A condo in a building where all my friends also live and that has one of those sweet central courtyards where everyone can hang out is not too much to ask in this life, is all I am saying!

Great thread, as usual, from @dieworkwear.bsky.social.

Fantastic explainer on why policies to legalize more housing of all types, in all neighborhoods, is vital to making housing, and life in general, more affordable. @justineunderhill.bsky.social does a great job explaining the theory, research, and responses to common critiques.

Brookline and other municipalities could plan for steady new growth that offsets Prop 2.5 via zoning reform but choose not to do so.

First game of the season. Cold night, but I'm getting used to April at Fenway. Red Sox vs. Brewers.

Great Brookline Village multifamily building. This should be legal to build, at baseline, anywhere within a 10 min walk of a transit stop or high capacity bus stop. 12 homes on 6k sq ft, 84 homes per acre. It's good climate policy, affordability policy, transit policy, public health policy, & more.

We have to address the rampant running of red lights in order to make our communities safer. Anywhere that has pedestrian walk signals needs red light cameras to protect pedestrians, bikers, and other cars. I easily see 10+ cars run lights every time I bike in to work. Many quite egregiously.

Just listened to an amazing, contemplative, unexpected story of curiosity, memory, wonder, and bugs. Lots of layers, lots to think about, and a rare break from *everything* that doesn't feel frivolous. Listen to the original on @signalhillfm.bsky.social, and thank you @annierosenthal.bsky.social.

Raising parking ticket fees is important to try to actually change behavior. Impeding snow removal should be a costly choice. Overstaying a parking meter undermines parking space mgmt. Overnight parking is rampant, but at $25 per violation w/spotty enforcement, it's cheaper than renting a spot.

Wow. @anginedepoitrine.bsky.social

Sports are awesome. Great story. 🧵

it's fun to see that our neighbors in south brookline simultaneously oppose new construction AND paying for town and school services. nice! I propose that you can pick at most one :) preferably neither! [[from the 2023 override vote]]

As we in #Brookline begin the discussion over this override, this is the shape of the debate:

@drkath.bsky.social: "Brookline needs more housing, and the project at 26 Pleasant St. is a great way to accomplish this: It will add 103 apartments including 15 income-restricted affordable units"

"This actually makes the politics of getting people to accept more housing incredibly difficult because it is an awful political slogan to say, 'Let's build more housing so price increases aren't as high as they would've been if we hadn't built as much housing" Can confirm, good god can I confirm

Check out Luc Schuster's piece in @cwbeacon.bsky.social making the case that while the MBTA Communities law was a meaningful first step, Massachusetts will need stronger, more focused policies to truly align housing growth with transit and solve the housing crisis.

Glad to see automated traffic enforcement being taken seriously by the state. Seems like Sen Brownsberger has included some reasonable safeguards. The reality is that I see at least 1, if not 2 or 3, cars run reds at nearly every intersection during my commutes. This needs to be enforced at scale.

Just listened to an amazing, contemplative, unexpected story of curiosity, memory, wonder, and bugs. Lots of layers, lots to think about, and a rare break from *everything* that doesn't feel frivolous. Listen to the original on @signalhillfm.bsky.social, and thank you @annierosenthal.bsky.social.

A story of promising, yet modest, zoning reform in Newton, MA. Examples at a small scale like this are great opportunities to expand the policy to other communities. People love neighborhood villages; we can seed more if we can build housing at this scale in new places. @amydain.bsky.social

A really nice break from reality for a couple hours. #JazzMandolinProject

A really nice break from reality for a couple hours. #JazzMandolinProject

Really excited the Olympics are happening. Find a way to watch an event or two. So many great stories, so much phenomenal talent. Watching people be amazing is fun.

Phenomenal performance.

People want places to congregate & want walkable neighborhoods. We should absolutely make it easy to build cafe's in residential areas. It can add so much to a neighborhood, bring folks together, & boost tax revenue to the community. We need to get way more comfortable mixing uses in our places.

Good way to wrap up Martin Luther King Jr Day in 2026.

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 :-)