Wyatt Gordon
@yitgordon.bsky.social
National Chapter Manager at YIMBY Action 🏘️ Richmonder working to make housing abundant and affordable. 🏗️🏢
Appealing to our better angels just isn't enough, apparently.
kanchan@kayehm.bsky.social · 4h agoA UK study found that telling potential SUV buyers that those vehicles directly result in higher fatalities for pedestrians, cyclists and children had zero effect on their decision to buy them. What does work? Financial penalties: Increased fees, taxes, parking. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
We are excited to announce our next webinar: “Homelessness in Charlottesville: What’s the Plan?” on Wed, August 19th at 6:30pm. If the state of homelessness in Cville has you concerned, confused, and/or looking to help out, this event is for you. Sign up: events.humanitix.com/webinar-home...
Homelessness in Charlottesville: What’s the plan?
Learn about the current state of homelessness in Charlottesville, what is being done to address it, and what needs to happen to achieve workable solutions.
events.humanitix.com
The World’s Best Bike Share Systems: How Cities Like Paris, Montreal, New York and Toronto Are Transforming Urban Transportation. momentummag.com/the-worlds-b...
In the US, zero emissions buses accounted for only 5.6% of total new bus registrations in recent data theicct.org/publication/... US is absolutely falling behind on this metric, and things seem to be getting worse in recent months.
Warspitefella 🇬🇧🇺🇦@warspitefella.bsky.social · 16h agoElectric Buses Point of no return - have gone from 12% to 56% of new city bus sales in Europe in just 6yrs Europe's 2035 target of 100% zero emission bus sales could be reached as early as 2028 Bravo Europe 🇪🇺!
Biked 1 mile to coffee. Then biked another mile to the pharmacy. Then biked 1 mile home. 95% on protected (separated) bike infra. More Americans deserve the freedom of a life like this (if they want it).
We have two Livable Cville socials this month: Thursday the 13th at Ix @brazos.bsky.social and Wednesday the 26th at Bar Botanical in Crozet. Come and join us - it’s always a good time!
“Pro-supply reforms in Austin, Texas led to the addition of 120,000 new homes built between 2015 and 2024. As the housing supply increased, the city’s median rent fell from $1,546 in 2021 to $1,296 by 2026, even as the population grew.” @pewresearch.org
The Success of the New Federal Housing Law Now Rests on States and Localities
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, enacted on July 11, represents the first comprehensive federal law in decades designed to increase homebuilding. The bipartisan package contains more than 50 prov...
pew.org
“Before YIMBYism, this project would never have been proposed. Now? In one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in one of the wealthiest cities, a 25-story building is on the verge of being permitted over the objections of some of the city’s most politically influential people.” @yimbyaction.bsky.social
That Viral Photo of San Francisco NIMBYs Shows How Housing Is Winning
Hot take: The opposition to the Marina Safeway project shows everything that is right about housing in San Francisco.
inpractice.yimbyaction.org
“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
us zoning codes be like: getting pissed ❌ getting pistols ✅
slate@pleasebegneiss.bsky.social · 3d agomy 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
“NIMBYism triumphed long before it became true that, in most people’s eyes, the average new building was uglier than the average old one. This suggests that, though making development beautiful might palliate NIMBYism somewhat, the effect would be modest.” @worksinprogress.bsky.social
How ugliness helps NIMBYs
And how beauty could help get more homes built
worksinprogress.news
Is everyone aware of the General Motors streetcar conspiracy? In the mid-20th century, auto and oil interests bought up electric streetcar systems across the US and systematically replaced them with bus routes and paved roads, funneling commuters toward private cars.
General Motors streetcar conspiracy - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
The 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."
Does ugly housing create more NIMBYs? 🤔 A new article argues that architecture shapes housing politics more than many people realize. 🔗 Read it and let us know what you think! 👇 www.worksinprogress.news/p/why-ugly-b...
Maybe it’s Perambulations’ old-fashioned rigour, an antidote to the age of Instagram, or a “wider rehabilitation of ideas about architecture” in the decades after the Second World War. Regardless, Britain’s post-war architecture is having a moment. @economist.com
Tours of British post-war housing are a quiet hit
Perambulations of the anti-Instagram kind
economist.com
A glorious Summer Streets in Manhattan. Thanks @nycdot.bsky.social for the window into what Life After Cars can look like. Now we just gotta catch up to Bogota and other cities around the world and make it happen every week.
