“From 2021 through 2024, #Portland permitted some 2,200 units like Moore’s — townhomes, duplexes and similar homes that are sometimes referred to as the “missing middle” between single-family homes and big apartment complexes. Over the same period, #SanFrancisco permitted about a sixth of that.”

Correction: @emilymoore.bsky.social points out that #WALeg passed more allowances this year, which may influence the cap amount.

It'll also be the basis for a lot of my own work for @sightline.org in 2026: making cities more accessible, age-friendly, fiscally healthy and grocery-bag-ready by removing the cost and legal barriers to elevators. This is now an elevator stan account. You have been warned.

The Americas see about 3% of global elevator installations as of 2020. The U.S. & Canada: even less. But we've stuck with our own unique set of elevator codes, as if elevator companies still have no choice but to beat a path to our door. Nope! "Everywhere else" is a bigger common market now.

2026 comes with shiny new policy! Here's what we're excited about kicking in on Jan. 1 (or later in the new year) in Cascadia. 🪩✨ First up: Washington's carbon cap, outlined in the Climate Commitment Act, will tighten about 7% at midnight.

⚡2025 has been the biggest year for pro-housing wins in a generation! ⚡ WNN members worked hard to win campaigns across the nation. Let’s review a few trends that shaped this year ⬇️

Over $500 million in funding that likely would have been allocated to sustainable transportation and clean energy programs will instead be used to backfill an existing tax credit under Washington Governor Bob Ferguson's budget package. Story: www.theurbanist.org/2025/12/29/f...

YAY! IT’S PREMIERE DAY: Please tune in today, Friday, December 19th, at 2 pm EST, for a conversation with Anna Zivarts aka @nondriver.bsky.social about her new venture, along with Ruth Rosas, the Non-Drivers Alliance, and for a recap of the 2025 Week Without Driving Challenge youtu.be/5fcBpdyrS0c

"WA’s climate ambitions hang on poles and wires. Electric transmission lines make it possible to carry cheap, efficient, reliable power from solar fields in CA or wind farms in MT to the people in Washington who rely on it every day" #WALeg @Sightline.org www.sightline.org/2025/12/18/h...

Excited to add @sightline.org to this coalition letter declaring it "unacceptable that it costs up to five times more in the United States than in Europe to build and maintain an elevator" & advancing specific solutions. Your org should probably join too! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

WA needs poles and wires in the ground, fast. State leaders can step up by creating a transmission authority, removing redundancies in project approval processes, focusing enviro analysis, and other recs from @emilymoore.bsky.social and @ktrumbull.bsky.social

“Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on Ranked Choice Voting” In this study, we assess the quality/credibility of 41 different studies on RCV. A number of misleading studies, including by well-known political scientists, fall well short of real "science" democracysos.substack.com/p/shaky-poli...

Climate change primed Washington state for historic flooding

Why has Portland been able to do what San Francisco can’t? Bc of years of "big tent" organizing by @pnwelcome.bsky.social @1000oregon.bsky.social + lots more. by @xianleonard.bsky.social for @sfchronicle.com

The math problem has a simple solution: #RankedChoiceVoting in a top-two primary: www.sightline.org/2025/11/11/w...

@oregoncapitalchronicle.com @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social

Climate migration is difficult to study, and even harder to predict, because a complex constellation of factors guides the decision to pick up and move. But some experts say a historic population shift has already begun, and Western Washington should start preparing now to become a “climate haven.”

Evacuations were underway on Thursday as flooding intensified in the Pacific Northwest as the region endured what could be some of its worst flooding in decades. nyti.ms/44Y4Rcb

Q: What’s no taller than a grown tree and could actually get built this decade? A: Neighborhood-scale apartments.

A reminder that hydrogen is a bad bet.

From Jonathan Shorman: Across the United States, voting by mail faces a moment of uncertainty ahead of the midterm elections next year. https://stateline.org/2025/12/09/voting-by-mail-faces-uncertain-moment-ahead-of-midterm-elections/

Single stair code changes coming to @cityofvancouver.bsky.social council today. It’s been several years of work getting to this point. It’s not everything that I’d want but it’s a good first step, with external single stairs and low/mid rise scissor stairs as entirely new housing options.

this is why we need affordable elevators, single stair codes, and development reform that will faciltate small-plexes! @alexis4seattle.bsky.social @staterepjuliareed.bsky.social @davina425.bsky.social

If you're wondering why @sightline.org is working to legalize the quirky housing type known as mobile dwelling units, please watch this presentation by @citizen-cate.bsky.social. Nothing beats MDUs for flexible, low-cost homes for people in all kinds of life situations. tvw.org/video/house-...

Last year, a New York man ran for Congress as a Democrat in Alaska... from prison... and got 3,500 votes. AK, CA, and WA each let any candidate claim any party on the ballot, but they *don’t* allow parties to claim their nominees.

