Jay Lee

@jayleetx.com

Democracy + Elections @sightline.org (views my own) ... plus #rstats, data viz, mapping, bikes, NYC, whatever else I'm into this week

good reminder that before the counting is over, election results don’t tighten. at no point is anyone trailing. nobody moves closer. they’re just tabulating the polls. it’s a fixed number that just isn’t done yet. to say otherwise is bad journalism but even worse math.

Folarin Balogun, who is a US citizen because he was born here, scores a go-ahead goal for the US team in a knockout game. Score one for birthright citizenship.

Metro areas like Houston & Phoenix grew at a much faster rate overall, than regions like New York & Washington DC. But this was not the case in those regions' already developed neighborhoods. There, the New York & DC regions grew *more quickly* than the equivalent areas in Houston & Phoenix!

Percent change in housing units, 2000 to 2020, by tract density in 2000, 20 largest US metropolitan areas.

i'm fine with people choosing bicycles as a primary mode of transportation. in fact, there are lots of benefits to doing so. all i'd ask is that they run a gas generator or something for a couple hours a day to fulfill their commitment to the carbon footprint

Hey, during my sabbatical I made a podcast! It’s a one-shot miniseries about what happened after the world’s most ambitious upzoning campaign won. Here’s the trailer; episodes coming weekly all through June & July. You can subscribe on Apple/Spotify/etc. rss.com/podcasts/yim...

YIMBY Country | Podcast on RSS.com

In 2021, the nation of New Zealand announced the YIMBY rapture.In the country's five largest cities, you would be allowed to build up to eight-story buildings anywhere within a 10-minute walk of mass ...

rss.com

We can’t stop people from moving to the Puget Sound region. We can make policy choices to minimize the environmental impacts of growth. In the Seattle Comp Plan, that means legalizing urban infill. Build up, not out. Seattle doesn’t have room to sprawl, but other cities in the region sure can.

the secret it to never drive a car in Seattle and visit in June when there’s approximately twenty hours of daylight and the orca whales are waving to you while you’re on the bus

Ranked choice voting elevates candidates who speak to the broadest swath of voters. In the 2022 contests for AK's US House seat, that was Mary Peltola. In 2024, it was Nick Begich. It really is that simple. New analysis of ballot data from myself and @jayleetx.com for @sightline.org below. ⬇️

Sightline Institute@sightline.org · 4mo ago

#RankedChoiceVoting allows voters to express nuanced political opinions and back their favorite candidate without spoiling an election for their number two. From @alvanderklipp.bsky.social & @jayleetx.com: Cross-partisan support on Alaska ballots is a feature, not a fluke.

Top 10 neighborhoods by housing density added, 2020–25: 1—Greenpoint waterfront Brooklyn 2—East Harlem Manhattan 3—Navy Yard DC 4—Downtown Brooklyn 5—Hunters Pt Queens 6—Journal Sq Jersey City 7—Lower E Side Manhattan 8—The Drag Austin 9—Downtown Jersey City 10—LI City Queens

Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com · 4mo ago

If folks had to guess, what 10 neighborhoods around the US added housing at the highest density levels between 2020 and 2025? (i.e., they added the most housing per square mile of land. Neighborhoods defined by census tracts.)

This week, the Supreme Court finally killed off the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I've spent the past decade studying the VRA and the attacks on it, so I thought I would offer some historical perspective, and where I think we're headed. This will be a long thread; buckle up.

“After enduring nearly a century of systematic resistance to the Fifteenth Amendment,” the Chief Justice wrote, “Congress might well decide to shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of the evil to its victims.”

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You  know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …

Sup chat this is Slouching Towards Bethlehem with your boy The Rough Beast, and it looks like today’s stream could be a big one, as some of you might’ve already seen there are rumors going around social media that the hour has come round at last, so we’re gonna get right into it

NEW VIDEO: North America’s Elevator’s Problem Elevators are absolutely essential to modern cities..... and it turns out North America kind of sucks at them. We partnered with @sightline.org to look into the many issues plaguing our elevator industry, and what it might take to fix it.

Sightline Institute@sightline.org · 8mo ago

The United States has the fewest elevators in the rich world, with Canada only a bit ahead. We teamed up with @uytaelee.bsky.social of About Here Videos to investigate why, exactly, North America sucks at elevators.