GGWash Picks 2025: This year, Mayor Muriel Bowser asked the DC Council for $856 million in public funds to subsidize a new Commanders stadium. We think the real price paid by taxpayers will be more like…$6 billion.

GGWash Picks 2025: Making it easier to build more, smaller houses would bring down home prices and help bring back the starter home. Here's how.

"I love living in a city, but I hate dealing with other people. I shouldn’t be subject to the whims of my neighbors, something I constantly scream at them during city council meetings." #McSweeneysTop25of2025

Check out this Boston triple-decker from @landwatch.bsky.social at our @bendyimby.bsky.social gingerbread contest!

I've been looking through old state transit reports recently, and was astounded at the fact that in 1976 Washington's intercity bus network carried 30 million passengers, half as many as every transit agency in the state at that time. Spokane had nearly 40 daily one way trips to different cities.

"The best thing about the New Urbanism is it comes with the new plumbing"

North Carolina lobbyist Ches McDowell has successfully leveraged his relationship with the president's son to position his firm as a broker to buy a Get Out Of Jail Free card from the president of the United States. The going rate for a Trump pardon is now around $1 million.

I see there’s a post about microplastics going around with a photo of drinking straws, so here is my semi-regular reminder that the 3 biggest sources of microplastics are tires (45%), synthetic clothing particles (35%) and paint (~10%). Lay article attached:

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

Money saved: Nil Value of credibility destroyed: Priceless

As a winter bike commuter in Chicago, I accumulated a whole lot of gear and learned to lean into the outdoorsy look -- common among pragmatic Midwesterners years before NYC embraced "gorpcore." So glad to have a deep dive into its story!

Key quote: "higher-density development may be *less feasible*, requiring higher rents than the local market may bear to make a project financeable. This results from the fact that higher construction costs for taller buildings dilute the benefit of increased density"

TIL there was almost a 2nd railroad bridge from DC to VA, near what's now Chain Bridge. What would VRE look like today if it had happened? ggwash.org/view/101896/...

congrats to Manhattan almost every American urban core would benefit even more, if only they could overcome the political power of the larger proportion of drivers commuting into their city

Your periodic reminder that downtown housing is expensive because it's "built with only the most expensive construction techniques, on the most expensive land" ggwash.org/view/39226/m...

The ultimate NIMBY.

whenever i hear some social-media poisoned populist blaring about how we have more empty homes than homeless people--

To be clear, while Trump's HUD is telling a racist lie when they blame the housing shortage in CA and NY on immigrants, what they're saying is not all that different from the people who complain about transplants or who say California is full.

Don't just blame the messenger when the insurance company's non-renewal notice arrives in the mail.

Cars: why are they so slow and constantly in my way? 🤔

A California judge ruled Tesla’s marketing around “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving” was deceptive and the company should face a 30-day suspension to sell and manufacture #cars in the state #California #tesla #marketing #business #autopilot #fullselfdriving #fsd #automotive #auto #transportation

The song of the day is "Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" by John Denver

Breaking news: Trump is citing “national security” to halt all active work on offshore wind projects Five giant energy projects, countless jobs at risk My story explains how the argument has legal weaknesses and comes from an anti-wind policy doc I reported in January

Addison highlights these types of comments from American conservatives, and I’ve seen this all the time and always think it’s especially deranged. America has the lowest density, most “single-family” housing stock of basically any modern nation and it’s still not enough for these people!

🧑‍🌾 SPOTTED in Jackson County, Wisconsin…

I strongly recommend this article. I can speak from deep personal experience in Cambridge & in a district/at-large county. The Cambridge system promotes participation by minorities of all kinds. District voting unfairly empowers geographic minorities. commonwealthbeacon.org/opinion/how-...

Skip down to the table at the end. House improvements over Senate's ROAD bill: #SingleStar, YIMBY Act, GAO reports. Losses: RAD expansion, More Housing Near Transit, office conversion pilot, HUD modular code, homelessness program reform

In the flurry of Council votes, people seem not to have noticed that because of the way the the bills were drafted, they require (for instance) 40% of new affordable senior housing to be 2BR and 3BR units. Which is implausible & means we won’t be able to build any. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/18/c...

I want bicycle infrastructure that’s safe enough to do this

nice.

At least we know he doesn't have colon cancer. With so many people so far up his rectum, any polyps or cancerous growths would be noticed by someone rather quickly...

My latest in @citybuilder.bsky.social: break up buildings, not facades! Instead of zoning requirements to "break up the box," Europe and Asia get better architectural results by breaking up the blocks into narrow #SingleStair buildings.

if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄

Give greenhouse greens a try; they're now widely available at supermarkets. It lasts for weeks in the fridge = less food waste, so the slightly higher cost averages out. Plus, no worries about E. coli contamination.

Data centers are not noisy neighbors. These two hotels sit in Data Center Times Square, surrounded by ~100 DCs. Not one of their 3,500 TripAdvisor or Google reviews mentions data center noise -- only noise from planes, neighbors, construction, trash trucks, roads, and rooftop equipment.

How could this book be more than a single page reading “no”

Why do so many new buildings look boring? 🤔 The truth is, local codes force big buildings, then ask architects to decorate the problem away 🏢 The solution is simple: allow smaller buildings 🤏 👉 Read the full story → https://loom.ly/L-wFY0k #housing #architecture #design

“In a newly obtained recording of a phone call from late 2020, President Trump can be heard pressing the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives to hold a special legislative session to overturn Mr. Trump’s election loss.” — www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/u...

The Onion, 23 years ago. theonion.com/no-blood-for...

EXCLUSIVE New research shows for first time the impact influencers have on politics. Key findings: • Creators are more impactful than traditional media • Apolitical influencers have more impact than political ones • Regular social media use pushes users to the right www.wired.com/story/the-mo...

Someone else asked "why not just build an apartment"? This is a site that's zoned for much larger scale development, but under US building codes the cost per sq ft of a midrise building is a lot higher than the market in that neighborhood can support. www.portlandmaps.com/bps/zoning/#...

They only worry about the consequences of groupthink when it's not *their* pre-approved groupthink.

Yet another illustration of how "freedom of choice" exists only within socially circumscribed bounds that limit others' choices

Three small cities with annual parking passes >$500: Champaign, Oak Park, and Tucson @parkingreform.org Why do America's largest cities charge just tens of dollars a year?

Clear evidence that McDuffie continues to have no beliefs or unifying desire or plan, just an amoral attachment to power. I want to be Ward 5 CM, no AG, no at-large CM, no Mayor, I'm die hard Democrat, no an independent, no a Democrat.

"Denver transportation officials said an anti-car message that was displayed on traffic signs in Denver on Friday was the result of a hack. One sign, photographed by The Denver Gazette on Friday evening at E. Colfax Ave & Lincoln St near the Colorado Capitol, shared the message 'Cars ruin cities.'"

Uhh, just one month ago the commercial building at the other end of this famous block burned www.wypr.org/the-baltimor...

Baltimore’s path to becoming one of the four largest cities in the US began long before its first railroad tracks were laid. But the city’s growth before the Civil War was deeply intertwined with the rail network that developed around it.