Most homes aren't designed with disability in mind, but what if they were? 🤔 As Disability Pride Month comes to a close, we're celebrating disabled advocates and the role housing plays in creating more accessible communities. What's one change that would make your community more accessible? 💙
“Average asking rent in Austin peaked at $1,622 in 2022 and now sits at $1,366. Occupancy is at 86% to 88%, a few points under the national average, so it’s landlords doing the sweating for once. This is what it looks like when moving up is actually affordable.” @tahrajirari.bsky.social
Austin Built. San Francisco is Holding Meetings.
Hundreds of San Francisco Marina residents, mainly from older generations, packed a warehouse at Fort Mason last Thursday to fight an apartment project at their neighborhood Safeway.
therebuild.pub
a bit of history on the corrupt, anti-tenant and classist history of the neighborhood plans here www.theurbanist.org/how-seattle-...
How Seattle Designed Neighborhood Plans to Inhibit Inclusivity: Part 1 » The Urbanist
# This is a two-part series. The first part is a very brief overview of the Growth Management Act, King County’s Urban Growth Boundary, and how we ended up with neighborhood plans. The second part wil...
theurbanist.org
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.
“The city’s transition away from the car, tho fantastically chaotic, has become a global role model. Under mayor @annehidalgo.bsky.social, Paris was ‘the most influential city in the world’ says Canadian urbanist Brent Toderian. Hidalgo, stepping down after 12 yrs, exulted: ‘The bike beat the car.’”
How Paris beat the car
Though chaotic, the city’s transition has become a global role model
ft.com
Lessons Sorta Learned? Study Finds Cities That Kept Building Bike Lanes Saw Cycling Continue to Grow After the Pandemic. momentummag.com/study-finds-...
If you’re a bike commuter, consider checking out the Cville Bike Bus tomorrow
Ben Chambers@bench.bsky.social · 6d agoUpdated schedule for the Cville bike bus testing, starting tomorrow morning
Can’t believe this. In Richmond’s Year of The Pedestrian?! No. NO.
'Somebody is going to get killed': Residents say pedestrian safety concerns go unanswered
Across Richmond, residents say blocked sidewalks, poorly planned lane closures and inadequate traffic signals are putting their lives at risk. Those concerns, they say, are largely ignored by City Hal...
richmond.com
Dave Infante@dinfontay.com · 3w agoUPDATE: A spokesperson for the city of Richmond clarified to The Lookout that this phrase is just kinda... made up.
Still a couple more days to sign up for the city’s E-Bike Voucher
Livable Cville@livablecville.bsky.social · last mo.Charlottesville’s E-Bike Voucher drawing is now accepting new applicants through the end of July! Sign up today if you are a city resident and you’d like a chance to get up to $1500 towards a new e-bike. connect.charlottesville.gov/charlottesvi...
📍Michigan friends! Our YIMBY Plymouth chapter is co-hosting two housing policy events this week featuring planner and Arbitrary Lines author @mnolangray.bsky.social. 📍Grand Rapids | Thursday, July 30 📍Plymouth | Friday, July 31 Check out the graphic for RSVP details. We hope to see you there!
Wild to see US cities pursuing these huge redevelopment projects without effective transit plans. If this were a European or Asian city, 7200 future homes would mean a light rail branch at the minimum. Instead, because the US can't afford to build anything, the area might get some bus improvements.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · last wk.Developer plans to break ground in September on a master-planned community to include 7,200 homes, offices and parks. on.wsj.com/4wr3Q8e
“Past housing proposals subsidized demand. This one unleashes supply. The law exempts new housing construction in cities from long environmental reviews, redirects federal funding toward cities that actually build & ends the absurd rule that manufactured homes must keep a chassis they don’t need.”
The Biggest Housing Bill in 30 Years Is Now Law.
Don’t Let Anyone Tell You Abundance Is Dead.
theabundantfuture.substack.com
🏘️ What does housing reform actually look like? It looks like more homes where they're needed most. As San Francisco's first project under the Family Zoning Plan moves forward, Juliana Lamm-Perez from our SF YIMBY chapter explains why creating more housing is an investment in stronger communities.
