Sharing this WVA bike lane with (1) construction worker on a lime bike, (2) teens on veos and (2) gig delivery riders.... but tell me again how bike lanes are only for gentrifiers #bikedc Also this bike lane blows 🤣

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin's remarks last week making the case for annexing Everett Transit into Community Transit were a remarkable example of an elected official spelling out the benefits of increasing frequency on a local bus network. I had to write them up. www.theurbanist.org/everett-tran...

“Decades of underbuilding have produced one of the most severe housing shortages in NYC’s history. With fewer apartments available, new units that do come on the market rent for about $3,000 per month. This scarcity drives gentrification, displacement, segregation & homelessness.” @mayor.nyc.gov

Another great part of biking to work: on the way home you can run into your neighbor doing the same thing. You get to ride together and catch up for 20 minutes 👍🏻 In cars you both sit isolated inside 🤷🏻‍♂️

Come and join us Wednesday!

My local parent chat is full of people in search of affordable electric cargo bikes. Demand for used bikes is off the charts. The people want to bike!

“Decades ago, starter homes, or houses of less than 1,400 square feet, accounted for more than one-third of all homes built every year. But by 2024, it was just 10%. Part of the problem is that local governments often mandate that new homes be built on very large lots.” 🏘️

“They destroyed walkable cities and now sell the experience to us in the form of amusement parks.” - 7 year old me, probably

NYT's analysis of the rise of big trucks & SUVs shows clear links between those vehicles and increased pedestrian deaths (gift link): www.nytimes.com/interactive/... NYT estimates that 200 to 400 pedestrians would not have died annually if vehicles hadn't increased in size over past few decades.

Currently reading: The Type V City: Codifying Material Inequity in Urban America, by Jeana Ripple

"Make no mistake, the protected bike lanes, barriers, underpasses, stop signs, and taxpayer-funded programs we’ve invested in as a city in the past 19 years have stopped untold numbers of accidents, and even fatalities. Those efforts have increased safe and responsible bike use."

“Taken individually, none of these provisions solves the housing shortage. Taken together, they represent one of the most substantial federal efforts in decades to address the regulatory, financing, permitting, and construction barriers that limit housing supply.” 🏗️🏢 @tahrajirari.bsky.social

Starting to suspect my street is the US capital of mid-rise single-stair buildings. I didn’t pick it for that, I picked it because it was affordable! Turns out affordability just requires mid-rise single-stair.

This used to be a fucking double decker highway.

How did the US add housing from 2000 to 2020? In the New York region, ~1/2 of homes were added in neighborhoods that already had >5000 units/sq mi: high-density areas. But in regions like Dallas & Phoenix, almost all units were added through sprawl. An investigation: www.urban.org/research/pub...

What if I told you we could just build more homes?

“Recent elections in NYC and Seattle put progressive YIMBYs against ‘moderate’ Democrats who are ardent defenders of exclusionary zoning. The DC race is simply not like that. McDuffie and Lewis George are both championing visionary changes to the city’s land use policies.” @mattyglesias.bsky.social

“All cities in America could have the energy NYC has if public transportation was a thing that this country prioritized. It's crazy that New York City is the only city in this country where you could go from the top of the Bronx to the bottom of Brooklyn for $2.75.” 🚇

“Cities have largely lost the power to say yes to construction. Every decision can be appealed, every complaint must be heard, every objection weighed. We are so committed to fairness that we have lost sight of the unfairness of doing nothing.” @bcappelbaum.bsky.social

Do you enjoy a good view, tasty food, and Albemarle County politics? Come join us next week on Wednesday, June 24th from 5-7pm at Bar Botanical in Crozet. We look forward to seeing you there!

Added a dozen new people to this since last shared. I try to keep it pretty tight, only people who actually post about (not just reply/are interested in/work in) codes/standards/construction. And if you get new followers from it, take it as a hint to post even more, because people are interested :-)

Had a wonderful time marching in the 2026 Baltimore Pride parade with the Maryland Transit Administration Team! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️⚫🟤 @mta.maryland.gov

“Only recently, many Democrats saw it as progressive to deny there is a housing shortage at all, sometimes blocking new construction in the name of affordability. But the research is clear: The housing supply crisis is making housing unaffordable for all of us.” @janeese4dc.bsky.social @ggwash.org

If you've been to The Waterfront recently, you've probably seen the new apartments under construction. In our newest installment of You Can't Build That Here, we discuss the zoning laws that made this housing happen in Homestead and not in Pittsburgh 🧵

