Michael Le Desma got tired of hearing one word, over and over again, repeated at city council meetings: No. Whether it was transportation projects meant to slow cars down or an apartment building aimed at alleviating Boulder’s crushing housing crunch, the neighborhood groups that showed up to speak to elected officials opposed it.
“They’re kind of constitutionally averse to change,” Le Desma said.
Oppositional attitudes to development — referred to since the late ’70s/early ’80s as NIMBYism (Not In My Backyard) — are so widespread that they’ve spurred studies of their role in the U.S. home shortage and even spawned a counter movement: YIMBYism (Yes In My Backyard). Boulder hosted the first big YIMBY conference in 2016.
Le Desma sums up the new approach this way: “Instead of just, ‘Hell, no,’ it’s, ‘Yes, but.’”
The NIMBY/YIMBY wars have continued locally, with YIMBYs gaining ever more political ground. In every corner of the county, groups have popped up to fight for housing and against the various ills caused by the acute shortage and affordability crisis: transportation-fueled climate change, rising homelessness, etc.
It’s not glamorous work. Advocates spend hours reading government documents and attending long, tedious meetings, occasionally delivering 2-3 minute speeches to elected and appointed officials while trying to convince their fellow residents to do the same.
But their plea is a passionate one: Our cities will not survive if they become increasingly unaffordable, divided by income and dominated by cars.
“Resilience is the ability to adapt to change,” said Shakeel Dalal, a Longmont-based housing advocate. “Change will happen no matter what. If we want to be resilient, we should look at these things that are going to change and say, ‘How can we use this thing that is changing in order to further our goals?’ Are we going to react to external factors and act like victims, or are we going to harness change to improve people’s lives?
“I’m open to the idea that every single policy idea I articulated is wrong,” Dalal concluded, “but I’m not open to the idea that we can be resilient if we are not willing to change.”
What follows are the policies and initiatives Dalal, Le Desma and other pro-housing community advocates say residents should advocate for if they want strong, resilient communities.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you want to know everything these folks are up to, contact them! They’re all open to new members and ideas.
Shakeel Dalal, LAUNCH Longmont
What they do: LAUNCH advocates for more housing and walkable neighborhoods. Learn more: launchlongmonthousing.org
Shakeel’s steps for resilience
Legalize attached housing. “It should be legal to build a townhome, duplex or fourplex in any residential neighborhood in any city.”
Allow complimentary businesses in residential neighborhoods — pediatricians, gerontologists, coffee shops, sandwich shops, corner grocery stores. “Every neighborhood should have access to nutritious, delicious food and other critical services necessary for human life without having to get into a car.”
Build more pedestrian and bike infrastructure. “It should be safe for a child to walk or bike to their friend’s house, or after school activities, or school without needing to be driven by their parents. Car centric infrastructure is a tax on parents’ time and limits the imagination of children about what their community is like.”
Michael Le Desma, Neighbors United of South Boulder (NUSoBo)
What they do: This neighborhood group pursues community building projects and advocates for transportation safety and housing. It’s also a local chapter of Strong Towns, a nonprofit advocacy organization
More info: nusobo.org. Contact [email protected] to get connected
Michael’s policy picks
Gentle infill. “While the members of our group broadly support more density, we don’t want it to be unconstrained. You can have increases in density where you have public transportation, where you manage parking and use money from developers to help address some of the issues that are expected to flow from the increase in population.”
Transportation. Ending parking minimums (the local rules requiring a certain number of parking spots per home and business), traffic calming on local streets (to slow cars down) and more and better bus service.
“Join community groups that advocate for these changes. There are many such groups, but among the most established and most effective is Community Cycles.” (communitycycles.org)
“When it comes to climate change, time is of the essence. It is at the state and local level that change can happen most quickly, particularly in the realm of transportation and land use policy, where state and local authority is at its most potent.”
Annmarie Jensen, Together Colorado
(formerly of East County Housing Opportunity, or ECHO. The group became part of Together Colorado in July 2024)
What they do: This coalition of faith leaders advocates for justice and equity in housing, healthcare, climate, the criminal justice system, the economy, immigration and education. Learn more: togethercolorado.org
Annmarie’s advocacy checklist
More housing, especially in East County. “Erie, Superior and Longmont still have edges they can grow on the outskirts; infill is not their only option.”
An inclusionary housing ordinance in Lafayette, which would require builders to include a certain amount of affordable housing in big projects or pay into an affordable housing fund. Most local communities have them, and they require anywhere from 12-25% of units to be designated affordable, or the cash equivalent.
“All [Lafayette has] is a $1 per-square-foot building fee that goes into their affordable housing. That’s really low.”
The fee raised more than $2.8 million from 2017-2024, according to a city spokesperson, including $1.5 million that went toward completing the Willoughby Corner development.
Higher local minimum wages. “What we’re looking to do is to get the rest of the region to do at least what Boulder did: [an] 8% [increase] a year for the next three years. But amid a concentrated push by business owners to abandon or even rescind higher local wages, “we’re not getting very far.”
“Historically, every labor protection we’ve ever gotten — including child labor, health insurance, ending slavery — the business community has always said, ‘This will kill us. Even if businesses are hurting, the question is, ‘Should the lowest-wage workers be the ones paying the price?’
“If we want to get people out of their cars and create this sense of community, the workers who work here need to be able to afford to live here — wherever here is.”
Ending the state ban on local rent control. “It doesn’t immediately say everybody is going to do rent control” — cities’ ability to set their own minimum wage is proof of that. “It just gives local governments the ability to be flexible” in times of distress, such as after the Marshall Fire, when an effort to curb rents went nowhere.
Macon Cowles, Boulder Housing Network
What they do: Track development locally and alert residents to get involved in the approval process for various projects. Learn more: boulderhousing.net
Macon’s top action items
Ending requirements for first-floor retail space in mixed-use developments. “This requirement for vertical mixed use does not make sense in a context where the commercial [space] is in the next block or two blocks away. Looking around town right now, you see a lot of empty first-floor spaces. The demand is not there.”
Upcoming engagement
May 21-22 county and city elected officials will meet with their respective planning bodies to discuss progress and next steps. Learn more: bit.ly/BVCPupdateBW
Get involved in the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan update. This exhaustive document — which guides development, city services, land preservation, transportation and other high-level policies for a decade or more — can be a difficult entry point for ordinary residents. But because it controls so much, it’s incredibly important to the future of our region.
“Probably the most important place for people to have an impact is in an update to the BVCP,” happening now.
Sign up for notification from your community’s planning department. “There are planning email lists that will tell you everything that is in the pipeline, meetings coming up and all that.” Show up and support projects that further housing, transportation and climate goals=.
Middle-income housing at Iris and Broadway. The county plans its land, but “this is the place where our county and city should come together and figure out how we can build middle housing, because the land cost is already embedded in a public body.”
Bonus Boulder Weekly recommendation!
Pay attention to government budgets. This one is straight from Strong Towns, but we couldn’t agree more. Learn how your city/town is spending your money — and Boulder County, while you’re at it.
We’ll do our part by writing about them in as much depth and detail as we can.
Not sure who to call? Check out our guide to contacting elected officials in every Boulder County community
This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Shakeel Dalal's surname and to include additional information from Lafayette, submitted after publication.