Last night #SB79, one of the biggest housing bills in CA history, made it out of the State Assembly with one vote to spare. The data is fascinating. Let's dive into the details, and see how your State Assemblymember voted. 👇

After rail supporters sent in over 3,500 letters, transit project delivery reform is back on the agenda at the Transit Transformation Task Force on August 26th. Now, we need your help to make sure these recommendations get sent to the legislature: actionnetwork.org/letters/lets...

LA City Council just voted to oppose the biggest pro-housing bill of the past 5 years #SB79 in a shocking display of NIMBYism. Some votes I expected but I can’t believe “progressive” Ysabel Jurado carried water for MAGA NIMBYs and opposed housing in wealthy areas. Shame.

Nimbys: No one uses the Hollywood blvd protected bike lanes... Jack Black: Wheeee!

Great report. Transit projects go through extensive public outreach and democratic approval. After the public is on board, unaccountable 3rd parties slow them to a crawl with bad faith demands, subjective standards, and unclear or ad-hoc process. Transit agencies need more control over permitting.

Slightly terrifying that one private company’s decision to stop suppressing political content is directly responsible for candidates like Zohran and Deja Foxx being successful.

Just got this email directly from the Social Security administration “applauding” the Trump’s Death Bill. These are dangerous levels of partisan state-sponsored propaganda.

So excited that this bill I helped passed as a part of the @studenthomesco.bsky.social is coming into effect tomorrow!

Mamdani won the NYC mayoral primary and California is passing real reforms to allow more housing.

If Mamdani can beat the NYC political machine, Kenneth Mejia @controller.lacity.gov can be LA's next mayor.

Let’s go!

Sen. Henry Stern, pictured below, wants you to know he's dedicated to finding solutions to California's worst-in-the-nation housing crisis - except for all the solutions he's voted against

Once again, my former State Sen. Henry Stern voted against housing—this time on #SB79. Reminds me of a letter I wrote as a high school junior over 5 years ago after his no on #SB50, the original housing near transit bill. Sadly, it’s just as relevant today. Shame on Stern.

Fascinating to see the stark rural/urban and north/south divide on #SB79, the biggest housing bill of the year. Let’s dive into the details, and see how your State Senator voted. 👇

At the exact same time @benallenca.bsky.social refused to take a stand and vote for #SB79, the biggest housing bill of the year, I was proud to host a meet & greet tonight with YIMBY @johnericksonwh.bsky.social, who's running to replace him. Let's flip SD24 to a housing champion. Join us: yimby.la

Design standards like these do nothing but needlessly drive up the cost of living. A thousand cuts to affordability have displaced so many millions of people from California. NIMBY design standards should end and Oakland, of all places, should be at the forefront of ending them, not worsening them.

Thank you reddit. People heard it literally all over Southern California.

Did anyone just hear a huge explosion near #Topanga or #WestValley?

Huge cultural victory for YIMBYs. Fantastic work @buffywicks.bsky.social and @caspeakerrivas.bsky.social. Now onto the far less progressive Senate… Mike McGuire now’s your chance to show leadership and make these bills pass!

Friendly reminder that ~things are not normal~

As a UK citizen I can't find the words to do justice to my astonishment at the idea that a hospital would close not because its services are not needed, but because the people who need them can't afford to pay for the help they desperately require. Utterly monstrous.

The Glendale Blvd & Fletcher Dr intersection in Silver Lake is a mess. Now the City is considering spending $13 million... just to save four parking spots and add a sidewalk. Feeling inspired, I took this weekend to redesign the intersection. I present to you, a roundabout! 🧵

Why we need #SB445 in a nutshell. CA High Speed Rail is trying to right-size stations to reduce costs, but now the Mayor of Fresno is going to try and fight it. So long as permits for transit projects are in the hands of individual cities, we will continue to waste taxpayer money.

Really great to have organized 43 constituents with YIMBY LA for a meeting with Sen. Durazo about #SB79 and other crucial housing bills in CA. As a member of the Senate Housing Committee and Chair of Local Government, we made our voices loud and clear that we want her to support housing!

This is insane. Why are we putting money into street WIDENING while we’re in a budget crisis?

