I didn’t draw this well, but this is why I think North American insistence on 1/8-mi. bus stop spacing vs. Europe’s 1/4-mi. is misguided. Average distance *to the line* is already so long that you’ve already lost people with big mobility issues before they’ve even gotten to the street with the bus.

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 3h ago

This logic runs in the opposite direction – if there’s substantial lateral walking anyway, then the number of people for whom the marginal 100-200m is a dealbreaker is much smaller. If a line ran in front of everybody’s doorstep, then you’d gain a lot of riders with close stop spacing, because the…

The Kelsey (disability-forward housing developer) is leading the Elevator Reform Coalition. If you belong to a YIMBY/AARP/AIA/NAHB group, or are just interested, RSVP for the kick-off (9/16, 1 pm ET) here: form.jotform.com/262106622196... ...general group here: form.jotform.com/262085033647...

Renters pay higher property taxes in NYC than single-family homeowners

Chicago Tribune@chicagotribune.com · 21h ago

Editorial: New York’s democratic socialists put the squeeze on thousands of property owners

UK is so NIMBY they’ve created a AI-supercharged objection software to flood local gov’ts with comments. "The ban on email submissions has had a particular impact on ObjectNow, a service which generates objection letters to planning applications with the help of AI."

AI flooded the Scottish Government with wind farm objections. So they stopped accepting emails

The Scottish Government says the move was needed to tackle the "burden" caused by the growth in AI-assisted objections to energy projects. Critics say it is a way to mute public opposition.

theferret.scot

Final Toronto thought. This is a completely insane way to run a Tram system. What is wrong with the city, why don’t they even seem to care about the streetcars

Current status

The internet is filled with really dumb people who right now think the fires in Spokane WA were fake because the houses burned but trees didn’t. What they’re forgetting is that dead, thin, dry wood burns. Wet, dense, living wood is harder to burn. Old living pine and house vs fire: house loses.

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

Please share

Stephen Jacob Smith@stephenjacobsmith.com · 2d ago

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...

Everybody: I bet you can use AI to do your research about building codes! AI: ayfkm?

DSA-aligned Democrats are now the most pro-free-trade voting bloc in the United States, in an incredible turn of events www.theargumentmag.com/p/who-suppor...

LIRR has gone even further specifying the type of engine in the last work locomotive RFP—effectively rigging the bid for one manufacturer. www.thelirrtoday.com/2020/04/new-...

Alon (they/them)@alonlevy.bsky.social · 2d ago

Post from last year by @agonzalez06.bsky.social explaining what's wrong with the SEPTA Silverliner VI specs. alejandrogonzalez1.substack.com/p/how-septas...

SB 79 has been in effect for a month now, so I wrote my take on how implementation is going. Pretty well, I think! But there are some important tests coming for HCD @cayimby.bsky.social cayimby.org/blog/sb-79-o...

SB 79, One Month In: Taking Stock of California YIMBY’s Signature Bill

SB 79, California YIMBY’s signature legislation that legalized apartment buildings near transit stops throughout California, went into effect on July 1, 2026. Under the law’s provisions, jurisdictions...

cayimby.org

I love that the cable connection practices of Canada and any developing country are quite similar. Every time I changed internet provider here, a guy came stringing one more wire between the alley pole and my place, hanging it in the air and leaving the old one in place. Plus a new hole in the wall

Anytime I feel even vaguely ashamed of my cable management I look at a Bell pole.

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...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has signed the SEPA reform bill into law.

The Urbanist@theurbanist.org · last wk.

A 5-4 Seattle City Council vote yesterday means city-level appeals that have delayed significant citywide zoning changes in the past will be extinguished. Conventional appeal options to Superior Court or the state growth hearings board will remain. Story: www.theurbanist.org/seattle-coun...

Made this for lunch 😏

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

Good article on Palo Alto’s SB 79-driven housing boomlet www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

New California law could ignite a surprising housing boom in Palo Alto

City officials didn't expect this flurry.

sfgate.com

“There are many differences in construction costs between the U.S. and other countries, but I’m not sure there’s anywhere else where the difference is as large as the elevator.” @stephenjacobsmith.com

Why doesn’t the U.S. have small elevators like Europe and China?

Advocates for smaller, cheaper elevators say it could spur a housing boom.

washingtonpost.com

This is more Markey performative nonsense. The right answer is to use the money to electrify commuter rail and make it accessible. Way more ROI on that! www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/03/m...

Pointing to Massachusetts’s fare-free experiment, Markey, Pressley press for a $25 billion federal free transit plan - The Boston Globe

The proposed legislation points to the success of free bus pilots that federal lawmakers say made Massachusetts a “national leader in fare-free transit policy."

bostonglobe.com

Germany should get its own house in order before it lectures poorer countries with greener grids about the problems with nuclear power. All of these countries (France, Hungary, and Romania) have less polluting electrical generation than you do.

Grüne im Bundestag@gruene-bundestag.de · 2d ago

Reihenweise Atomkraftwerke in Staaten wir Ungarn, Rumänien und Frankreich gehen wegen der Hitzewelle und niedriger Wasserstände in den Flüssen in die Knie. In Ungarn löst das gerade eine riesige Energiekrise mit explodierenden Strompreisen und Engpässen aus.

more than 8 percent of all American newspaper journalists work in Manhattan, up from 2 percent in 2005 www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

This IMO is the best ongoing study of NYC congestion pricing. An update w/data thru 6/26 is encouraging: "The toll raised cordon-area speeds by 11%, with little effect on air quality, consumer spending, or foot traffic. Speeds also rose outside the cordon." shoshanavasserman.com/papers/the_n...

“Unless the City of Philadelphia forms a definite transit program very soon for the extension of high-speed transit lines into the Northeast and Northwest sections of Philadelphia, the city is going to be depopulated.” — Councilmember Clarence K. Crossan (April 16, 1876 – September 25, 1960)

my neighborhood 7-11 closed a couple years ago and tried to reopen but couldn’t get the permit approved because there’s a preschool next door and 7-11s sell alcohol (the previous permit was grandfathered in). i saw a fence going up around the lot recently and looked up what was moving in: a gun shop

The FCC Just Banned Most Robot Vacuums. www.cnet.com/tech/computi...

The FCC Just Banned Most Robot Vacuums. Here's What That Means - CNET

The FCC's latest guidance could effectively ban robot vacuums, mowers and pool cleaners.

cnet.com

A friend’s recent photo of civic shading in Malaga