| UNFAIR PARK | Bullying Backfires After Congressman Matt Gaetz bullied her on media, a Texas teen activist raised millions for abortion rights. BY SIMONE CARTER $2.2 million for abortion funds as of Mon- day afternoon. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republi- A can, sparked the controversy during a recent conservative conference, during which he called pro-choice protesters overweight and “just disgusting.” He added that women who support abortion access are too ugly to impregnate. Julianna, the political strategy specialist with Gen-Z for Change, replied to him on social media. Gaetz sent a mean tweet about Julianna before she flipped the script and inspired a deluge of abortion fund dona- tions. Starting with a tweet Sunday, Julianna responded to the congressman’s recent mi- sogynistic comments about abortion rights activists. “Its [sic] come to my attention that Matt Gaetz — alleged pedophile— has said that it’s always the ‘odious.. 5’2 350 pound’ women that ‘nobody wants to impregnate’ who rally for abortion,” she wrote. “I’m ac- tually 5’11. 6’4 in heels. I wear them so the small men like you are reminded of your place.” (Gaetz is under investigation over several allegations, including that he had sex with a 17-year-old, paid for sex and participated in sex trafficking, which he’s denied, according to Insider.) From there, Gaetz reposted a Newsmax tweet stating that his recent remarks would “raise [the] dander” of political foes. The congressman’s tweet included a photo of Ju- lianna, along with the caption: “Dander raised…” Julianna accused Gaetz of body-shaming her and again highlighted allegations that he’d had sex with a minor. “Am I not a little too old for you Matt?” she shot back in a tweet. “I know you have a thing for targeting teenagers but 19 is on the cusp don’t you think?” The Observer was unable to reach Gaetz’ office by publication time. But in response to the fundraiser, a Gaetz spokesperson told the Houston Chronicle that “America is now a pro-life na- tion. No amount of solicitations will change that.” fter getting bullied by an anti-abortion congressman, Texas teen activist Olivia Julianna is exacting re- venge by raising more than The spokesperson added that the con- gressman “never mentioned the adult’s weight. Leftist media did.” On Tuesday, Julianna tweeted out a thank you card featuring a photo of Gaetz. She wrote that his attacks on her backfired by helping to raise $50,000 within the span of a day. Julianna has previously made headlines over her online activism. Last year, she launched a viral TikTok challenge to over- whelm an anti-abortion whistleblower web- site, where people could submit tips ratting out those they believed had broken Texas’ abortion law. ▼ HOUSING DIZZYING DEMAND I THE U.S. NEEDS 4.3 MILLION NEW APARTMENT UNITS BY 2035 TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND. BY JACOB VAUGHN f the U.S. wants to address housing de- mand, home shortages and the lack of af- fordability, 4.3 million more apartment units will need to be built by 2035, according to a new report. The shortage is largely due to a lack of building in the U.S. following the 2008 financial crisis. Commissioned by the National Multi- family Housing Council and the National Apartment Association, the research was conducted by Hoyt Advisory Services and Eigen 10 Advisors. The researchers looked into apartment demand across the U.S., in- cluding the District of Columbia and 50 metro areas. To meet the growing demand, the report noted, Dallas-Fort Worth would need 19,000 new apartment units every year until 2035. Paula Munger, assistant vice president of industry research and analysis with the Na- tional Apartment Association, told the Ob- server, “Once the financial crisis happened, [building] just really dipped, and it’s stayed pretty low, and it’s only really picked up for the past few years.” The lack of supply led to increased de- mand, shooting rents for many apartments Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz is under fire for recent remarks about abortion activists. out of affordability. Apartments renting for less than $1,000 a month are considered af- fordable in the research. For the study, apartments are defined as buildings with five or more units. From 2015 to 2020, 4.7 million apartment units left that affordable price range. Increased immigration to the U.S. could also be another source of increased demand. The bulk of the demand, 40%, is expected in three states: Texas, Florida and California. The industry itself needs to help keep up with demand, the researchers said. But the report also said there should be more incen- tives and fewer restrictions for builders, and they need to be willing to try different devel- opment approaches. Locally, relaxing zoning requirements could be enough of an incentive to build more, Munger said. “Even relaxing parking requirements can incentivize a developer to move forward with a project,” Munger said. “We’ve done a lot of research, even outside of this, that shows clear correlation between markets that are overly regulated and af- fordability.” Markets with a lot of zoning restrictions and fees may see fewer affordable develop- ments, she said. “Anything that’s going to lessen the cost, obviously, and any burden on building,” Munger said, could help increase affordability. “And burden can be a time fac- tor, because time is money, as we all know,” she said. A slow permitting process in Dallas, for example, has lengthened the timeline for a lot of development, making those projects more expensive. The city has been hosting pop-up events to process and put a dent in the backlog of building permits that have ac- cumulated since the pandemic. Dallas has also rolled out more incen- tives, like less restrictive parking require- ments for developers willing to build affordability into their projects. Developers can now also opt out of building affordabil- ity by paying a fee. Those fees are collected into a city fund that is supposed to support the building of more affordable housing. City-driven and -funded initiatives like these, Munger said, “are exactly the things that would need to be done to meet the de- mand.” ▼ ELECTIONS NOT THAT MAGA G A GROUP CALLED MOTHERS AGAINST GREG ABBOTT HAS RELEASED A PAIR OF VIRAL ADS IN RECENT WEEKS. BY SIMONE CARTER ov. Greg Abbott has squared off with some serious opponents during his political career, but now he’s facing arguably his fiercest foe yet: pissed off Texas moms. A group calling itself Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC, which has turned the MAGA acronym on its head, has been mak- ing headlines over a series of viral attack ads. The organization claims to be composed of Democrats, moderate Republicans and in- dependents who share the common goal of “working together for Texas families.” In the group’s latest ad, a doctor tells an anxious couple that their soon-to-be-child has a “catastrophic brain abnormality.” He explains that if the baby makes it to term, she will likely survive only for hours, during which time she will suffer. “A decision will need to be made on ter- mination,” the doctor says. “I wish I could tell you what to do, but there’s only one per- son who can make this choice. And that per- son is Greg.” “Greg?” the woman asks with tears in her eyes. “Who the fuck is Greg?” her partner de- mands. “Let me just give him a call,” the doctor says, clapping his hands. The doctor then opens a small cabinet with Abbott’s picture on it. Inside the cabi- net is a red phone that’s attached to the wall. He picks up the phone and talks with “Greg” for a moment before saying that he’ll relay the verdict to the couple. “Yeah, that’s going to be a no,” the doctor says. “Best of luck to you.” Text appears on-uriscreen as the con- fused couple looks at one another. “WHOSE CHOICE SHOULD IT BE? DON’T LET GREG DECIDE.” Posted to Twitter on July 25, thead has racked up more than 7 million views. Another one of the PAC’s ads has gone vi- ral, too. Published in a tweet on July 15, it in- cludes several moms who list a litany of reasons why they believe Abbott should get booted from the governor’s mansion. Mothers Against Greg Abbott notes on its website that its campaign isn’t about culture wars or divisive party politics. The moms ar- gue that Texas families have suffered from Abbott’s leadership during the pandemic and 2021’s winter storm. “We refuse to put our heads in >> p4 13 dallasobserver.comdallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 AUGUST 4 - 10, 2022
