People are also upset about non-economic things that get expressed in economic terms, like the fact that everything seems wildly out of control and we have a maniac in charge of the country

mtsw@mtsw.bsky.social · 9h ago

Maybe the reason the economic vibes are so off isn't that things are *worse* than the great recession but because back then we all thought the pain was temporary, whereas the things that are wrong with the economy today have all been getting worse for a long time and show no signs of improving

If you zone an area for residential, it should be zoned for all kinds of residential. Otherwise you're just doing income/wealth-based segregation.

it is quite confusing that “inclusionary zoning” is not the opposite of “exclusionary zoning”, but actually functions as a tool of exclusionary zoning

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈@maxdubler.com · 22h ago

So-called “inclusionary zoning,” the practice of requiring home builders to rent new apartments at a loss to low-income tenants, is a tax on new housing that worsens the housing shortage and raises rents overall in exchange for a handful of means-tested units. It’s bad policy!

We should allow unlimited height and density in a lot places than we currently do.

Ian@woolie.meowmeow.city · 13h ago

We should allow unlimited height and density near San Pablo Ave.

We should allow unlimited height and density near San Pablo Ave.

Berkeleyside@berkeleyside.org · 14h ago

The City Council will consider on Tuesday raising height limits and taking other steps to spur housing development on San Pablo Avenue.

A fun quirk of American urban planning is production of 990 page documents where the observable universe is a narrow strip a hundred feet wide. The yellow areas are unmeasurable and unknowable, we can only infer their existence through the forces they exert elsewhere. berkeleyca.gov/sites/defaul...

I just read the Growth Machine by Molotch. It's fascinating how he goes from describing the "Growth Machine" system - which sounds nothing like current urban politics - to his incipient "no-growth" system - which sounds *exactly* like current urban politics!

FAR is a silly metric. The middle building is nice, the rightward building is okay, and the leftward building is terrible. FAR treats them all the same.

This strikes me is a common misunderstanding of the argument for humanities education, which is not that it serves as some sort of individual inoculation, but rather than it produces a citizenry more capable of self-governance when distributed widely, especially for decision-makers of every kind.

@bigfresh.bsky.social · 2d ago

Humanities education doesn't inoculate people against doing evil and the engineers of the past weren't ignorant of what their work was used for.

The combined undergraduate and graduate student populations of all Ivy League schools is about 140,000 students. The CUNY system alone is 250,000.

Larry Glickman@larryglickman.bsky.social · 3d ago

Elite universities mea culpas about the “loss of trust” in higher education so often fail to consider the force of the longterm propagandistic attack on universities, given extensive play in conservative media, that long preceded Trump, but which he has massively accelerated.

Colorado is showing us the way, but Illinois (and Pennsylvania!) has the critical distinction that its populations are higher and its distances are shorter, meaning that it can support *far* more service with a similar budget.

Brianinja@brianinja.bsky.social · 5d ago

People want to talk about trains but are missing out on the transformative power of a well-organized bus network. Colorado's Bustang has knocked intercity bus service out of the park and added 18 new routes since launching Bustang in 2015. Illinois should directly copy Colorado's success.

People want to talk about trains but are missing out on the transformative power of a well-organized bus network. Colorado's Bustang has knocked intercity bus service out of the park and added 18 new routes since launching Bustang in 2015. Illinois should directly copy Colorado's success.

Bustang - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Audrey Wennink@awennink.bsky.social · 5d ago

Please fill out this @illinoisdot.bsky.social survey about what you need from an IL intercity bus program www.surveymonkey.com/r/2B25XBD

It is legitimately insulting that we live in a time where democracy ACTUALLY IS under attack, but a bunch of neighborhood busybodies who hate housing think not having enough meetings is an assault on democracy. Get a grip missionlocal.org/2026/09/rich...

At Richmond District town hall on Safeway housing project, neighbors see an assault on democracy

Some 60 people attended to listen and air their thoughts about a proposed eight-story Safeway redevelopment project in the Outer Richmond.

missionlocal.org

A huge mistake by Starmer in the UK was trying to put a brave face on the state of the country. Even reluctant to clearly criticise Brexit. Next US admin should (accurately) say "That man set fire to your future. Here's how bad it is."