Build up your 'brary with $6.99 e-books from @islandpress.bsky.social until Dec. 19. Some of our favorites from the Sightline-verse: Building for People: Designing Livable, Affordable, Low-Carbon Communities by @holz-bau.bsky.social

People who live in countries with #ProportionalRepresentation report being happier than those who don’t. This isn't a new development either. We have been saying this since 2021! Read more: rankthevote.us/countries-wi...

This is why CA needs ranked top two. They're susceptible to the same misfire glitch as WA state: www.sightline.org/2025/11/11/w... From @politicalpolls.bsky.social⬇️

Upgrading houses, condos, and apartments with efficient appliances, solar panels, and batteries could create enough capacity to meet the rising electricity demand of large data centers over the next five years. @rewiringamerica.bsky.social

it passed unanimously last night! 🎊 - 3-4 story apartments will be more widely legal, esp. on smaller lots in neighborhoods already served by roads/pipes - builders will have new incentives for accessible & affordable homes - OR will have the first statewide model zoning code in the nation

After Portland made improvements in 2024 (FUNDED, finally www.sightline.org/2024/10/28/t...), the program is starting to work as intended. New data shows projects are no longer underbuilding to avoid the mandate:

"If you want candidates who come from outside the system and aren’t puppets of big donors and corrupt political machines, then you should get behind the nonpartisan movement to publicly finance the elections in your community, your state, and your country." @davidsirota.com @thenation.com

Sluggish transmission projects inflate electricity bills and strand renewable energy. @Sightline.org www.sightline.org/2025/11/20/t...

"the new housing production rules would make Oregon the first US state or Canadian province to create a model statewide zoning code and then apply that statewide code to cities underperforming their peers." www.sightline.org/2025/12/03/n...

Today, 2.5 years after an OR bill promised “transformational” changes to state housing policy, the new OHNA rules get a vote. @andersem.bsky.social breaks down what’s inside the blueprint: www.sightline.org/2025/12/03/n...

Tomorrow, Oregon is poised to approve the nation's first statewide model zoning code + become the first state to make it mandatory in cities that underperform their peers on housing production www.sightline.org/2025/12/03/n...

Snow is melting faster in 99% of burn areas - bad news for forest health but especially for farms, cities and species downstream. By @mitchtobin.bsky.social for @insideclimatenews.org

Come hear my brilliant @sightline.org colleague @trufahey.bsky.social share new research on how to talk about parking reform! This Wednesday afternoon, 12/3, w @dpherriges.bsky.social @jamalraad.bsky.social @parkingreform.org

The U.S. ties rents in regulated-affordable apartments to average income. So when avg incomes rise, rents in subsidized buildings do too. Portland's rental vacancy rate has been 8% for 2 years. That's kept market rents flat. Combine those: an affordable home is barely cheaper than a market one.

Fall Fund Drive ends today! This #GivingTuesday, power work that will last for generations. Help us hit our goal: Sightline.org/Fall-Fund-Drive

This morning's top headline, from @conorswanson.bsky.social @seattletimes.com: A new dashboard of the 3,600+ projects funded by WA's CCA. (Subscribe to News Picks here: sightline.org/newsletters/)

“… one of the things that immediately jumped off the page for me when I was reading your book is the fact that, by square footage, there is more housing for each car in this country than there is housing for each person.” www.npr.org/transcripts/...

On Friday, join @parkingreform.org and @strongtowns.org in the #BlackFridayParking tradition of documenting vacant spots on the biggest shopping day of the year. If there's even unused parking when demand is at its peak, why are we saddling our cities with all this asphalt 365 days a year?

Cascadians want cleaner, more reliable, more affordable energy. Help us rise to the challenge? sightline.org/Fall-Fund-Drive

Good news: New data suggest that Portland's inclusionary zoning program is finally working as intended, after being fully funded in 2024 www.sightline.org/2025/11/25/p...

The lesson: mandatory inclusionary zoning really has to be funded for it to work.

From 2017 - 2024, #PortlandOR’s inclusionary zoning program wasn’t working. “The city had ordered that at least 10% of new apartments be affordable,” writes @andersem.bsky.social, “but it turned out that 10% of a small number was also a small number.”

This year, Shannon helped renew Seattle's pioneering Democracy Voucher Program, which will continue to curb the electoral influence of big money for the next 10 years. That's good news for our mission — and for Seattle. ☝️ Join us: sightline.org/fall-fund-drive

"Only Serious Candidates, Please" Alan Durning from @sightline.org proposes commonsense reform. By raising signature requirements and/or filing fees for candidates,voters will enjoy electoral choice w/o having to sift through non-serious pretender candidates democracysos.substack.com/p/commonsens...