Push The Needle
@pushtheneedle.bsky.social
the closer we are physically, the closer we are socially.
NIMBYs think tall buildings with fewer setbacks are as dangerous to your health as lead paint and asbestos.
TotallyNotAnAlienHidingInAFleshSuit@inqubate.bsky.social · 22h agoAnd codes today would not allow a lot of houses built during that time to be painted with lead paint, or use asbestos for insulation. It's not a bad thing that codes and regulations exist and saying "The thing you like that is cool wouldn't exist" is a pretty weak argument.
Zoning codes would never allow the iconic buildings we now cherish. Seattle’s famous Smith Tower could never be rebuilt on this site because it’s too tall, has too much area, doesn’t step back upper floors, and doesn’t have a gargantuan loading dock
This street is comfortable. Unless you’re in a car, which is kind of the point
Anson Stewart@ansonstewart.com · 2d agoSevilla this summer — amazing how comfortable the streets are even on hot afternoons
A fond goodbye to my Avondale apartment, which breaks every part of its RS-3 zoning and could never be built today ❌ 12 units (2 unit max) ❌ 40 ft tall (30 ft max) ❌ 260 sq ft lot area/unit (2,500 min) ❌ 0 ft rear setback (35 ft min) And way above the 0.9 floor-area ratio cap
This project would be delayed for 7 years with endless environmental review, community outreach, and ultimately be killed when the state of Washington doesn’t commit to building the power lines for the next 9 years. Good for Massachusetts though (I’m jealous)
Dr Earhart Sampson PhD 🌎 🇨🇦 🇺🇲 🇲🇽 🇩🇰 🇺🇦@earhart.bsky.social · 3d agoMassachusetts farm installs 832 solar panels above berry fields, and the berries grown underneath turned out sweeter and juicier and could change the future of American farming - The Economic Times share.google/GDGqQBgisqhG...
In all honesty I’d just give all this land to First Nations tribes and let them build whatever they went and then have them gift it to the affordable housing developers. Will cut time and shave costs.
Ryan Jabs@ryanjabs.bsky.social · 2d agoAnother window into why even non-profit housing is so expensive. Saanich delays led to an extra $9milliom (!!) in costs. No one in Saanich is held accountable so they keep dragging their feet and increasing costs. bcbusiness.ca/real-estate/...
Absolute gorgeous and that’s because it doesn’t fit the character or scale of the neighborhood which is a positive thing in architecture
Jerome Alexander Horne@jahorne.bsky.social · 2d agoThe first three towers of the Sen̓áḵw in Vancouver. A major Indigenous-led, multi-tower residential and commercial development project by the Squamish Nation located on ancestral reserve land. Meaning "the place inside the head of False Creek."
Climate change sucks and we owe our fire fighters a lot more of our thanks (📸: Little Giant Fire on Lake Chelan)
Absolutely unbelievable how solar power has taken off worldwide during the Hormuz oil crisis. You don't have to hand it to him, but Trump may have done more to finally kick off a global civilization of effete librul solar users than anyone else in the West
Pretty funny from the guy who shit his pants and made that secret service guy nearly faint from the smell
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump: "Look at the blue cities. What do they have in common? They're all dirty. They're filthy dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty. It's really all of them."
Every project that goes through community / city approval on its design spends more time on that process than they do designing it. Most arch firms are small businesses getting lump sums desperately trying to get approved so they don’t lose money
David Pollack@davidmpollack.bsky.social · 2d agoIf you reduce the barriers to entry for building, more local, small developers would invest in architecture for personal, subjective reasons and there would be fewer mediocre hot takes on design. www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
After 5 years of trying to build a solar array that would generate 20% of Seattle’s power use, this project is abandoned after tribal opposition and the state not delivering power lines to move the energy. This state is so frustrating sometimes www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Developer walks away from long-planned WA solar farm
After five years of running into one obstacle after another, the developer of a proposed 2,400-acre solar farm east of Wenatchee has decided to walk away.
seattletimes.com
The mistakes we make now are not allowing cities to be cities, bogging down every decision with expensive long winded process and delay, limiting where it can happen, and still succumbing to the notion that it has to help suburbs
Christof Spieler@christofspieler.bsky.social · 2d agoI think the conspiracy is comforting to people -- "a few bad guys did this." The reality -- "electeds, planners, and most of the public believed that the car was the future and rail transit was outdated" is actually more unsettling since it raises the question of what we're getting wrong now.
