Below is the information I’ve passed onto the Board of Mayor and Aldermen regarding the pending zoning change.  These changes will have real impact on the city, much of it won’t be good.  Despite all the hoopla, planners cannot provide any example of where changes like these actually make communities more affordable.  There is, however, plenty of information to say things go from bad to worse.  Note well the articles linked in the email to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen from Real Clear Investigations on this very topic.  Testimony I gave last year on this question also cites the negative impact of these moves towards greater density and more business uses in residential areas.  These themes are expanded on in my most recent TV show.  More to come before this Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, December 16, 2025.  It’s important that you contact your alderman and the mayor about these concerns and show up for the public hearing which begins at 7 PM.

Hi, Matt.

Thank you for forwarding this email to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.  Please copy me on the transmission so that I know when it has been sent.

Best,

Rich

Members of the Honorable Board:

As the question of overhauling the zoning is present before you, I’m sending these articles from Real Clear Investigations regarding the cause of rising housing prices and remedial policies.  I’ve also attached testimony presented on March 5, 2024, which cites multiple studies on whether greater density increases poverty and crime.  I trust you’ll take the time to read these investigative articles and ask those proposing what’s now before you of communities that have made these changes and realized the desired results.  If you do, you’re very likely going to find those places exist only in the Land of Make Believe.

Finally, I’ve included the letter I sent to the mayor regarding my desire to serve on the zoning review oversight committee.  I’ve lived in the neighborhoods that will be most impacted by these changes and understand inherently how and why it’s unlikely to be beneficial.  My lived experience aside, my academic background in urbal planning and governance (yes, I studied it for 4 years in college) coupled with my experience as an mayor’s aide and elected official, provide a unique combination of training and experience that underscore the concerns I have as a citizen and, most importantly, someone who still lives in the kind of neighborhood that will bear the brunt of these changes.  Candidly, not many on the board or the oversight committee can say the same.  That is concerning because it lends itself to a certain “Ivory Tower” perception where those who hover over things from a distance “know better ” than those who are being hovered over.

Thank you for your attention to this important material.  Manchester needs change for the better and many of the proposed changes are not that.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/06/18/locked_out_of_the_dream_regulation_making_homes_unaffordable_around_the_world_-_copy_1117398.html

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2025/06/18/building_the_future_fixing_the_global_housing_crisis_part_ii_1117443.html

Attachments:  Testimony on Housing Density, Letter to Ruais seeking appointment to Zoning Oversight Commission

Best,

Richard H. Girard

Publisher

GirardatLarge.com

Click here to read my testimony at the November 18, 2025 meeting at the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Below is a link to my most recent show discussing this proposed change.