Bass speaking here kind of reminds me of that Matt Christman clip that went viral a few years back about “Zen Fascism” Bass doesn’t get why Raman is an earnest reformer, these objections to Raman’s candidacy read like “Why are you upset? We’re on the same team? Why don’t you just enjoy yourself?”

the yard sign juxtaposition has also been cited by writers, researchers, etc. www.mercatus.org/macro-musing...

Planners only want one thing and it's disgusting.

My sad, neglected neighborhood

ABQ Ride is in a bad place, and Carlos unpacks how do many of its issues are due to a clear lack of political ownership and leadership. He goes deep ⬇️⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/cmichele...

Why is Los Angeles spending millions of dollars fighting to block affordable housing during a housing crisis? We have the highest rent burdened population in America, the result of years of decisions motivated by politics rather than the needs of Angelenos. That ends when I’m mayor.

Based

It’s inaccurate to say Mario is brave and Luigi is cowardly Luigi is afraid of death, so he runs away from danger. Mario is afraid of living, so he runs towards death. Both brothers are cowards in their own way

@strongtowns.org wrote about Albuquerque Rapid Transit, and they didn't do their research. I explore what went wrong with the article and why ART is far more of a Strong Towns aligned project than many may think open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

So denser housing subsidizes lower density housing, & keeps taxes artificially low for the same low density home owners that ironically commonly protest against that higher density housing in their neighbourhood. It’s not surprising that people can be hypocritical. But they should be called on it.

Working on a post about a recent Chuck Marohn article that got a lot wrong on Albuquerque Rapid Transit - but while I scaffold that, figured I'd share older writing about the ART from 2023 that I did for Urban ABQ. ART is good, actually!! open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

The Final Judgement Oil on canvas, 1912

An amazing write-up that connects all the things together. Zoning, voting …it is all about who gets to say who “we” are. 💙🔥🙏

“We just can’t stand for that.” From duplexes to democracy, Albuquerque’s politics of scarcity is holding the city back. reimaginingalbuquerque.com/2026/04/14/r... #abq #albuquerque

California: cities need to plan for new housing. NIMBYs: we don’t want any change in our neighborhoods and we don’t want to displace any tenants so let’s rezone to put all the new housing capacity on commercial corridors. Planners: you got it. NIMBYs: wait no we need to save our small businesses!

Advocates against free fare transit often point to the idea that it degrades the social view of transit by making it an object of welfare and not utility, and thus also subject to the whims of govt, susceptible to service cuts and bad service. Now ABQ Ride, a free service, is facing large cuts 🙃

But let's be honest: there's a large cadre that basically cheers on chasing off any lib/centrist/academic who's the punchbag of the day. There's a culture of saying "fuck off back to X, then". And the anti- bedtime leftists set too much of the culture.

I tend to get dogpiled every time I say this but: as someone *who likes bluesky and benefits from being here* we have a problem. The network is shrinking, not growing. It's shrinking a lot: only about 1.1m people a day even like a post. This time last year it was 1.6m.

"There are almost no newsrooms aimed primarily at an audience under 50. That seems unlikely to end well for anyone, least of all society itself." open.substack.com/pub/thenewwo...

📝 Today's daily dose of condo math comes from CA: Home deposit reform (AB 1406) + construction defect reform (AB 1903) = more home choices near amenities.

So-called “inclusionary zoning” is bad policy that worsens the problems it is supposed to address. If cities want new apartment buildings to include units set aside for poor people, they should pay for the necessary subsidies.

I hate this shit so much. My family rents, and we are also people! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/b...

Yapping about the #abq nimbys, this one in particular Pete Dinelli, a former mayoral candidate and city councilor. open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

Wrote a little bit about how #Albuquerque and #ABQRide are ready for late-night transit service. All we need is political will with good leadership and planning open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

slopulism generator: Eliminate *spins wheel* Sales Tax *throws dart* for Teachers *draws card* on DoorDash

NEW VIDEO youtu.be/uiGIbdrQjbI?...

