Saad Asad
@realsaadasad.bsky.social
Comms @cayimby.bsky.social. Previously, Advocacy at YIMBY Dems of SD & Product Marketing @ U.S. Digital Response. Tweets on housing, climate change, and San Diego/California politics
Some things I've learned about legislative advocacy, and I think my record speaks for itself. 1. Start by asking for everything you want. Stop preemptively negotiating against yourself. The process of passing the bill will whittle it down. Why started with a whittled down product?
Lol, a case of Republican primary voters not wanting to vote for dark-skinned man name Amir Hassan even if he agrees with them ideologically.
Sky Marchini@sky.skymarchini.net · 8h agooh my god: a trump-endorsed candidate lost the GOP primary to a guy who suspended his campaign last month: www.politico.com/news/2026/08... trump completely washed, juiceless, cooked, it's over, lamest of the lame ducks, many people are saying it
It’s utterly insane that we’re still talking about this 🫠🫠🫠🫠
Saad Asad@realsaadasad.bsky.social · 19h agoMidway Rising is stalled by lawsuits and pending approvals, with a 30-foot height cap adding to the dispute. SB 958 would streamline CEQA review for height effects, but only for projects over 40 acres and $100 million. fox5sandiego.com/news/local-n...
Midway Rising is stalled by lawsuits and pending approvals, with a 30-foot height cap adding to the dispute. SB 958 would streamline CEQA review for height effects, but only for projects over 40 acres and $100 million. fox5sandiego.com/news/local-n...
San Diego voters approved more Midway housing twice, in 2020 and 2022. Both times, CEQA lawsuits over height threw out the results. 6 years later, it's still a parking lot. SB 958 would stop height alone from re-litigating reviewed sites. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/31/o...
Opinion: San Diego must keep its promise to allow more homes in Midway
Midway Rising is among the largest affordable housing commitments on a single site in California.
sandiegouniontribune.com
We're working with @metroabundance.bsky.social to collect cost drivers in California building codes and standards above and beyond national model codes/standards. See here for more – please circulate among architects, engineers, etc. in the state! admin.centerforbuilding.org/wp-content/u...
admin.centerforbuilding.org
rents are up again, I can't move out of my rent-controlled shithole without spending at least half of my income on a new place. I and thousands of my peers would happily settle for mediocre design. cry about it
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...
San Diego County didn't reform its jail on its own - a judge just ordered it to, after inmates sued in 2020. The county has a higher jail death rate than any other large county in California. Outside monitors finally forced this. www.courthousenews.com/judge-prelim...
San Diego apartment vacancy hit a record 6.2%, and some read that as a sign to stop building. But 10 of 14 economists surveyed disagree: rising vacancy after a record construction year is a housing shortage finally easing, not proof of oversupply. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/17/s...
Should San Diego County slow down on apartment construction?
“Vacancies reflect a lack of affordability rather than a surplus of housing,” said one business leader.
sandiegouniontribune.com
Seniors stay homeless a month longer than anyone in San Diego. The main path off the streets, permanent supportive housing, requires a mental illness diagnosis. Most seniors' disabilities are physical instead, so they don't qualify and wait longer. voiceofsandiego.org/2026/07/15/w...
A federal pandemic rental-voucher program runs out this fall. L.A. got a $138 million HUD boost and moved 4,200 renters onto Section 8. San Diego got no equivalent boost. It now faces a $16.1 million shortfall and 300 renters with no backup plan. inewsource.org/2026/07/17/s...
San Diego's jail pulled an 82-year-old dementia patient off 24-hour care into a unit that couldn't handle him, and he died 10 days later. The real failure was that transfer - but courts only call it systemic if it fits a citywide pattern. www.courthousenews.com/lawsuit-over...
Lawsuit over San Diego jail death of 82-year-old man advances
The man's adult children claim correctional medical staff at the San Diego Central Jail failed to provide proper medical care to their elderly father who was suffering from multiple health conditions.
courthousenews.com
Encinitas turned down $4M in state funds to dodge Housing First strings. But Carlsbad took $11M in similar funding and still runs its own outreach team on top. State money and local control aren't either-or — Encinitas didn't have to choose. fox5sandiego.com/news/local-n...
The Clean Energy Alliance touts 93% customer participation as proof of support for its new 55% renewable default plan. But CCAs enroll customers automatically; opt-out rates like this measure inertia, not enthusiasm. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/11/c...
