Agree with removing the need for a permit for sandwich board (while keeping the rules around their placement)... but Portland should take a bigger look at its sign code in general. Every cool sign that gets photographed would be illegal to build today.

Still the case that developers are proposing underbuilding apartment zoned sites so that they can build townhomes This proposal is for 9 likely 3 story townhomes where the zoning allows for a 3.0 FAR 40' apartment building

The lesson here is absolutely never under any circumstances plant any trees on your property because some day you will have a legal fight with your neighbors. It's best to slowly strip every lot completely bare and keep it that way. 🙃

Even more evidence that building new housing decreases rents: Researchers tracked the residents of a newly built luxury condo building and found that they freed up less expensive apartments nearby. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

I just really struggle with the image of giving an award to the actor who played the disabled man struggling to find social acceptance… and then excluding the man himself, because you think his disability is unacceptable. It’s almost parable-like in its precise depiction of false acceptance

There really are no great interventions. And this guy was at the ceremony because there was a movie made about his life - particularly, his struggle to find acceptance and help people understand his tics were truly involuntary. Excluding him for his tics would be bitterly cruel irony

Wait, so we're spending public tax dollars…not building new housing? Incredible stuff.

Seattle did a sweep and put out ecoblocks to block street parking but it’s okay it’s good now. I love it.

with batteries at $100/kWh and wholesale solar at $400/kW, you could buy 5 KW of solar and 15 kWh of batteries for the price of building 1 KW of this gas plant... and that’s before the cost of gas to keep the thing running

Crazy milestone in the US trade data released today—America now imports more directly from Taiwan than from China for the first time since 1992 The trade war has cut US direct trade with China, and the AI boom has caused a surge in spending on Taiwanese-made semiconductors

Certainly in the top 3 worst Supreme Court decisions of all time. Probably shaved 10-20% off GDP to this day.

This woman is a traitor

Okay, but our water is amazing because of geography, not organizational. Our electricity is cheap and clean for the same reason. SCL was innovative and visionary until the 60s but have been coasting (keeping the lights on tbf) since We need a renaissance, not pretend they’re intrinsically winning

It was ahistorical to remove the Velocipede parking in the first place, and this is righting a historic preservation crime.

Seattle's 2024 gig-worker wage law raised prices and led to zero change in worker wages. Instead, workers get paid more per trip but spend more time idle doing nothing—an outcome that makes society poorer overall. Oops! www.nber.org/papers/w34545

“I don’t want to be in this place I want to go to my school.” - 7 year old imprisoned by ICE for 70 days in a concentration camp in Texas. Today, after @propublica.org published this story, the camp was raided to confiscate letters from the children. www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

Let’s be clear: elected official Bernstein has a preferred 2028 nom that can’t win legitimately, so he wants to threaten to collapse the whole republic as a way to coerce other Democrats into voting his way. That’s not a political partner, that’s a hostage taking terrorist.

How is it possible that Kristi Noem still has this job. Imagine if you’re a family member or a shipmate of this guardsman. www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...

It’s depressing that the last decade of activism moved the ball backwards. Recall that in 2016, Republicans lost the fight over the “bathroom bill”. :(

Correct. And they hate him for it.

Nothing says moral high ground like, “other people should pay for public services and also I should get my beak wet in the process.”

It’s really surprising to see how much increased fare enforcement has benefited BART. Keeping transit facilities clean and safe is very important for transit riders to get around. And using agency time on preventable maintenance is waste that could be reallocated to more service.

Every now and then, the rightwingers land a solid punch. It’s the season of treachery apparently.

Wow, so weird that they only posted this on right-wing Twitter. 🤔🤔🤔

Truer words are rarely spoken.

Make him deny it

Oh good, I was worried that our Democracy being under existential threat had put the circular firing squads on the back burner…

Recall that when Harrell took office and didn’t like the maps OPCD had been cooking under his predecessor, he told them not to release and instead go back and do it again. 🤔🤔🤔

The problem with WA Dems (and not specific to the left or moderate flanks) is that they’re not particularly serious about housing costs. You can tell because they’ve had a trifecta for over a decade and they’re still dinking around like this while prices are worse than ever.

So…are we gonna keep governing like California?

Remember that these people are giving the country away.

This was an interesting article about how environmentalism overreach is making us all pay way more for water. Seattle billions of $$$ of water quality projects that they are forced to do by the Feds and State, but produce no measurable increase in wellbeing. worksinprogress.co/issue/the-go...

It takes lower wages and muuuuuch lower regulation by the State. It also takes a massive surplus of commercial and retail space, which was pretty unique during suburbanization, but could maybe be approximated by taking all the controls off development. So we choose not to do this.

HB2331 - 26 WA Dems accidentally propose outlawing all manufacturing in Washington State by requiring anything that makes anything to psychically know if you’re going to make a gun with it, punishable by imprisonment of employees of businesses that make equipment. 🤦🏽‍♂️ We are on the dumbest timeline.

There are only 2 real policy responses to a housing shortage. You can either get to work building enough housing for everyone or start making a list of the types of people you want to exclude. I know which side I’m on.

"Every thinking person in America will be voting for you.” “I’m afraid that won’t do—I need a majority."

I wonder if the impending revaluation (downward) of downtown’s office buildings, we’ll see our existing levies and property taxes get squeezed. If total property values decline, the maximum tax amount goes down too and so they don’t get to collect their full amount.

I have to admit, I really did not expect that we'd get to January 12 without an Executive Order or a major policy rollout from Katie Wilson's office.

I think this thread is correct, but read holistically, I think Jeffery just doesn't like AVs.

Pretty awesome to hear @jennyschuetz.bsky.social making a housing positivity case on @kuow.org, contrasting Seattle with Austin. It’s neat to see YIMBYism breakthrough to the main stream.

I don't buy it for a second. Tariff pass-through is going to be prolonged. Businesses aren't sophisticated enough to do it all upfront. They'll adjust prices as they see what happens to their bottom lines.

If you live in Portland or Seattle, you need to be aware of the risk of a potentially quite serious windstorm tomorrow. Models are being finicky, but 50-60MPH gusts are a realistic possibility. If you live near trees, if you park in your driveway, if you have outdoor furniture—take note.

BREAKING: At least 16 files from the Epstein release disappeared from DOJ's webpage, including a photo of Trump, with no explanation.

Remember when Presidents did national speeches for emergencies or times where a nation needs to hear from their leader? This angry old man is literally screaming and clearly panicking

All critiques of superficial behavior should be interpreted as a criticism of the underlying values that motivate it. The framing is usually bad when the values are bad. The superficial thing is indicative of a million other ways the bad values are leaking out.

I listened to @gallego.senate.gov on @volts.wtf. Roberts described him as a progressive-turned-centrist (!), but I mostly liked him. Yet when it came to tariffs, he did the f***ing meme. Every Dem sub-caucus has a ditch they want to driving the economy into. 🤦🏽‍♂️ open.spotify.com/episode/02kN...

“AI is going to transform our lives for the better…which is why I’m demanding a full moratorium.” 🤦🏽‍♂️

Two things: *They are only cutting these funds in seven states that lean Democratic *Support for people with disabilities was a relatively bipartisan position. Trump has repeatedly made clear he does not see them as people worthy of support or dignity.

He is literally losing his marbles in front of us all.