The Architecture of a Caste vs the Cottage Industry
Small is Big in the upside-down economy
Thus, down to the time of Gutenberg, architecture is the principal writing, the universal writing. In that granite book, begun by the Orient, continued by Greek and Roman antiquity, the Middle Ages wrote the last page. Moreover, this phenomenon of an architecture of the people following an architecture of caste, which we have just been observing in the Middle Ages,
….Nevertheless, when the sun of the Middle Ages is completely set, when the Gothic genius is forever extinct upon the horizon, architecture grows dim, loses its color, becomes more and more effaced. The printed book, the gnawing worm of the edifice, sucks and devours it. It becomes bare, denuded of its foliage, and grows visibly emaciated. It is petty, it is poor, it is nothing. It no longer expresses anything, not even the memory of the art of another time. Reduced to itself, abandoned by the other arts, because human thought is abandoning it, it summons bunglers in place of artists. Glass replaces the painted windows. The stone–cutter succeeds the sculptor. Farewell all sap, all originality, all life, all intelligence. It drags along, a lamentable workshop mendicant, from copy to copy.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo Book Fifth, Chapter 2
Ever since the Maine Legislature started centrally managing the economy in 1976, the wealth divide has increased, year after year, in Maine and elsewhere, and the quality of life for the masses has been sacrificed to benefit the top.
For every downgrade in the quality of life of the people, there is a narrative exaulting the great service the leadership class is performing for the people, or at least some of the people, today fine-tuning the target to those who fit the caste identified as “the workforce” but not the entire workforce, as explained by Erin Cooperrider, the workforce housing units being built by the Boothbay Regional Development Corporation are for” People who work for the town, people who work for the school, people who work at the Coast Guard,”. source News Center Maine
The act of designation housing for specific industries is consistent with a caste system.
Caste systems are characterized by a fixed hierarchy, with individuals born into a particular caste and expected to remain within it throughout their lives.
While this might not sound like a one to one comparison with the established system in Maine, one of the elementary insights gained from my years of researching Maine economic development statutes is that wealth is redistributed to the top of the economy as capital to be used for economic growth and to the bottom of the economy as subsidies for cost of living expenses with the bottom of the economy penalized for having assets or for economic growth.
One example is the income caps applied to affordable housing, which requires the inhabitant to move out if their income increases above the cap.
The Boothbay Regional Development Corporation is funded with affordable housing subsidies while offering market-rate priced housing with cost-burdened financial terms. I was wondering how that works out with the income cap on affordable housing, since the housing now being offered isn’t what it has been saying it was to acquire funding. In the News Center Maine Report, Steve Malcom says, “If your income increases, you can move to a single-family home,” as if it is optional. Based on what I know of the BRDC’s relationship to the truth, I interpret that as “you MUST move”, consistent with the income cap on affordable housing, but that is not a verified conclusion.
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In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo identifies architecture as a medium of communication in the humanities before the invention of the printing press. Architecture is no longer the principal medium of communication, but it retains a communicative function.
What would architecture, after “the sun of the Middle Ages is completely set” look like?” Closely packed boxes with minimal windows and doors and no distinguishing architectural features, such as are being constructed en masse in prefab units by the Boothbay Regional Development Corporation on the Boothbay Peninsula?-with ambitions to implement this style of “workforce” architecture all across Maine, advancing Maine’s future as a feudalistic caste system
The architect of the new overcrowded “workforce housing” speaks the language of decline. Housing units that are nothing more than boxes with pointed roofs and minimal windows, and doors, and are stacked closely together like the housing of the Industrial Revolution as the size of the units and even the number of parking spaces decrease as “a density bonus” as explained by the developers, without saying who the beneficiaries are of overcrowding and under providing essential needs for the inhabitants.
Victor Hugo would not call the units boxes; he would call them granite books, but I do not know if there is any granite in their construction. Visualizations of the completed boxes portray their facades as made of brick, but the brick-like cover of these boxes, or books, is a facade. The writing on the walls of these boxes speaks of the low caste that the corporation, the Town, the county, and the state of Maine assign to the “workforce”.
The BRDC has designated which workers are to inhabit the overpriced “affordable housing” offered at cost-burdened financial terms. If this is how those making up to 120% of the Average Median Income in Maine live, what can be expected for those who qualify for what has until recently been the definition of “affordable” housing? Will they be assigned to live in tents, or will they be upgraded to the popular dorms with rows of bunk beds sharing one large communal space?
Before Ms Cooperrider and Co. rewrote the law that snatched Municipal Home Rule out of the hands of the municipalities, affordable housing was affordable for those for whom the concept was created (80% or below AMI) and was not devoid of architectural embellishments. In a more humanistic era, affordable housing featured large kitchen windows and glass doors opening on a patio. The same municipal ordinances governed affordable housing as every other type of housing, so that message of a caste system was not as loud as it is today on the once middle-class Boothbay Peninsula. There was land between houses so that the inhabitants enjoyed features of a rural lifestyle, now totally absent in the overcrowded project that the Boothbay Regional Development Corporation is building in the rural Maine woods, transforming the character of the location into overcrowded, undistinguished housing “units”.