What if one of the biggest barriers for homebuyers was your lot size? A recent @nytimes opinion piece highlights how minimum lot size requirements can make it harder to build starter homes and limit housing options for families. 🔗 Read the full article here: https://nytimes.pulse.ly/pa6slejtvx

How has the US added housing supply since 2000? Are conservative places building a lot more than liberal places? In new research, I show that: —Additional homes were disproportionately in high-income, conservative, greenfield areas —BUT infill growth was more likely to be located in liberal areas

“YIMBYs want to legalize six-unit apartments everywhere. The avenue to end single-family-only zoning would be through D.C.'s Comprehensive Plan, a bible-like planning book that the mayor gets to revise and send to the D.C. Council.” 🏗️🏢 @cuneytdil.bsky.social

We would love to see pre-approved plans in Charlottesville and Albemarle County!

20 PEOPLE WALKING are killed EACH DAY in the US. They are NOT accidents; they are INCIDENTS that could have been avoided IF city & state had wanted to. Same trend many countries, Canada, AU... others. Lower speed limits. #VisionZero enforced: policies & actions. Smart Growth America: bit.ly/4uFjprn

The fact that drivers may freely menace other road users is one of the most astonishing but least contested aspects of modern life.

Virginia should build high speed rail on part of the DC to Richmond route! Travel time would drop to little over an hour and ridership would explode. #trains #hsr #highspeedrail #va highspeedfail.blogspot.com/2026/04/why-...

Many problems in our cities have emerged because of poorly thought-out or outdated zoning. Better zoning can help solve these problems & help us make cities/neighborhoods delight the eye & soul & aid in human flourishing. This requires asking who & what are cities for? ifstudies.org/blog/zoning-...

“America is short an estimated 5 million homes, and you can see that shortage right here in Charlottesville. Now a group of UVA researchers says the solution requires building more homes and building them better.” www.29news.com/2026/06/11/u...

“New residents bring new ideas, businesses, taxes, and more, but if a region hasn’t planned to accommodate them, newcomers will have to bid up prices to find a home, driving some existing residents out and locking out other would-be residents from the area.” @sightline.org

In a rule change announced Wednesday — and published Thursday without public comment — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy eliminated disparate impact liability, a key tenet of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from the U.S. DOT’s regulations. www.kqed.org/news/1208711...

“Four in 10 young Americans agree that housing costs are snowballing into a national emergency. No other issue — except for inflation — ranked as an urgent crisis for broad shares of 18-to-29-year-olds.”

@burhanazeem.bsky.social helped pass new zoning laws allowing four-story multifamily buildings, with a percentage set aside for low- and moderate-income housing. Cambridge expects to build more than 3,500 new units over the next 15 years, 10 times the number expected under the old zoning laws.

"Painted bike lanes and sharrows may cost less and face less political pushback, but we now have evidence at a massive scale that protected bike lanes are really what can move the needle on ridership."

I’ve transitioned to a new role with @mta.maryland.gov as the Deputy Director of Planning for the @redlinemaryland.bsky.social! 2026 marks 10 years since I pivoted from music to transit. To anyone on a non-traditional path: Keep persisting. Make yourself undeniable. Time to get to work!

“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.’”

New York has a massive opportunity to coordinate building new public facilities like libraries with thousands of housing units. New Utrecht is just the start…

Happy Pride from Capitol Bikeshare! 🚴🏼‍♀️🏳️‍🌈🚴🏿‍♂️

More bikes than cars check ✅

Arlington NIMBYs are trying to say this is a "historic district" so that they can block new housing and services for disabled people. Every time NIMBYs try something like this, we should eminent domain *their* property into affordable housing. Would solve a lot of problems.

“For too long, a patchwork of local restrictions have made it too difficult and expensive to build and buy housing. Homeownership—a cornerstone of the American dream—is too far out of reach, and rent is too damn high.” 🏘️ @jbpritzker.bsky.social

So much of the political class have not updated to their assumptions about how house prices interact with public sentiment

For a free guide to managing curb (i.e., on-street) parking well, read the Introduction to #ParkingAndTheCity. It distills UCLA professor Donald Shoup's 734-page classic, The High Cost of Free Parking, down to 53 pages. They're surprisingly entertaining.

This is what you get without zoning to prevent incompatible uses

"Strava has ranked Hains Point among the most-ridden routes in the nation." For cyclists, runners, walkers, cherry blossom peepers — the perimeter road around Hains Point is a beloved local and national public space. #washingtondc

“It was once legal to build almost anything, everywhere. Then, in the space of a few decades, nearly every city in the Western world banned densification.” 🏗️🏢 @worksinprogress.bsky.social