(addendum: if you want to read the book, it's called "the lost subways of north america". if you get a copy directly from me, i'll sign it for you)
The Lost Subways of North America
Official website for Jake Berman's book, "The Lost Subways of North America," containing transit maps and his writings on cities.
lostsubways.com
the trains got a serious challenge from cars in the early 20th century. and by the end of world war II, the train systems were worn out and needed massive government investment to survive. but because the transit companies were shitty monopolies, nobody wanted to help them out! 5/
The DOTs and planners only think of transit use as a novelty, not a necessity. They also assume everyone works a 9-5 Monday through Friday.
Michael Smith@mesmith35673.bsky.social · 3d agoThe decision to “open” the Rainier Ave bus lanes to cars is going about as well as you’d expect.
I saw this guy sailing today on Lake Chelan while the entire area was burning and firefighters frantically were trying to control it with planes and helicopters. Not a care in the world, just out for a Sunday sail. #DontLookUp
NIMBYs never shut up or accept a political defeat. All they want to do is redo democracy every time until they win. Who does that sound like, democrats or MAGA republicans?
Manipulated white boy urbanit [sic]@sarahchadd.bsky.social · 4d agoWhat in the conspiracy theorist tone-policing NIMBY fever dream is this? Jennifer Godfrey/Orca Nexus/"Orca Appeal" trying to co-opt Bob Kettle's tone policing, implying "urbanists" (who are apparently all young wealthy white men?) are engaging in hostile and violent rhetoric.
This entire outraged is just made up by journalists annoyed they had to work late on a Sunday
The Seattle Times@seattletimes.com · last wk.Gov. Bob Ferguson and Rep. Pramila Jayapal say they were not told about a press conference on the Seattle Center shooting until 10 p.m.
Only in Seattle can a landlord be forced to jump through procedural hoops to make improvements to renters lives in a historically inconsequential building just because some city employees moonlighting as Facebook trolls want them to pay extra to fix leaky windows.
Push The Needle@pushtheneedle.bsky.social · 5d agoThe owner wants to replace the windows with in-kind versions to remove leaks and draftiness for their residents. Landmarks is now saying the state law doesn’t matter and because they designated it late they still want a $50,000 window assessment which makes housing cost more passing that to renters
What permitting process does in Seattle: “Permitting reform that speeds project delivery, which saves time in the project schedule and reduces overall project costs. “ No, that’s not from a ‘greedy developer’, that’s from the public agency Sound Transit www.soundtransit.org/blog/platfor...
Next steps on the Ballard Link Extension | Sound Transit
Opening the full extension all the way to Market Street is possible by 2042. Here’s what it will take.
soundtransit.org
Commerce needs to add Seattle to its next round of targeted housing element review. It is flagrantly flouting state housing law while cities like Spokane and Bothell and Shoreline and Bellevue put in the work time and time again. Enough! Get your house in order or face the builders’ remedy.
Push The Needle@pushtheneedle.bsky.social · 5d agoBecause this building was not landmarked by July 2025, it is now subject to the new state law requiring owner consent. The owner does not agree with the designation. Seattle’s landmark staff are trying to undermine state law and say it still will be landmarked anyway, flat out denying state law
Because this building was not landmarked by July 2025, it is now subject to the new state law requiring owner consent. The owner does not agree with the designation. Seattle’s landmark staff are trying to undermine state law and say it still will be landmarked anyway, flat out denying state law
In 22 days Bainbridge Island is set to be the first jurisdiction in Washington to ever experience the Builder's Remedy, in which housing permit applications meeting certain affordability thresholds have to be approved regardless of underlying zoning standards. www.theurbanist.org/bainbridge-b...
The Builder's Remedy Looks To Be Coming to Bainbridge Island
Without a state extension, Bainbridge Island is on track to be required to permit any housing project that meets certain affordability requirements, regardless of existing zoning, starting August 22. ...
theurbanist.org
The city of Seattle is flat out the main reason the state of Washington ended design review and our DIRECTOR OF PLANNING is at the event trying to find ways to weasel out of compliance and keep the illegal program around? This is flat out appalling
Qagggy!@qagggy.bsky.social · 6d agoRico says Seattle has a ton of neighborhood plans from 20 years ago that are now out of compliance and wonders if there can be another process to bring the voice of the neighborhood into planning.
Jesus Christ the DIRECTOR of OPCD is AT THIS EVENT that’s circumventing state law?! Sound the alarm @mayor.seattle.gov @jessdbateman.bsky.social
Qagggy!@qagggy.bsky.social · 6d agoNow Rico Quirindongo is being pulled from the audience to answer questions.
Increasingly common to hear white Berkeley NIMBYs paint themselves as the victims of gentrification, or even redlining, without a hint of embarassment or self-awareness.
Theo Gordon@theogordon.bsky.social · last wk.Move over zucchini lady, this guy calling 'bike lanes white lanes' and calling the Terner Center the 'Gentrification Center' is my new favorite Berkeley Council moment. #berkmtg
