Zohran is going to kill the “YIMBYs and leftists are mortal enemies” idea and that alone will make the internet 23% less annoying to me personally. Big accomplishment.

Corridors are great but it can't be all we do! open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

“Survey after survey has shown that business owners overestimate how many customers drive to their stores vs walking or biking. In a 2012 Los Angeles study, more than half of the store owners on the bike-laned part of the boulevard thought most of their customers drove. The actual number was 15%.”

Downtown Burque ❤️

@strongtownsabq.bsky.social the city has a survey due 12/31 about traffic safety on Lead and Coal. Please complete it and share! www.cabq.gov/municipaldev...

Who needs a village when you can have parking lots?

Albuquerque’s housing shortage spills into jobs, small businesses, and our city’s future. When employers ask “Where will people live?” housing is the answer. Legalizing townhomes, duplexes & workforce homes strengthens our economy. forms.gle/MKnsWtWpzkAe...

Diane Alisa offers a very different perspective on Urbanism and planning than I'm generally used to. Has been an interesting read and provides a new way to think about our own suburbia here in #albuquerque open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

If you're not trans, I don't think I can fully explain how important this is. It's so powerful that one of the most circulated science media publications in the world has come out and said "trans children are real and providing transition care improves their lives." That's groundbreaking.

Young people want to stay in Albuquerque — but we’re running out of places we can afford. The Pro-Homes IDO amendments are a chance to fix that. Add your name to support more housing options, walkability, and a future in ABQ: 🔗 forms.gle/WDYc8UksspgD... #abq #albuquerque #housing

abqurbanist.substack.com/p/why-albuqu... When you lose sleep due to a dumb public meeting, write a 5am rant about it. ABQ City Councilors can/should ignore the NIMBYs

This is a funny critique for anybody who’s been active in the YIMBY movement for a while, because historically the knock on YIMBYs was that they’d uncritically boost anything, regardless of quality

23 years ago, Medina responded to a call that a troubled 14-year-old had taken refuge in a church with what turned out to be a BB gun. He shot the teen, ultimately fatally, and got to have 23 more years of a career afterwards. The kid would have been 37 this year, and ABQ has nonviolent response now

These people are living in retirement communities and don’t even know it. It’s incredible. Student enrollment has fallen off a cliff all over coastal communities. Marin county’s median age is as old as Japan!

A lady tonight at a zoning meeting in ABQ said that a proposal to legalize townhomes was like being r*ped

Traffic deaths are the predictable result of zoning that forces every trip to happen by car. As Stephanie Nakhleh writes, housing policy = transportation policy = safety policy. ABQ’s Pro-Homes amendments move us toward safer, walkable neighborhoods. Support them. Sign the open letter below

I wrote another substack rant open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

If you liberalize zoning, a lot of housing gets built. If a lot of housing gets built, housing costs taper off.

In 1978, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors downzoned the city, banning multifamily homes in many areas and sparking a decades-long affordability crisis. 47 years later, on a 7–4 vote, they passed the Family Zoning Plan to finally begin to undo that mistake. The times, they are a-changin’!

One of my old bosses liked to say about politics, "Are you trying to get what you want? Or are you trying to prove a point?" Let me tell you a story about my first job out of law school, at a left-leaning nonprofit in LA which shall remain nameless. 1/🧵

« Durant toute la réalisation de ce projet, à chaque choix, on se demandait si on en avait besoin ou si on savait faire avec moins » ...alors qu'ici j'ai l'impression q'avec chaque choix on se demande comment on pourrait gonfler davantage la facture... www.lapresse.ca/internationa...

This has to be in the top ten most important things ever said about left-side political movements. YIMBY/Abundance advocates have genuinely aspired to power and to victory in California. Many of our opponents have aspired mostly to be our critics.

As the Vision Zero Network turns 10, it's time to look at what works and what is achievable (a lot!).

Albuquerque next!!!

Opinion: Parking minimums are expensive and hamper new housing. A new law in Baltimore City is right to do away with them.

