Three loud cheers for Kimberly Fiorello

you go, girl! (can we still say that?)

I missed this Greenwich Time article yesterday and so didn’t see our representative’s remarks, but yes, spot on, and thank you.

After hours of debate on whether to allow multi-family and other types of housing to be built near Connecticut’s transit stations, Rep. Kimberly Fiorello, R-Greenwich, asked a pointed question of a 20-year-old supporter of the proposal, who had just testified that many people his age are leaving the state because it’s too expensive to live here.

“Is housing a right?” Fiorello asked Alan Cavagnaro, a sophomore at Manchester Community College and a planning and zoning commissioner for South Windsor. “Are you entitled to have the housing that you want?”

Cavagnaro said he does believe housing is a right. Put simply, “it’s your habitat,” he said, and many people, including young professionals, are struggling to find an affordable place to live in Connecticut. His response drew quick rebuke from Fiorello.

“Housing is not a right, because housing is built by other people,” Fiorello said. “It’s a want and there’s a variety of different housing that people may want. But housing is not a right. You don’t have a right to other people’s labor.”

The reader who brought this to my attention added his own commentary:

I couldn't help but notice several things about the "Desegregate Connecticut"* camp. First, Sara Bronin, and the other exec, were woefully unprepared to answer specific questions about details, did not have hard numbers, and oddly, kept repeating some mumbo-jumbo about how 8-30g does not specify 30% affordable. They were truly terrible. Second, almost all the people speaking in favor were either affiliated with DC, or under 25, or both. It was like watching victims of a cult parrot what they have been taught. "You know, like, it's really a crisis, like, because there's nothing in Connecticut I can afford, and it's all like, you need a car and stuff" Sigh.