Writings
Data-informed essays and op-eds on legalizing more homes, lowering living costs, and building a financially resilient Champaign-Urbana.
Featured Publication
My Turn | A century-old building shouldn't need permission to exist
A defense of incremental housing by right, using a long-standing neighborhood building to show how small-scale density fits established blocks.
6/9/2025
Smile Politely
Are our neighborhoods not as glorious?
Testimony from two Urbana City Council meetings on the West Main Street apartment proposal exposes a pattern in which neighborhoods get asked to absorb housing growth and which ones get shielded from it.
6/8/2026
Abundant CU
An Open Letter to the Urbana City Council
A response to the arguments being made against the apartment building proposed for 413–419 W. Main Street, ahead of Urbana's City Council vote.
6/1/2026
Smile Politely
An outstanding project, an outstanding idea, just not here
How a well-designed apartment building on Urbana's West Main Street is drawing the same "neighborhood character" objections that downzoned this block in 1991, and what that pattern costs a city and its residents.
5/27/2026
The News-Gazette
My Turn: Illinois statewide housing shortage needs statewide fix
Champaign has made real progress on zoning and housing, but local action alone can't close a statewide gap of 227,000 homes. The case for Illinois legislators to pass the BUILD plan.
4/28/2026
Champaign Showers
The Vacant Windows Theory
A critique of vacancy-focused narratives that miss the deeper policy constraints limiting adaptive reuse and neighborhood vitality.
10/3/2025
The News-Gazette
My Turn: The ghosts of Philo Road, and the promise ahead
An argument for learning from past corridor development choices and focusing future investment on walkable, productive places.
9/9/2025
The News-Gazette
My Turn: A stronger Champaign, built from the ground up
A case for legalizing incremental housing and allowing neighborhoods to evolve from within, rather than forcing growth to the edge.
6/24/2025
Champaign Showers
This Building Shouldn’t Be Controversial
A local zoning and housing commentary on how ordinary, compatible multifamily forms became unnecessarily contentious.
6/10/2025