What could a car-lite #LosAngeles look like? Our current approach isn't working. We invest in expensive transit projects, but fail to build the infrastructure around stations needed to create riders. What could a transit-first community look like? I present to you, a Westwood for the future:

Imagine if LA Metro could do this and support transit operations while also fixing our housing crisis. It’s a win-win.

A groundbreaking new study found that the surge in SUVs from 1995 to 2019 reduced Minnesota's highway lane capacity by 9.5%. Less lane capacity --> More congestion Me, in CityLab 🧵

Who says small apartment buildings don't fit in residential neighborhoods?

These NIMBYs are actual right-wing ghouls. Don’t ever give them credit for caring about communities of color. Disappointed to see how folks on this same call were able to convince the LA Mayor’s office to limit LA’s upzoning ordinance CHIP from applying to single-family zones.

Struggling to sleep because all I’m thinking about is every unhoused person living on the streets of LA struggling through the insane rain and wind tonight. No human should be forced to live in a tent so another can protect their neighborhood character.

Stop Musk from profiting off of CA. Don’t let him scam us, tell the SBCTA to study rail!

I don’t know if I’ve just been doom scrolling for too long but I don’t think Democracy is going to solve our crisis. The opposition needs to organize and get radical, now. We need to Occupy Washington.

I want the concept of inclusionary zoning to work, but then when I do the math, it really ends up just looking like a tax on renters (policy illustrated here is 20% VLI @ HCD rents, rounded down)

I'm REALLY hoping he gets destroyed in primary season. Newsom has been awful for California. Jerry Brown was 100x the governor Newsom is

TIL that banks investing in private toll roads refuse to use state DOT traffic models because the numbers are so inflated roads have gone bankrupt. Next time you hear an engineer try to justify an expansion based on modeling, remember this fact.

SB 677’s provision on waving tenancy-based restrictions on conversations of SFHs into denser housing after a disaster should be extended to all the recent YIMBY bills that contained tenant clauses like this.

This year @scottwiener.bsky.social is coming out with one of the best bill packages he’s ever done, tacking zoning, CEQA, transit permitting, and more in a thoughtful and impactful way. Huge cuddos to @raayan-m.bsky.social and others on his team for helping put all this together.

This is great, but let’s not make the same mistake as HSR. We must pair these funds with meaningful permitting reform. SB 445 from @scottwiener.bsky.social requiring cities + utilities to respond to transit agencies on statutory timelines (akin to recent housing bills) is a great start!

This is what resistance looks like. Great stuff @calelectricrail.bsky.social

Excited to have helped work on this legislation in a small way! This is gonna be huge to help build CA transit for the 21st century.

Here is my latest long post on Substack about the Long Modernization of the Italian Railways. I tried to capture how the railways in Italy (and elsewhere) remained relevant to today's world and what this history teaches us. I hope you'll enjoy it. open.substack.com/pub/marcochi...

From NACTO & the USDOT Volpe Center re: research supporting the downsizing of fire trucks in urban areas. 1/ Smaller, more maneuverable emergency response trucks often have similar, or **better**, capabilities than the most common trucks on U.S. streets.

1/ Related is how the culture of fire depts has exacerbated this w/ a constant emphasis on bigger, viewing apparatus purchases through a narrow, personally-incentivized lens. This created the ecosystem PE is taking advantage of as FDs grossly overspend on equipment that often doesn’t align w/ needs

Why has it taken more than 13 years to start construction on a simple 3rd track project critical for more frequent Capitol Corridor service to Roseville? Extortion by big corporations like Union Pacific and Kinder Morgan, plus poor design and funding workflows explains it. Read more here:

One of the main reasons I wouldn’t feel good about a Caruso candidacy is he clearly is more invested in his own interests than solving the city’s problems. He might be occasionally YIMBY aligned, but just like Bass he will ultimately water down what’s needed to fix the city.

We need to pass legislation preventing these types of shakedowns from private equity groups. 21st century transit systems will never be built if every parcel acquisition is inflated by 2-3x.

Huge!

At today's SB125 Transit Task Force, CalSTA has a presentation on ways to streamline/control costs for transit capital project delivery. Reccs: - Conferences of services like Italy - Service-led planning & funding cost effective service - Early design $ - Master permitting authority re 3rd parties