I’ve found the impulse to “break up the massing” to be a received wisdom of planners regardless of the frontage width or any other considerations such as construction quality and maintainability. The fact that it was identified as basically unsupported by public so early is even worse somehow.

Cross-posting my discovery of the day. This guy could have been the Shoup of design review. He's was a random architect working from home in Bernal Heights. Never had a faculty position. He churned out scores of academic papers and one great book. threadreaderapp.com/thread/19873...

One way to reduce condo defect liability: stop forcing architects to design buildings that leak. HCD’s “objective design standards” guide *encourages* making building envelopes more complex, heightening leak and therefore defect lawsuit risk cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/Ap...

If you want a zoning code that delivers abundant and affordable housing, pass a ballot initiative that requires your city to hire a city economist, and directs them to study the economic impacts of all proposed ordinances and publicly disclose the results. #SanFrancisco voters did. It’s paying off!😀

@ucdavis.bsky.social Law Professor @cselmendorf.bsky.social via @sfchronicle.com 🔗: www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open... #UCDavisLaw #UCDavis #LawSchool #Faculty #Law

Driving to Davis to teach a Saturday morning class is not my idea of a good time, but it was so fun welcoming prospective @ucdavislaw.bsky.social students today w/ the story of California's builder's remedy. Especially b/c I got to feature my former students Jordan Wright & Marissa Fuentes!

On paths forward for the Housing Element Law. (Leg attention needed!) threadreaderapp.com/thread/19839...

My op-ed in today's @sfchronicle.com www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open... 1/2

Or just authorize @california-hcd.bsky.social to issue interpretations that are binding until a court disagrees. (Similar to status of a disapproved housing element.)

Relaying a message from the mayor.

Fantastic analysis.

🧵 on new stinker of a CEQA opinion. Here's hoping @gavinnewsom.bsky.social, @agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov, @buffywicks.bsky.social, @scottwiener.bsky.social, & leaders of Assembly & Senate housing & nat'l res. committees will join Mayor Gloria's petition for review. threadreaderapp.com/thread/19807...

Cross-posting my 🧵 on latest version of the @caforever.bsky.social plan. threadreaderapp.com/thread/19786...

Now that SB 79 is the law, I've completed my initial series of threads on the bill. Here they are: #4 (for local electeds): threadreaderapp.com/thread/19777... #5.1 (for the Leg, near term): threadreaderapp.com/thread/19777... #5.2 (for the Leg, longer term): threadreaderapp.com/thread/19778...

I am a little more skeptical than @lorettodave.bsky.social, however, about BR projects filed prior to HCD revoking its finding of compliance or a court finding the city in question out of compliance. t.co/NFBJvpGptg

Big new Court of Appeal decision on housing element law came down yesterday (New Commune v. Redondo Beach). We could be see a new spate of builder's remedy projects in lots of cities, now or very soon. threadreaderapp.com/thread/19768...

Exciting job opportunity, courtesy of @ssrc.org & @arnoldventures.bsky.social: Come build the "Abundance Academic Network" (name is still TBD) as the inaugural Program Director! job-boards.greenhouse.io/socialscienc... 1/2

Americans understand supply and demand when it comes to cars and crops, but struggle to apply the same logic to housing markets. We spoke with @cselmendorf.bsky.social of UC Davis about what this might mean for economic messaging on housing policy. #ResearchHighlight www.aeaweb.org/research/hou...

Cross-posting at @volts.wtf's request, threadreaderapp.com/thread/19748...

Cross posting by popular demand. - SB 79 Thread #1: The Big Picture 1/🧵 threadreaderapp.com/thread/19669...

If you're a thinker or do-er in the housing space and you haven't subscribed to @michaelwiebe.bsky.social's substack, you're doing it wrong! It's a living urban econ lit review, inspired by @mattsclancy.bsky.social's New Things Under the Sun. Great stuff! Here's an example ⤵️.

Yes. Great piece on the "Folk Economics of Housing" here by @stano.bsky.social @cselmendorf.bsky.social, et al. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Things I never thought I would see, or say. Big props to Sen. Wahab!

"[W]hen I hear leaders I respect hesitating, quibbling over whether SB79 is 100% perfect, I have to ask: What world are you living in?" - Tom Steyer, climate leader & philanthropist, in today's @sfchronicle.com www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...

