charlescgardner.bsky.social
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
I am very excited to see many of you at YIMBYtown here in the #gscia in a few weeks...if you haven't yet registered, do so now. There has been so much interest and excitement that registration will close this coming Sunday at midnight.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Maybe worry less about your neighborhood's character and more about your own?
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
If you watched Your Friends and Neighbors and saw Jon Hamm and Amanda Peet worry about what people thought about them at their ritzy country club, you don't need to bother reading this Mirror article about Ned and Annie Lamont fretting over a few emails, same vibe. ctmirror.org/2025/08/18/c...
ctmirror.org
Emails: Lamont sought counsel on HB 5002 housing bill opposition
CT Gov. Ned Lamont involved his wife, a former state senator and others in discussions over how to respond to opposition to HB 5002.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
CT needs 150k new homes and here's just one reason why it's pure fantasy to think that the "easy" solution is to put most of them in our existing urban centers.
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Anika Singh Lemar @anikasinghlemar.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Proud to be part of a united front here, Connecticut needs to act on housing. 5002 would have been an important step forward but the fight doesn't end with the Governor's misguided veto.
ctinsider.com
Opinion: CT housing advocates to Gov: Lamont — there is a path forward
Connecticut housing advocates challenge Gov. Ned Lamont ('What you've asked for in a housing bill has already been vetted and subject of public debate').
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Urban Dispatch @urbandispatch.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
This one slipped by me, Stratford CT rejected a zoning proposal for 126 homes (not the site plan, the zoning) in part because "the property lacks the necessary access to fire trucks" DESPITE THE FACT IT IS LITERALLY ADJACENT TO A FIRE DEPARTMENT 🚒🔥🧨😧🧟☠️ "Local Control" is a joke
But the apartment buildings drew considerable pushback from neighboring homeowners who expressed concern that the development would result in a dramatic increase in vehicle traffic and negatively impact their property values. 

At a commission meeting last month, town lawyers added their voices to the opposition. Among other things, they said the property lacks the necessary access to fire trucks and suggested the town’s sewage system does not have the capacity to serve the developmentGoogle Maps view of the two properties and the fire department next door
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