Don‘t you press that „fix everything“ button!

Adam@adamshap.bsky.social · 2d ago

NYC’s congestion pricing program cut ambulance travel times by over a minute

TIL that the diagnosis of Alpha-Gal syndrome involves “fresh meat extracts”, possibly inserted intradermally.

In the US we use the census to get high-quality demographic data. How often is this updated? Every 10 years. Why 10? Because we decided, in 1790, that this is a good time period.

Aliotta Pastry Shop

City of Yes relaxed the Dwelling Unit Factor (DUF), allowing for buildings with average unit size below 680sq ft in some areas, let's call these micro-units. Did micro-units increase? The estimates support this but it's small samples, unlikely to be stat sig. * Caveats below

Platonic ideal of a NYC development site Square, empty, right by transit

Proposed parking for new housing in NYC Before and after City of Yes, split by transit zone. * Caveats below

In NYC, the 485-x program increases requirements above 100 units, leading to the creation of 99-unit buildings. Previously, I've looked at NYC construction filings. Alternatively, we can directly look at 485-x applications made to NY state.

How is NYC adding housing units? Let's look at the 500 biggest ongoing projects: - New buildings (yellow): Many hotspots in the city - Office-to-resi (teal, alteration): Midtown and Fidi You can create these yourself if you've got an iOS device and sign up for the demo at citytracker.ai/app-ios

The largest new housing projects in NYC, by current status. Release date for app: next week

I've got a new feature for you: Create your own NYC notifications If you can write it down, it can become a filter, and you get a daily email on anything new. Try it out and give me feedback! citytracker.ai/notify

Views from Staten Island

Brooklyn, present and future Future based on building applications.

I've opened up beta access for the NYC app for iOS. You can sign up here: citytracker.ai/app-ios Please give me feedback. Tell me what's broken, and what you'd want added. I track a lot of NYC data so there's a ton I could add easily.

Good clouds in Brooklyn

Towers in the Park Starrett City, Brooklyn

I love when research quantifies something that most people never think about. How much is the US reserve currency status worth? Estimate: 60% of US GDP!

Sunnyside gardens, Queens Just one street separates two housing universes. North of Skillman Ave: Combinations to reduce units South: New housing, if you find a lot. Filter: Alt CO + New housing since 2018.

Coming very soon: A mobile app for NYC. Find out what's getting built, what the permits are, and much, much more. There's even sound for this demo!

Warning for the open-minded reader on housing: If someone shows you a chart predicting rents via permits, you should usually … ignore it. Overwhelmingly, this is meaningless. In a world with supply and demand, you cannot just use one factor to explain the other.

1. Mill Basin 2. Block length in Midtown

I’m learning more about fire districts and wood frame construction in NYC. This is the best map I could find of the fire district. No digitized map.

Block shapes in Brooklyn What is your favorite shape?

Lot coverage, front setbacks, side setbacks. A lot of residentially zoned land is not used for housing.

Block Length 1. NYC 2. Manhattan 3. Midtown

80 hours, so far this summer. Why do I walk so much? To measure noise the way a human experiences it, from the street. And then predict it, at all times of day. Now live: honkz.citytracker.ai

New blog post: Front Setbacks in NYC, link below Courtesy of Google Streetview, we can illustrate this concept with new construction. blog.citytracker.ai/the-front-setbacks-of-nyc/

1 out of every 6 recorded speed and red light violations in NYC were rejected in Mar 2026 because the vehicle had a temporary license plate, a marred and unreadable license plate, or no detected license plate at all.

NYC DOT Rejected Speed Camera + Red Light Violations - Unreadable License Plates Report

1 out of every 6 recorded speed and red light violations in NYC were rejected in Mar 2026 due to unreadable license plates.

reports.jehiah.cz

Front Setbacks, block by block Total residential front setback area in NYC: More than 200 Million sqft Without front setbacks, how much more housing would we have? Blog post with full analysis coming up tomorrow.

This map comes with a protest. Why? Large lots can be split, allowing for denser housing.