Patrick Martin breaks down how the Rail Runner could go from “good” to transformative with express trains, faster speeds, a Santa Fe bikeshare, and long-term electrification. A stronger, more connected New Mexico is possible. 🔗 www.strongtownsabq.org/blog/railrun...

quick explainer about why we get things we don’t want like car washes and storage units instead of starter housing in heavily land use restrictive places like Santa Fe

You can file a land use appeal in Santa Fe for $132 and tie up a development for years. It costs the public and raises the cost of housing. Colorado‘s judicial review reform bill (HB24-1107) makes appellants pay for the city’s legal fees if they lose- dissuading frivolous lawsuits sfnm.co/49SB8EU

Banning street hockey in Canada? This isn’t about protecting kids. It’s about protecting drivers from having to think about kids.

Being approached to help write/edit state level land use legislation is honestly humbling and cool as heck.

Erin from StrongTownsABQ joined KUNM to talk about why “free” parking isn’t free. Mandates raise housing costs, hurt businesses, and strain our environment. Ending parking minimums doesn’t end parking. It adds flexibility. Listen+sign our open letter to support reform. forms.gle/KxZkvkeSQW1g...

NIMBYs in ABQ are mobilizing against pro-homes proposals to amend the zoning code, even engaging in character attacks and misinformation. Sign the open letter in favor of pro-homes amendments to ABQ's zoning code and comment in favor in January. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Strong Towns ABQ turns 2! Join us Nov 19, 6PM at Homewise for our anniversary + November meeting. We’ll celebrate our wins, build community, and plan the next year of pushing for more homes, safer streets, and a stronger Albuquerque. Everyone’s welcome. #abq #albuquerque #strongtowns

Finally wrote about nimbyism, urbanism, and grief in ABQ open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

Republicans are throwing a tantrum because Californians stood up to Donald Trump's election-rigging scheme. Cry harder.

So pumped for @abqride.bsky.social to implement this. Just wishing we can expand our budget for late-night service AND some broader service expansions. ABQ gotta start thinking like the bigger city that it is

@beck280.bsky.social is the best!!! A great win for New Mexico, and therefore, the world. Loved seeing Tammy win too. Gotta keep progress going at the local level when so much elsewhere feels very stuck/bad. Now onto December 9th. Let's give ABQ a better council that can learn from Cruces 😎🦅

Prop 50 called at exactly 8pm and currently at 64%, California let’s fucking gooooooooo

Teresa Garcia for District 3!!! Let's goooooo! And let's put Stephanie Telles into the council for district 1, while we're at it!

I can't believe how the candidates for mayor of ABQ spent so much money to run. And half of them were like vanity runs

Brian Sanderoff just called a run off between Keller/White. Wish we had instant run-off, but time to go give Keller term 3!

folks we still got prop 50 coming in CA if you’re in line to lib out stay in line

[Exit Clown.]

Albuquerque can grow stronger from the ground up. Support zoning updates that legalize duplexes, townhomes, and cottage courts, allow tienditas & daycares, make casitas easier to build, and reduce wasteful parking mandates. ✍️ Add your name to our open letter: 👉 forms.gle/VdPgNrhBBy5b... #abq

Beautiful, simple, affordable! Note that these are illegal in ABQ, even if adapted to Southwestern styles and palettes, because most of the city both bans townhomes and limits height to 26feet. Both of these can be changed! Write your city councilor to support the pro-homes amendments to the IDO!<3

i do not understand why everyone (not just progressives) seems fixated on winning over actual reactionaries instead of like… people in the middle of the spectrum who dont like nazi symbolism and sincerely believe that they are not a racist and racism is bad

Yo Las Cruces!!! Make sure you go vote for Becky Corran!!! Very few public servants in New Mexico as committed to solving our issues by focusing on upstream issues, equity, outcomes, and actually pulling through! #lascruces #newmexico #nmpol

🍻 Strong Towns ABQ Social Hour! Join us Thurs, Nov 6 • 6–8PM • Sidetrack Brewing Urbanist? YIMBY? Budget nerd? Road safety advocate? Or just curious about building a stronger Albuquerque? Come hang out, connect, and talk city-building over a drink. #StrongTownsABQ #strongtowns #YIMBY #abq

✅ Thanks to your letters & public comments, the Planning Commission just passed major pro-homes reforms—legalizing duplexes, cottage courts, tienditas & more. Now it’s on to City Council—let’s keep the momentum going. ✍️ Sign & share our open letter: forms.gle/KAVm8GUuLcmr... #abq #albuquerque