SF continues deeply divergent ridership recovery. With downtown stations still around 40% of pre-COVID due to work-from-home, Muni now has most effective bus system in US, thanks to improvements in speed and reliability and recovery of non-downtown lines exceeding 130%

On the City of Los Angeles's demand that the CA Legislature exempt cities with "approved" fair-share housing plans from SB 79, threadreaderapp.com/thread/19583...

🧵 here, threadreaderapp.com/thread/19564...

Interesting findings from @cselmendorf.bsky.social, Nall, and @stano.bsky.social in JEP. There is a widespread lack of understanding on how supply of housing affects housing costs, even while the same survey respondents understand other supply-cost relationships pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

Want people to support housing density? Make cities broadly appealing, with clean streets, better transit, rigorous schools, and a healthy business climate. @cselmendorf.bsky.social @profschleich.bsky.social hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-s...

Wow, great news!

Loved listening to @drvolt.bsky.social's and @mattyglesias.bsky.social's podcasts about agriculture & climate change w/ @mikegrunwald.bsky.social. Got me thinking about the fundamental divide in Dem / left politics today. www.volts.wtf/p/reducing-t... www.slowboring.com/p/real-talk-... 🧵/11

Great post today from @mattyglesias.bsky.social, riffing on (and questioning) my @niskanencenter.bsky.social essay w/ @profschleich.bsky.social www.slowboring.com/p/the-power-...

For more on how policy drives design, sign up for the newsletter — that's our whole thing: www.bloomberg.com/account/news...

This @cselmendorf.bsky.social and @profschleich.bsky.social piece about how people's views of cities drive how receptive they are to pro-housing arguments makes me think that YIMBYs should talk more about building design. They already have the answers! hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/yimbyism-s...

@cselmendorf.bsky.social and @profschleich.bsky.social are two of my faves and this is right. But voltsman worries too much in his thread, imo. It is not a hard political line to draw to say that we can talk aesthetics once we have the space to, which necessitates legalizing more housing.

cross-posting a thread on this amazing paper, threadreaderapp.com/thread/19485... cc: @jwmason.bsky.social -- curious what you think of it

Check out this @volts.wtf series on creating great cities, which anticipates so much of the piece that @profschleich.bsky.social & I wrote for @niskanencenter.bsky.social. Written ~15 years ago. Still great! grist.org/article/2011...

I want to enthusiastically endorse this piece from @cselmendorf.bsky.social & @profschleich.bsky.social. Thus far YIMBY has been almost entirely focused on More Housing, but ultimately, if you want people to accept density, you have to make it *nice*, and that means more than just housing.

YIMBYism needs to become more party-like, @cselmendorf.bsky.social and David Schleicher argue in today's Hypertext. Here's why. Shoutout to @dbroockman.bsky.social & @jkalla.bsky.social.

🧵 on the first of my pieces for @niskanencenter.bsky.social's party-of-abundance series: threadreaderapp.com/thread/19482.... Full piece ⤵️

Great @jwmason.bsky.social 🧵 w/ thoughtful answers to my 7-item "test" on issues that divide YIMBYs from left wing of Dem Party in CA. ⤵️ I added screenshots of each item in replies. Here's a link to my original thread, threadreaderapp.com/thread/19452...

On Monday, we launch a new series on the politics of abundance, w/ Frank Stefano, @cselmendorf.bsky.social, @profschleich.bsky.social, @mattyglesias.bsky.social, @henrymjtonks.bsky.social, and Olivia Kosloff. Subscribe: hypertext.niskanencenter.org

It's good!

@catherinestefani.bsky.social, counting on you to do right by S.F. and vote AYE.

Cross-posting in sincere hopes of engaging anti-monopolists and other thinkers on the left wing of the Nat'l Democratic Party. threadreaderapp.com/thread/19452...

What's the impact of the big new CEQA changes? We discuss @stateofthebay.bsky.social 6pm PT w/@liamjdillon.com, @cselmendorf.bsky.social & Kim Delfino + federal tax bill's impact on CA health coverage + novelist Leila Mottley Tune in/stream live @kalwradio.bsky.social! www.kalw.org/show/state-b...

What transit experts generally tell you is: the highest use of scarce resources is making transit service more *frequent & reliable*. That's what actually boosts ridership. Everything else -- free point-of-use fare, electric buses, fancy new trolleys, architecturally fancy stations -- matters less.

Great pod. Really interesting discussion of how prohousing policies split the Montana legislature on generational rather tha partisan lines. The youngs want homes!

Learning from Cascadia about housing, threadreaderapp.com/thread/19409...