LD HP1489 introduced a more formally structured caste system with one set of ordinances for “workforce” housing and another set of ordinances for STRS, which were acknowledged in the study for HP1489 to be affecting the housing shortage before it was announced that STRS would not be included in the study and so the housing shortage would be attributed to “underproduction of housing” and used to justify, over crowding, over population and state-wide control over community character..
And all of this was seen through a singularly focused, narrow-minded perspective.
The unelected commissioners who usurped municipal authority over local matters inappropriately exhibit a one-dimensional understanding of community with a singular measure of value, money, or, as Ms Cooperrider would say, “economics,” but sophisticated economics is a multi-faceted concept.
“The density is higher, she said, as a matter of economics. The Penobscot Bay Pilot Public responds skeptically to 84-unit commercial/residential development plan for Rockport’s RES parcel”
As it happened, the plan for the boxes to house the “workforce” was initiated at a time when dark money led by Paul Coulombe funded architects to design a new school to replace the mid-century high school. The design featured a tall glass tower, like one large oversized window shining light on tiers of very vulnerable-looking balconies, particularly disturbing when it is known that the plan for demolishing and replacing the current school was intejected into a plan to repair the school and provide a security entrance in response to the student bofy’s concern about the frequent school shootings in the national news. The designers weren’t listening to the students. Show them a glass Tower of Power and a glamorous corporate lobby, and they will forget about concerns about mass shootings.
The school visualization did not include classrooms or the frequently referenced “making spaces”, but contrasting with undistinguished workforce housing, the corporate lobby of the proposed new school projected the glamour of corporate culture, flooded with an abundance of light through a wall that was one large window. That was its selling point- form without function! Or at least without the essential function of a school. It was an image of cultural dominance of the landscape by a tower that exceeded the allowed municipal ordinance heights.
The Real Estate website for the workforce housing recently added small images of the interior space, but the focus is on the selection of fixtures. The images show pleasant-looking corporate-managed landscaping but no land that can be called one’s own, which was a standard feature of rural living for working-class people in Maine when I was growing up in the Boothbay Region. The lack of access to personal land reflects the value the Boothbay Region, county and state of Maine place on the working classes- or that favored segment of the working classes called “the workforce” The people who adopt these terms do not seem to be aware that it comes off as serfforce or slaveforce, especially when the “workforce” is progressively being excluded from ownership as has been happening since the state took over centrally managing the economy in 1976. The inventors of such terms seem politically, culturally, and philosophically unaware, a result of a The first ‘condominiums’ in the BRDC development are for sale as the revenue will help to fund the development, but rules require the potential owners to allow the corporation 1st bid when they sell and to give the corporation 75% of the increase in value, should there be one, which is called a “shared equity model”. With these imposed terms, the BRDC competes at market-rate prices with properties that do not mandate shared equity and usually include land with the home. Given the lack of traditional ownership benefits, the BRDC is charging above-market-rate pricing.
Is BRDC making a profit on the sale of these homes?
No, BRDC is a 501(c)(3) organization and will not profit from the sale of these homes. BRDC’s board members do not receive compensation for their work. BRDC hires qualified architects, engineers and other industry professionals to execute the work needed to complete this project. BRDC FAQS
January 7 2025 Global Newswire article titled KBS Builders Awarded $3.2 Million Contract for Multifamily Construction Project in Maine
The $3.2 million contract calls for the manufacturing of 40 modules to construct five 4-unit townhouse condominiums in Lincoln County, Maine, which puts the cost of 20 modules at$1600000.00 and the cost of one unit at 80,000.00 or $72.72 per square foot. The units are being sold for 330,000 to 495,000.
In my speculation, the target workforce of the BRDC was originally the businesses expected to be involved in industrial job training at the 89 million dollar school, which dark money investors were pushing on the community, but the community didn’t bite. The school was voted down. The boards persisted in trying to force it on the community, but then Trump was elected, and the reader knows what happened after that. Talk of the school hasn’t completely subsided, but it has dwindled between the cuts to government funding, including education funding, and the tariffs.
For a while, Bigelow Labs was expressing an interest in the housing project, but perhaps they realized it is not a good deal to be recommending to their employees, as they were not included in the targeted industries.
