Why Canadian roads are much safer than in US 1. Less fiscally-driven exclusion (on average) because school finance is more provincial.

I told our city staff that our IZ was exactly like doctors bleeding out patients in the 1800s, thinking they were helping cure disease. “We’ll cure our housing shortfall by making housing more expensive” makes just as much sense as opening a vein to cure a fever.

Lazy thinking here. No mention of land use and why we have so many more deadly arterials than Canada per capita, how our land use is less dense and separated w/ less multi family by design , how Canada pays for education at provincial level and asserts much more zoning and planning control.

This is the reality from the policy side. If you want real change you must work on getting the political support for zoning change on metro and state wide level to make land use more compatible with other modes #DenseClusters. Part 2 - Lansdowne Station Boston

This is the reality from the policy side. If you want real change you must work on getting the political support for zoning change on metro and state wide level to make land use more compatible with other modes #DenseClusters. Part 1

Uncertainty

So that means billions in the US...

Hypocrisy all around.

This account discusses transportation, and zoning policy using public information. I do not comment on internal workplace matters, personnel or confidential information. Views my own

Midterm are coming..... Trump Wants to Bar Wall St. Investors From Buying Single-Family Homes www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/b...

The goal is not to make your house worth less next year. It’s trying to make it so your kids don’t have to pay twice as much for the same house ten years from now.

“When Austin, Texas adopted land-use reforms of this sort, apartment construction boomed and rents plunged…Take note of Cambridge MA : a city where Kamala Harris won 86% of the vote adopted a new zoning law in which three-quarters of the text was to do with deleting old rules.”

Housing & healthcare have cost disease. Treating it must be core to the Democrats' agenda for financial freedom. My essay in The Economist: www.economist.com/by-invitatio...

Just a snap shot but we have way more busy arterials here, mostly due to the low density land use we’ve mandated

The left (which I am part of) goes on and on about oligarchs getting pols to do their bidding to restrict markets yet wants the state to maintain the highly regulated housing scarcity that steals much more from the bottom 1/2s paychecks. We must unite for better outcomes for the working class.

I think actual numbers are needed from state for each municipality with penalty though Gov Kathy Hochul could not get that through in NY. Hopefully we’re reaching a tipping point.

Zoning creates deadly stroads

Nice zoning write up here. open.substack.com/pub/speakeas...

Do we want an economy where the working class can live, form households, and take risks, or one where they’re permanent renters feeding asset appreciation?

Do we want an economy where the working class can live, form households, and take risks, or one where they’re permanent renters feeding asset appreciation?

Finally the attention it deserves …. www.boston.com/real-estate/...

Finally, yes. I hope much more small stuff ADUs, sfh conversions, duplex, rowhouse becomes by right across metros and that multipliers can start a slow return to 3 and that homes are less thought of as investments like in the past. x.com/_murphy_dan/...

Note the lower density places with higher car free are due in significant part to poverty. Also note higher fatality rates of people walking in those cities.

Note the lower density places with higher car free are due in significant part to poverty. Also note higher fatality rates in those cities.

Hope to see more of this in future #BackTo3

The only serious “downside” of #BackTo3 is political, not economic, it slows the growth of paper wealth of current owners. Do we want an economy where the working class can live, form households, and take risks, or one where they’re permanent renters feeding asset appreciation?

Highest car free cities USA

Sedan / walking crash deaths rose. Bloat does not explain …

The big post-2011 rise driver in deaths of people walking in US is not vehicle type alone , it’s strongly tied to where/when (urban arterials, dark) and exposure. www.colorado.aaa.com/sites/defaul...

The big post-2011 rise driver in deaths of people walking in US is not vehicle type alone , it’s strongly tied to where/when (urban arterials, dark) and exposure. colorado.aaa.com/sites/default/… @DavidZipper

NEW // Sunday Video: The 15 Million Home Vacancy Conspiracy Theory Debunked Sunday video: www.theurbanist.org/2026/01/04/s...

Why is capitalism not allowed to make housing cheaper where demand is high. Why did project 2025 resist single family home conversions? “Localities…must have the final say in zoning laws and regulations, and a conservative Administration should oppose any efforts to weaken single-family zoning.”

I think the separation between the lines is primarily explained by lack of mixed use in US and high petrol taxes in Europe

Tragic. www.boston.com/news/local-n...

Once state allowed locals to make housing discretionary via zoning after 1926 housing development was mostly re-routed to suburbs and greenfield where much less restricted. Rail died as low density car centrism became the mandate and was subsidized at all levels of government.

The left (which I am part of) goes on and on about oligarchs getting pols to do their bidding to restrict markets yet wants the state to maintain the highly regulated housing scarcity that steals much more from the bottom 1/2s paychecks. We must unite for better outcomes for the working class.

NEW: This is very interesting — Seattle City Council has allowed 8-unit buildings up to 3 storeys, or 10 apartments up to 4 storeys (they call them “stacked flats”) if they add green features (like bioswales or green roofs) or preserve trees, in all residential zones across the entire city!

I think the separation between the lines is primarily explained by lack of mixed use in US and high petrol taxes in Europe

Just a snap shot but we have way more busy arterials here, mostly due to the low density land use we’ve mandated

Outliers

Stop thinking of homes as investments. Start thinking of places as communities for homes for families.

Legalize mixed use off the arterials. If neighborhood interiors can have small retail/services, fewer trips require crossing the commercial arterial stroads. It shouldn’t be grandfathered rights that disappear.

With a nod to @jeffspeck.bsky.social Maybe the North Star should be Walk”Afford”ability It’s easier to grasp than #BackTo3 #WalkAffordability

He gets it like few others and is willing to actually speak publicly about it.

Stop thinking of homes as investments. Start thinking of places as communities for homes for families.

The way to get people out of cars is to allow them to afford places where they can live much more of their lives with out cars.

I can’t understand upper middle “progressive” homeowners against more market housing supply. The north star is to give the kids what the boomers got in 1970 incrementally. Dignity, not lotteries. @davidsirota.com @samseder.bsky.social @emmavigeland.bsky.social @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social

Highway road noise at about 500’ West Asheville NC Hanover St @ncdot.bsky.social

An online creator in Illinois who struck and killed a pedestrian with her car during a livestream she was hosting on TikTok was charged this week with two felonies, the police said.