I've added new features including ballot measures, state fiscal machinery, and a legislature simulator including floor votes and midterms.

Andrew Damitio@andrewdamitio.bsky.social · 2w ago

I haven't felt very creative lately, so I've been burning my excess Claude tokens building a Oregon governor political simulator in my free time. It has a Democracy series-style policy issue-web, campaign features, & random events. Try my "Open Alpha!" andrewdamitio.github.io/oregon_polit...

The year is 2038. The nation is in recession but Oregon has been booming for a decade. It's my 4th term as God-Governor, the kicker is gone and single-stair is legal. Thanks to @andrewdamitio.bsky.social for making a game I've enjoyed more than any in years. andrewdamitio.github.io/oregon_polit...

I haven't felt very creative lately, so I've been burning my excess Claude tokens building a Oregon governor political simulator in my free time. It has a Democracy series-style policy issue-web, campaign features, & random events. Try my "Open Alpha!" andrewdamitio.github.io/oregon_polit...

When you ask voters to approve taxes for public transit, what you mostly get is a map of residential density. Here's the latest from Spokane, WA where the measure narrowly leads at the moment.

FTA requires transit agencies to obtain bilateral cooperative agreements - for review and approval processes for construction - with “critical” 3rd parties prior to start of construction. If one 3rd party (out of 50) declines to enter into contract, no dirt is turned.

Have you ever wanted to play circular chess? No? Circular chess is derived from an early version of chess in the Byzantine empire. Nobody except a sketchy mobile app developer and an early 2000s webpage offered it free to play, so I vibecoded a game. andrewdamitio.github.io/circular-che...

I've created an interactive precinct-level map of Oregon's contested state legislative races in the 2024 election cycle. It compares legislative margins to the presidential race, as well as vote drop off from presidential to downballot. Enjoy! andrewdamitio.github.io/portland-spl...

Consistent with a theme I've noticed in progressive policymaking, where advocates/policymakers assume that the only acceptable policy intervention is one that carries no possible tradeoffs, and that there are surely no tradeoffs associated with leaving a horrendous status quo in place.

Kirsten Bladh@kerstanley.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The families experienced better economic and education outcomes, but felt isolated because they were far from places like church and familiar stores. Instead of considering how that could be due to how our suburbs are basically designed to isolate, the conclusion was “desegregation is harmful”

this is a dramatic expansion of apartment zoning in vancouver, in line with pre-wwii zoning codes that allowed apartments on a large portion of residential lots

iain@maccoinnich.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In the medium-scale neighborhoods, which are again mostly single family houses, they'll allow "Multifamily Buildings" of up to 75' in height. 3/5

New blog post from me: The state of Oregon owns a consolidated tract of 230k acres of sagebrush in eastern Oregon, receiving pennies per acre per year in grazing fees. Why doesn't the state develop massive solar farms on the land? I explore why. open.substack.com/pub/andrewda...

The Solar Potential of the Stockade Block

State land in remote Eastern Oregon generates pennies per-acre for schools. Solar development could change that...but only if the state of Oregon acts decisively.

open.substack.com

15 years later, the failure of Solyndra continues to be brought up by both solar opponents and industrial policy opponents. But its failure was industrial policy working as intended. My latest blog post: open.substack.com/pub/andrewda...

It's amazing what the Residential Infill Project did for affordability of new construction in Portland. Here are the single-unit properties for sale in the city completed this year; these price points were rare prior to RIP.

"German utilities expressed many of the same concerns nearly a decade ago when plug-in solar started to become popular in Germany. But with more than a million systems installed, no safety incidents have been reported for customers who used the panels as instructed"

NPR@npr.org · 6mo ago

Utilities are convincing lawmakers around the U.S. to delay bills that would allow people to buy solar panels, plug them into an outlet and begin generating electricity.

The limits on data center growth are the same limits that new manufacturing faces. The only difference being that manufacturing has far worse externalities. If the US can't bring ourselves to build data centers, we sure as heck won't be able to compete with China in industrial production.

New blog post. Growing up in rural Oregon, I was surrounded by Civilian Conservation Corps roads, trails, and campgrounds. Given the program's overwhelming success and popularity, why was it never revived? open.substack.com/pub/andrewda...

Why We Can't Revive the Civilian Conservation Corps

Only Depression-era desperation and destitution made the CCC possible to implement.

open.substack.com

SOE, with a professionally appointed CEO. No elected positions or board. The state or relevant subnational entity funding it exerts control through the budget: if there is a dedicated source of funds, like the Ile-de-France payroll tax, then it is broad and can be changed by the elected government.

Nick Andert@nickandert.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Transit question for all of you out there: what transit agency do you think has the best governance model? How are the decision-makers (usually a board) selected? Automatic inclusion of elected positions? Directly elected to the board? Appointed by electeds? How we do get a Metro board that is -

An underrated factor in "why don't people in wealthy societies have more kids" is changing societal norms that now expect even older kids to be chaperoned by an adult any time they are in public, and to be chauffeured by a parent as their only means of transportation

Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Older generations spent a lot less time parenting. Millennial dads spend nearly as much time parenting as Boomer moms did. Millennial and Gen X moms way more. via The Economist

this is why I think publications that focus almost solely on culture war issues are so empty. The genuine economic, health, welfare etc impacts of policy are much more important than Ivy League coursework discourse but become sideshows to these people.

Can any of you connect me with housing policy analysts/developers based in Canada? I have questions for them regarding Canadan condo construction financing.

what drives me insane about “centers and corridors” in US urban planning is that seemingly no professionals in the field have stopped and realized that this “best practice” has not worked anywhere it’s been tried

People love blaming parking minimums as to why the US doesn't build like this. It's more complicated. The lot couldn't be utilized corner-to-corner due to setbacks. The project wouldn't pencil due to space lost for the large elevator, dual stairwells, and wide hallway to meet building codes.

I keep going back to this slide shown to the Sound Transit board this month, showing how "capacity building" means consulting firms, more consulting firms, and more subcontractors.

take out the marquam and you can unwind the entire east side waterfront freeway. such a huge part of our post-freeway future

Oregon's community colleges are a great example of government quietly working well, without any headlines. They're modern facilities funded by stable property tax district revenue that teach ~200k students/yr, creating new tradesmen across the state and providing opportunity for the working class.

In America, residential solar costs $10K-$50K. In Europe, plug & play solar kits are sold for a few hundred dollars, DIY installed & plugged directly into wall outlets, defraying home energy use without export. No IX agreement or professional install needed. But plug & play is illegal in the US.

A recent report showed that the destruction of just one USAID program, the anti-AIDS PEPFAR initiative, would lead to the deaths of one million people *every year* www.vox.com/future-perfe...

The Sightline Institute documented this in 2017, comparing 1970 data to 2010 data. Many entirely single family zoned neighborhoods in Seattle lost population even as Seattle's population grew, as kids left the nest and only the aging parents remained. www.sightline.org/2017/05/04/s...

Kate Macfarlane@katemacfarlane.bsky.social · 2y ago

The neighborhood I grew up in, Broadview, actually lost population between 1980 and 2020. During those forty years, Seattle added 240,000 residents. 1980: 3,423 people 2020: 3,400 people Oh and they also lost a lot of mature trees too. Gotta get those views.