to the concept of local control—that is, individual communities having the final say on what gets built in their neighborhoods.
It helps to understand that, often, systems of local control neither protect neighborhoods from changes that longtime residents fear nor permit the kind of building that could drive affordability. Is that fully honest? Who cares? It’s politics, baby. You frame your values in a way that best enables you to create the change you covet. “I’m against local control” is like saying you’re against national defense or the middle class.
And this is the broader point that I’m making here: Concerns about messaging and strategy are a byproduct of success. The more political victories a movement enjoys, the greater the need that movement has to moderate and compromise.