From designing individual dwellings to planning cities and villages, the caste system has significantly influenced the Indian architectural society. People from higher castes have typically resided in larger, more luxurious dwellings, while those from lower castes have been consigned to smaller, cramped spaces. The physical form of villages and towns frequently reflects this division, with higher-caste districts being situated in more affluent areas. The Caste System’s Architectural Legacy in India
Meanwhile, the Boothbay Regional Development Corporation has devoured a lot of the available non-profit funding for affordable housing, while it is not affordable housing as defined in HP1489, which mandates a priority zone in every municipality in Maine, and so Boothbay still does not have a priority zone that fits the bill.
Knowing that AHOP just funded the Boothbay Regional Development Corporation makes this online description pure BS!
At the same time, Maine Housing has changed its definition of affordable housing on its website to comply with the 120% limit. Still, the act HP 1489 specifically states the traditional definition of affordable housing three times and defines a priority zone as an affordable housing zone.
However one defines affordable housing, the fact remains that housing for those making 80% or under AMI does not exist on the Boothbay Peninsula. Does the Peninsula care?
I believe some care, but they are not organized on a level to compete with the expertise of Erin Cooperrider in acquiring all the available affordable housing funding for a market-rate development with cost-burdened financing.
But Good Luck with that because there is a new economic catastrophe speeding towards us which could arrive as soon as two months-
Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath
Dario Amodei — CEO of Anthropic, one of the world’s most powerful creators of artificial intelligence — has a blunt, scary warning for the U.S. government and all of us:
- AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10–20% in the next one to five years, Amodei told us in an interview from his San Francisco office.
- Amodei said AI companies and government need to stop “sugar-coating” what’s coming: the possible mass elimination of jobs across technology, finance, law, consulting and other white-collar professions, especially entry-level gigs.
I recommend reading this article. It is a warning from those who are developing AI. They say we need to learn AI in hopes of AI augmenting what we do and not replacing us. I intend to put in the effort, but at first, it seems more time-consuming than time-saving. I’ll let you know when I find a simple starting point.
Jobs at the Town, school, and Coast Guard do not seem as threatened by AI, but could be affected by Trump’s DOGE cuts.
Overall, it does not seem like a good economy in which to sell overpriced and disadvantageous financing as affordable housing.
But it does seem like a time when people will need the real affordable housing more than ever, and since The author of HP 1489 can be flexible with that law- why not other variations- such as a business in residence zone where affordable housing income limits apply for entry but are not imposed there after allowing the inhabitants to develop a higher income rather than staying in place as in the caste system.
In this model, the land would be sold to the inhabitants on standard ownership terms, or rented with the option to buy. The justification for the corporation retaining ownership of the land has been so that it would remain affordable housing, which also means keeping the inhabitants in their caste. When a non-profit owns the land, the Town does not collect property taxes. If the land is sold to the qualifying affordable housing buyer, the Town can collect property taxes, and the non-profit corporation can use the proceeds of the sale to buy more land to be sold to more qualified affordable housing buyers in a ongoing process that returns ownership to the working classes and creates a broader middle class in the community.
Andersen Design’s special advantage in the world turned upside down.
The AI job bloodbath will affect entry-level positions the most. Trump is slashing jobs through government cuts. The tariffs are causing massive job losses.
But here I am in a slightly different situation.
It’s a good time for cottage industries because large-scale industries are stymied. Everything is so uncertain that no one wants to invest, but a smaller industry is less of a risk.
I believe that no matter what the economy, cottage industries are a better way to go for the Peninsula. Cottage industries create a more unique environment. A Peninsula, which is a world apart, is the perfect geography for unique cultural environments, which are a tourist attraction while at the same time being a year-round industry. Slower growth is better as it is less of an endangerment to the water supply.
Even before all the threats to basic job security, the workers wanted to work for themselves because the corporate promise is broken. Now, with AI, corporations will break ties with human workers even more.
Andersen Design’s unique productivity assets can help others to get started working for themselves as independent contractors.
But I haven’t been able to find anyone to work with, or any sort of support.
Solution: Create AI Agents to do the white collar jobs:
- Hundreds of technology companies are in a wild race to produce so-called agents, or agentic AI. These agents are powered by the LLMs. You need to understand what an agent is and why companies building them see them as incalculably valuable. In its simplest form, an agent is AI that can do the work of humans — instantly, indefinitely, and exponentially cheaper.
- Imagine an agent writing the code to power your technology, or handle finance frameworks and analysis, or customer support, or marketing, or copy editing, or content distribution, or research. The possibilities are endless — and not remotely fantastical. Many of these agents are already operating inside companies, and many more are in fast production. source Behind the Curtain: A white-collar bloodbath
- All the jobs that AI can do as good or better than humans are jobs I need. Since I have no one to work with, no one will be losing their jobs if I can implement AI in those capacities.
- If AI saves labor costs in white-collar jobs, that means more money to pay for craft making. Craft making by hand is high quality work engagement as a manufacturing job.
- The future of work is evolving at lightning speed, and already, the Ludites and Cottage Industry are part of the new conversation:
