As long as it is illegal under zoning to build homes on small, affordable lots, it will practically be illegal to build starter homes in many American neighborhoods. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/10/o...

Glad this kind of story is getting covered. If you bought a home 15, 20, 30 years ago, it's really hard to wrap your head around housing unaffordability. How many people who bought in 1995 or 2010 could afford the same home today? It's a real problem that we need to throw all sorts of solutions at.

Great mix of data and anecdotal experience in this piece. This is how you do it --> www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

---> www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/o...

Very positive news on the impact of the Columbus Street bus lanes, despite the @bostonglobe.com excessively negative framing. Glad to see @mbta.com working towards expanding programs like this and adding automated enforcement.

cool project in minneapolis taking an old kmart lot, restoring the street grid, and developing the site into parks and mixed use/mixed income housing lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCA...

My least popular (and most correct) view is that cars should be automatically limited to the local speed limit. Put the pedal to the floor and you still can't go over 25mph in a residential area. (15 in Manhattan btw)

An astonishing percentage of Americans are open to car-free living. The problem isn't attitudes. The problem is the failure to invest in viable options. humantransit.org/2025/12/many...

Love the gradual transition from an office-centric downtown to a more complete city. Converting underutilized office buildings to more homes & dorms & hotels leads to more people in the neighborhood for retail and amenities. We should shun single-purpose districts for more integrated places.

I've always enjoyed, and also never been good at, finding new music, beyond going a step or two beyond what I already knew and loved. It's even harder now with a life full of family and work and responsibility. Excited to have found @meandtimory.bsky.social on TikTok to help expand my aural world.

I've always enjoyed, and also never been good at, finding new music, beyond going a step or two beyond what I already knew and loved. It's even harder now with a life full of family and work and responsibility. Excited to have found @meandtimory.bsky.social on TikTok to help expand my aural world.

Giving religious orgs the ability to more easily build multifamily housing - and therefore build community & house those in need - is a great idea. In Brookline multiple houses of worship are interested in building homes slowed by zoning, making financing harder & projects near transit smaller.

Great listen that challenges many of the common understandings of idyllic, stable post-war suburbia. Chipping away at the mystique of 20th century American development is vital to finding solutions to housing/land use challenges we face today. @m-r-glass.bsky.social @dygottlieb.bsky.social

Vacancy rate is a hugely important stat to explain why rents are so high. @bosindicators.bsky.social's Housing Report Card shows the Boston area vacancy rate at just 3%, well below the "stable vacancy rate" of ~5.6%. We need to push every policy we can to drive home production to address this.

One of the things about being Jewish is that the calendar ritually mandates that you be sad some days and joyful other days regardless of what is happening in the world, and I think about that every time Jews get slaughtered on a ritually joyful day.

Great to see the Healey administration continue to try to identify ways to get more ADUs built. Hopefully they keep tweaking the regulations and finding ways to help interested property owners get these homes built.

One of the biggest drivers of high housing costs is that a small, highly motivated group of incumbent homeowners block new housing in their neighborhoods and almost no one is organized to push back. Young people bear the brunt of that imbalance. Be a housing fan.

ADUs are slowly making an impact in MA, maybe not as big or fast as hoped, but it's been less than 2 years. The state also needs to make it easier to add these homes - limit local regulatory impediments & help create financing tools. ADUs have thrived in some places, MA can learn their lessons.

Exciting to see Baltimore considering legalizing 4 family homes citywide. Here's a thoughtful discussion in favor of the proposal from someone who has the experience to make the case. Legalizing widespread, but modest, density is a good path forward for many places that can make a big difference.

Boston's zoning code is broken. You shouldn't need a slew of variances to build a triple-decker, particularly in a neighborhood where the street already has multiple triple-deckers with identical dimensions. 99% of Boston's residential lots do not comply with current zoning.

Glad to hear a state legislator talking about big ideas that can make a big impact. Don't like traffic? Frustrated that the T doesn't have the funding necessary for more reliable service? Interested in safer local streets in Boston & beyond? Congestion pricing can be part of the answer.

Glad to hear a state legislator talking about big ideas that can make a big impact. Don't like traffic? Frustrated that the T doesn't have the funding necessary for more reliable service? Interested in safer local streets in Boston & beyond? Congestion pricing can be part of the answer.

Love this video from @hankgreen.bsky.social about pennies, but really about Congress abandoning their responsibility to govern & opening the door for an authoritarian executive. Even if you agree we shouldn't have pennies (we shouldn't!) the president shouldn't just be able to do whatever he wants.

This is such a great point. Gradual change in a neighborhood becomes more evident on a bike or on foot. On the back of a bike my kids can count pumpkins on doorsteps in October or say hi to friends on the sidewalk or playground. Also easier to convince a parent to make a quick stop for a treat :-)

How about statewide triple deckahs by right? Four stories within 1/2 mile of a T stop or bus depot? Six with an IZ bonus?

Love this video from @hankgreen.bsky.social about pennies, but really about Congress abandoning their responsibility to govern & opening the door for an authoritarian executive. Even if you agree we shouldn't have pennies (we shouldn't!) the president shouldn't just be able to do whatever he wants.

Excited for the new children's bookstore opening up in the neighborhood!

Pessimistic report on housing in Greater Boston from @bostonfdn.bsky.social. When opportunities to build homes come up (like Chestnut Hill in Brookline) we have to grab them & approve quickly. And we need to set the table so new homes can be built fast, everywhere, when the economics allow for it.

If you see or are involved in a near miss in Brookline, please submit it to the Town via this near miss survey. The only way the Town will know the importance of creating safer bike & pedestrian infrastructure is to let them know about potential problems before they're major injuries or deaths.

Great historical look at how Brookline acquired the land for parking lots from Len Wholey (@nothingbutparking.bsky.social). (Spoiler: eminent domain that resulted in the loss of lots of homes.)

They better not go and shake that man’s hand while he’s kidnapping folks from the community that made them

How can you not be rooting for Vladdy and the Blue Jays?

Good read that also points out a practice that needs to end: "people like Merrick Garland think that they’re eschewing politics. The reality is the opposite: the careful avoidance of anything that appears political is itself a political act...intended to convey...that you are neutral & unbiased."

“The era of shoebox condos is over” in the Globe and Mail today - a feature on single stair: ”Yet with features such as sprinklers, smoke-sealed doors and more reliable fire alarm systems, mid-size apartment buildings can be just as safe...” www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/pe...

Been a while since I've posted this, but here's a list of over 100 accounts connected to Brookline, MA. If you're connected and not on this list, let me know so I can add you!

A huge thank you to all the families who joined our Pierce bike bus! It was a beautiful morning and everyone arrived at school safely. 🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️ Thanks also to folks from the Safe Routes to School task force, the Transportation Board, Biking Brookline, & Brookline Police - your help was indispensable!

honestly the only piece worth reading on the platner situation. @tressiemcphd.bsky.social is absolutely cooking here. (gift link)

"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness) As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)

The housing report from @bosindicators.bsky.social looks at the real progress that's been made on adding new homes in MA & a clear-eyed look at why this progress is unlikely to continue. We can't address some of the headwinds locally, but legalizing multifamily housing is a vital step we can take.

Excited that Boston is on the list for an inaugural @wpbl.bsky.social team! (Though the cross country travel schedule seems like it'll be a lot.)

Great dive into how much housing Boston / MA is building. Lots of variables to consider - borrowing costs, tariffs, labor costs/availability, restrictive zoning, long approvals, etc. We can't address some of these locally, but local policy reform can make a big impact. @bosindicators.bsky.social

A couple views from inside the crowd at #NoKings Boston.

The most Boston sticker art ever.

Fun piece recounting the history of a phenomenal venue. One of my favorite parts of living next door to a city like Boston is access to gems like this.

Can't wait for safe, protected bike lanes on Washington Street in Brookline. The safe street project can't come soon enough. Tired of drivers risking people's lives for their minor convenience.

There's never enough parking at Trader Joe's. @americanfietser.bsky.social #brookline

Great to see @abundanthousingma.org advocating that the Mayor use some of her political capital to push for substantive action on zoning reform and other efforts to increase housing supply in Boston.

Mind numbingly wonderful afternoon of Lego sorting, even if progress is slow and the end feels far away.

“A lot of times, we’re reluctant to change on really dumb things.” Many of the rules shaping what we can and can’t build today were written 50–60 years ago. If we want to meet Massachusetts’ modern housing needs, everything should be on the table for reform. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/05/o...