You know who has a solution to this though? @alonlevy.bsky.social. Just eyeballing it, I think my trip would’ve been doable in roughly half the time with the Lower Montauk S-Bahn and Union Tpke. light rail pedestrianobservations.com/2023/06/18/a...

Assume Normal Costs: An Update

The maps below detail what New York could build if its construction costs were normal, rather than the highest in the world for reasons that the city and state could choose to change. I’ve be…

pedestrianobservations.com

If you want to talk about culture without being insufferable, it is important to be able to distinguish between “this art is bad” and “this art is not for me.”

Micah@rincewind.run · 4d ago

“this show is not for me”, “this show has an annoying fanbase”, “this show started some trends I dislike”, and “this show was actually bad” are all different opinions and people are too quick to conflate them

@cooperlund.online You made it to YouTube shorts voiceover content 😂

sign language baby

YouTube video by EclipsedVO

youtube.com

Every median voter's opinion boils down to "can't we all get along?" No, you stupid fucker. One party wants to destroy the nation, and if we lay back and let that happen you'd hear endless complaining from this same moron. There's a bonus, here, too: brainless national deficit sentiment

I love the idea that Democrats "can't stop talking about" this book I'm only just now hearing about by this person I'd never heard of before, and I'm a political obsessive political reporter's universe of people who are fun to talk to and hang with is very different from real people in politics

New York Magazine@nymag.com · 5d ago

Evan Barker quit the Democratic Party and voted for Trump. Now she’s telling (a few) stories about what she saw in a new book that mixes gossip and condemnations of ‘woke.’ Her old colleagues aren’t happy.

I really like this treeful pathway.

Mac the squirrel :)@macsquirelera.bsky.social · 4d ago

Sorry no exciting photos yet we’re doing laundry still. But went on a quick walk to a Luckin while waiting for laundry. So far a very cool city

This is so funny like isn't this exactly what Republicans are asking for lmao

MisterJayEm@misterjayem.bsky.social · 5d ago

Jennifer is an idiot.

The thing about trying to appeal to right wing bigots is that right wing bigots are all stupid idiots who get 100% of their news from propagandists so they will never actually find out that you were trying to appeal to them in the first place

Ellsworth Online@ellsworth29.bsky.social · 5d ago

chat, do we think the pivot is working

"No one on Bluesky thinks they’re interacting with a cross section of the population. But a lot of people on X do think that." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/we-di...

We Didn’t Know Until This Day … Twitter Was the Echo Chamber All Along

Daniel Drezner says we are now in the Wile E. Coyote phase...

talkingpointsmemo.com

I never experienced the pre-COVID office, but I know organizations whose office culture was *obliterated* by COVID. I'm talking a handful of people working in an almost-full-floor office most days.

Cooper Lund@cooperlund.online · last mo.

I do think about WFH in this, and how there’s a lot of people whose office life is their entire social life but can’t admit that to themselves or others. Not sure what to do about it either.

Should "urban planning" actually be the name of the field that oversees the management of land use and transportation systems? Or would another name be more apt?

This is the project where neighbors' lawn signs read "No Apartments. No Compromise."

Barbara Samuels@bsamuels72.bsky.social · 5d ago

Baltimore Co Council unanimously endorsed TOD for Lutherville Sta over NIMBY opposition. Enables project to pursue state & local $$ but still needs zoning approval. The mixed use project has already been shrunk to 325 homes from 600, trying to accommodate NIMBYs www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/ne...

The key here to understand is that metroization really means running trains to metro-like frequencies, that is, 15 mins or better at most stations in the system

The LIRR should be metroized (and so should MNRR and NJT)

JohnnyeNN 🇵🇷@the631resistance.bsky.social · 5d ago

It's been super crowded on the LIRR, too. Like subway crowded.

If people feel confident that they will be insulated from consequences if their offense is big and bad enough, then it incentivizes people to do big and bad things.

Jonathan Ladd@jonathanmladd.com · 5d ago

Yes. I think the consensus among US elite pundits and senior politicians that the way to protect liberal democracy is *not* to punish elite figures who violate its rules is wrong. A norm starting at least with the Watergate pardon. The opposite is true. You need to enforce the law and Constitution.