It is a strenuous feat of editorial gymnastics that this article does not name the ham-fisted symbolism of the federal government placing the essential symbol of America’s open arms toward immigration behind a prison-like fence in the name of “security.” 🗽 www.nytimes.com/2026/04/02/n...

In my new piece in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social, “Landlords: the ‘Good,’ the ‘Bad’ and the Ugly Finacial Realities,” I unpack common assumptions about the motivations of landlords, noting that many of the most benevolently motivated landlords are struggling today. www.vitalcitynyc.org/rental-ripof...

Get out your headphones, go out for a run, and listen to @benmax.bsky.social, @annemariegray.bsky.social, and me discuss housing policy priorities for NYC - from environmental review procedures to operating expenses to housing lotteries - so much to do! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...

The audit described here is a great example of how a failure to consider context can lead policymakers to miss the point completely - and it illustrates how this kind of thinking helps keep us buried in a crisis of homelessness and housing insecurity. /1 gothamist.com/news/new-aud...

A blanket of snow is a great reminder that some things aren’t about you

This was literally the code requirement for basement or cellar dwelling spaces in NYC - imposing $000,000s of costs on the legalization of an existing unit - until recent legislative reforms. Important fixes to make

I’d say this was as ridiculous as Don Quixote, but he was a weak-minded old man who attacked windmills, rather than being afraid they were coming to get him

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...

An excellent selection!

“It’s not that Times New Roman is a bad font. It’s just that you can and should do better.” Typography and policy converge. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

A churning mix of heartbreak and anger at the news from Brown. Thinking of how when I took finals in Barus & Holley the worst thing I had to worry about was the exam. That’s what it should be like to be a student. Not this.

NYC’s Department of Buildings has a tough but important task to administer the basement apartment legalization program. Housing advocates are eager to support effective implementation, but can’t accept a program that’s not designed to succeed. www.thecity.nyc/2025/12/08/b...

City of Yes - allowing a little more housing everywhere - was a critical first step. Charter reform to fix the dysfunctional process for approving affordable housing was the next. Wrangling costs so the finances of affordable housing work is the next challenge. Let’s start by not making it worse.

Footnote: this superfluous federal parking garage should have been an affordable housing development site years ago

I don’t believe in being reductionist, but there are two types of people in this world: people who have the spark of humanity and are fundamentally capable of making this world a better place for us all, and people who leave their dog poop bags in curbside recycling containers

It sure would be nice if the incoming NYC Mayoral administration were to move their social messaging operation from the Nazi site to this one. Or at least activate all the dormant City accounts here.

The Coast Guard reversed its 'swastikas aren't all that bad' policy just hours after the Washpost broke the story. It's both surprising, and good, to see that one government agency these days is capable of being embarrassed, and changing course quickly. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Accurate in that they “potentially divide” Nazis from people who should be allowed to serve in the US armed forces Really looking forward to when that White House priority of stamping out anti-semitism gets up and running. Any day now, I’m sure

Don’t look away from this

For a body whose members often profess that affordable housing is their top priority, the City Council prioritizes a lot of things ahead of affordable housing www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...

Rick Scott was CEO of a large, for-profit healthcare company called HCA. While Rick Scott was CEO, HCA stole so much money from Medicare they were fined $1.7 Billion.

This a terrible idea that has the benefit of sounding even worse

Striking how Brooklyn accounts for both the top 5 Mamdani (blue) and top 5 Cuomo (purple) districts

ah, perhaps instead of pumping millions into endless factional infighting Dem donors could invest in making local Dem organizations genuine civic spaces that can reach people during and between elections

I know there’s other stuff going on tonight too, but … NYC’s Charter now has new processes to approve more affordable housing, more quickly, and in more places.

I don’t care what your political sympathies are, you can’t just post “BREAKING: [candidate of my choice] wins” without citing which reputable source has called the race No, not even in an off-year election

Game 7 tension + house full of Halloween candy = bad scene

Priorities

As you prepare to vote, NYC, please read my op-ed about the importance of NYC voting yes on questions 2 through 5: www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/fli... These changes aren’t about the needs of politicians. They’re about the needs of New Yorkers. /1

A friend of mine in Chicago just shared a video on IG of an ICE operation near her house. The operation happened just minutes before the neighborhood Halloween parade. ICE used tear gas and multiple parents had to wash their kids' (including toddlers) eyes out.

Unstated background for this NYT point/counterpoint piece: One author has financed tens of thousands of units of affordable housing. The other has built none, and made a career of arguing against building proposals. Guess which says YES on affordable housing. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/25/o...

For people looking to tune out the noise and understand NYC’s affordable housing ballot questions (#2-5), here’s a tl;dr: They would tame the hyperlocalism of “member deference,” which contributes to housing shortages and segregation - in NYC and Chicago: www.povertylaw.org/article/shri...

NYC’s avant press never ceases to amaze me nygroove.nyc/housing-refe...

Great piece from @errollouis.bsky.social about how important a yes vote on ballot questions 2, 3, 4, 5 is to NYC’s ability to take on our affordability crisis. You’ll see obfuscation and name-calling, but no solutions from those who say the current system is just fine. nymag.com/intelligence...

Doing right with courage gives courage. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...

The City Council and its Charter Revision Commission continue to use public funds to conduct a campaign against ballot questions proponents say will spur affordable housing. Even in 2025, from a good government (ethical, legal) perspective, this is shocking. www.crainsnewyork.com/politics-pol...

Curious choice of location for this event opposing Charter reforms that would tame member deference: Essex Crossing, a site built with affordable housing today, but which sat vacant for decades because of ... ... opposition to affordable housing development from a powerful local elected official.

There is a shortage of fearless, topical journalism in institutions once known for this

People need to look at these pictures and ask, is this America? Does this look like America? Does this look like the America you want it to be? open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Headed off scene. Local community understandably very upset. I still personally don't have any details on the reported shooting incident that led to today's protest. WBEZ has a story out; remember things are still developing and details can change quickly. www.wbez.org/immigration/...

Surreal moment for America. Needless to say, if the normal police ever pulled something like this — pulling every single person out of an apartment building and handcuffing them to run warrant checks — they would be sued into oblivion. Yet ICE is going to get away with it entirely.

So, the idea is that there should be an environmental review for a referendum to change the City's land use review processes? The processes set up in 1989 without an environmental review. And modified in 2019 without an environmental review. Charter referenda don't have environmental reviews.

Kudos to the NYC Council for approving Just Home - an important project, bottled up for too long without even a hearing - and another affordable development, both over local member objections. In a city that treats affordability as an urgent priority, actions like this would not be exceptional.

A new op-ed from CHPC’s @hslatkin.bsky.social in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social illuminates how misunderstanding of rent-stabilized apartment data is contributing to a mounting financial crisis in the housing New York City's low-income residents rely on. www.vitalcitynyc.org/articles/the...

Ironic, isn’t it?

This may be hard, but it isn’t complicated. Political violence is intolerable. Political rhetoric that stokes violence - by vigilantes or agents of the state - is a tool of political violence, and is intolerable. Condemn and reject all leaders who stir the pot of political violence.

This would be daylight robbery of NYC’s democratic process.

Reads like the statute guiding the actions of the Charter Commission. If you feel like the Charter Commission has failed to meet that standard, you'd sue the charter commission and force them to redraft the questions — which were published two months ago, fwiw. BOE as an end-run is baaaaaaaaaaad.

Let’s be clear about what’s being cooked up here: A handful of officials say they’ll defend the integrity of the public review process for housing by … unlawfully suppressing a legitimate voter referendum created through months of public hearings. Burying democratic integrity with political dirt.