CEA announces upgrade to default energy plan
The Clean Energy Alliance’s default Clean Impact Plus plan for residential and business customers will now include 55% renewable energy and 75% carbon-free content. CEA, which started with the cities…
sandiegouniontribune.com
Portland's densest zoning sits next to freeways, not train lines - reserving cleaner air and quieter streets for single-family neighborhoods. A homes-near-transit bill would finally point new housing toward transit instead of traffic. www.sightline.org/2026/07/17/t...
Climate advocates back NEPA permitting reform because 93-95% of stalled energy projects are clean energy, they say. But a generic reform speeds up fossil fuel projects too... www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/07/o...
El Cajon turned down $5 million, saying Housing First "ignores root causes." The grant actually funds treatment too; it just doesn't require it before housing. Neighboring cities used the same money to house 175 people. El Cajon has no comparable plan. www.10news.com/news/local-n...
City of El Cajon decides not to pursue a multi-million-dollar grant addressing homeless encampments
City of El Cajon decides not to pursue a multi-million-dollar grant addressing homeless encampments. El Cajon mayor took issue with grant funding being tied to Housing First policies.
10news.com
Deep insider reference that sd city council followers will appreciate lol. (And apparently he used to do this in the bay too)
Meatwad Ron: Summer of Ron@wrenispinkle.bsky.social · 4w ago“So good luck with that”
A UC San Diego economist argues climate funding should count "co-benefits" like flood protection or biodiversity, not just carbon. Those benefits are real, but harder to measure than a ton of carbon, the standardization that makes carbon markets work. today.ucsd.edu/story/how-do...
Seattle environmentalists be different. A 350 chapter in favor of environmental review reform? (350s are usually neutral to NIMBY in CA)
Ryan Packer@typewriteralley.bsky.social · last wk.So far speaking in favor of SEPA reform we've had: Habitat for Humanity, the Seattle Chamber, and 350 Seattle
Akron's Summit Lake road diet is finally reconnecting an isolated neighborhood to its own lake. City engineers and residents didn't agree on every choice, which took real mediation - the next project like this should include engineers from day one. www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...
Community Connectors spotlight: Reconnecting Akron neighborhoods to their waterfront - Smart Growth America
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smartgrowthamerica.org
Rep. Darrell Issa called the 2022 hammer attack on Paul Pelosi 'dubious.' Can't wait for this sick bastard to be out of office. www.mediaite.com/media/podcas...
A federal bill would let judges shrink mandatory minimums when a trial sentence looks like punishment for skipping a plea deal. But the real fix is trimming the mandatory minimums that make that gap possible in the first place. fairandjustprosecution.org/2026/07/why-...
Why FJP Supports the Right to Trial Act (2026) - Fair and Just Prosecution
Why FJP Supports the Right to Trial Act (2026) FJP Analysis The Right to Trial Act (2026) would help protect one of the Constitution’s most fundamental guarantees: the right to trial by jury. The…
fairandjustprosecution.org
Asked why San Diegans at every income level should pay the county's new sales tax, Supervisor Lawson-Remer talked about community... But a sales tax is regressive. It takes a bigger bite from lower earners, the same people federal cuts are hitting hardest. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/t...
The Rapid 215's promised 30-minute ride now takes 50+ minutes, and the op-ed cites real fixes: dedicated lanes, all-door boarding, signal priority. But it's unclear how to pay for it. www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/07/13/o...
Baltimore County's quick-build in East Towson was meant to slow traffic and reclaim space cut off by old rail and utility infrastructure. But the county installed new curbs at the old, wider radius before testing finished - locking in the old design www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...
Community Connectors spotlight: Reclaiming East Towson's story and street safety - Smart Growth America
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smartgrowthamerica.org
CDC's next director wants to narrow the agency to infectious disease. But chronic disease drives 90% of health spending, and cutting one $80 million program alone could add 3,300 deaths over five years. www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...
Rep. Sara Jacobs' bill would score security partners on governance, then set aid accordingly. She says Israel gets no exemption. But existing law already bars aid over rights abuses, and strategic allies rarely lose funding. It only matters if that changes. foreignpolicy.com/2026/07/20/u...
Fixing U.S. Security Assistance
A new bill aims to stop the United States from “funding abuse.”
foreignpolicy.com
