You can't have progress without change

A rant about the character of our communities

Hey folks, I’d initially planned to run an item today about the case for approving the AstraZeneca vaccine for use in US non-seniors. But South Africa’s decision to suspend use of the AZ vaccine in light of some new information about its performance with variants seems to me to potentially change the situation, and I want to check back with experts to see how much this should change my view.

So instead, I apologize for giving you all something that’s a bit closer to a rant than to a normal Slow Boring column, because I saw a statement on housing policy from a New York City mayoral candidate on Sunday that really set me off. Not just because it’s a bad statement (though it is), but because it came from Maya Wiley, someone who’s really worked her way up the long march through the progressive nonprofit universe and very much reflects the worldview of increasingly influential institutional actors on the left.

If you can call a movement that’s bottom line is local control and opposition to…