Albuquerque mentioned!!! Great nuanced video on free fares. Touches on a few issues, explores Albuquerque a bit, and how we have poor service (like, why in the world did Mamdani cite US as an example??). We need ABQ to put tons of attention into transit.

Good morning. Someone is always going to make money on housing. Personally, I think it is better for developers to make money building new homes for people to live in than for landlords and homeowners to continue getting rich off of artificial housing scarcity.

My latest blog entry is about Albuquerque's Neighborhood Association Recognition Ordinance and its unusually quirks that make NAs exceedingly powerful in abq, while having standing on issues that can have citywide implications open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

The trend shift in adults per family household is so insane. its even more insane that every important policymaker and economist thought we were slowly soaking up a glut of homes even into the 2010s. And it’s even more insane that there are still supply-crisis skeptics today.

Lots to say about antirenter prejudice, how it serves to bundle & obscure deeper biases re race & class & age, and about the electoral assumptions required for a councilor of a majority renter city to take this stance, but the thing I keep coming back to is just: what an absolute dick thing to say

American planning in a nutshell: building apartments in a wealthy neighborhood? You need special permission and must rent 20% of them at a loss to poor people. Combining 10 apartments into a mansion for one extremely rich family? By-right process, no subsidized housing requirement, and a tax break.

If we don’t build housing to solve homelessness, we don’t really want to solve homelessness. #UrbanTruth

We’re now at 150% AMI for housing programs in New Mexico. In higher i come counties this is well into 6-figure incomes. It’s bonkers. The worst part is we’re already seeing funding pulled away from the lowest income/hardest to serve folks.

Didn't realize an individual making >$100k can now qualify for deed-restricted moderate income housing in SF. We should build a ton of market-rate housing so that we can spend our finite time and affordable housing subsidies on people who are genuinely low income. media.api.sf.gov/documents/20...

open.substack.com/pub/abqurban... Advocates that asked for home types to be legalized in Albuquerque were told to "learn from our elders" at City Council last week. Here's some of what I learned.

I think it's Portland too that is starting to actively fund IZ and showing that when a city goes that and actually takes responsibility for its needs, it can unlock a ton of potential, help, and development without unnecessarily burdening other renters. There's no free lunch but u can do big things!

So-called “inclusionary zoning” acts as a tax on new housing by requiring home builders to sell or rent a %age of the new homes at a loss. Without funding, IZ only “works” when the market price of new housing is significantly higher than construction costs. I am glad to see Oregon rolling it back.

In a sane timeline, this sentence alone would be the end of this guy’s career.

Council President Klarissa Peña being begged by councilor telles to make casitas easier to build, after sharing how she couldn't build one for her mom with dementia. Peña wouldn't look at her colleague. She voted against making Casitas easier to build in ABQ.

A city councilor called me "the youth" at the city council tonight????

🚨 TONIGHT: City Council votes on pro-homes IDO amendments (O-26-2). Duplexes. Townhomes. Casitas. Safe Outdoor Spaces. More neighbors, more opportunity. Your voice matters — sign up to speak by 4pm 👇 www.cabq.gov/council/find... Show up. Bring a friend. Let’s build a stronger ABQ. #ABQ

Five reasons to support the pro-homes IDO amendments (O-26-2): 🏡 Middle housing 💸 Affordability 🤝 Tools to address homelessness 🌎 Sustainability 📍 Supporting local builders & families City Council needs to hear from you — sign up to speak 👇 www.cabq.gov/council/find... #ABQ #Albuquerque #Housing

Lots of reasons free-fare works or doesn't work for cities, or reasons for cities to adopt it or move away from it. None of those reasons or substantial debate would ever come from this white house.

A beloved workers' rights organizer in Minnesota, known for *successfully* fighting against wage theft and labor trafficking, has been detained by federal immigration agents and is now locked up in New Mexico. His family is calling for his urgent release. inthesetimes.com/article/work...

Wrote another blog post open.substack.com/pub/abqurban...

The status quo isn't just unaffordable, it's boring. Restrictive zoning blocks the charm and variety that makes houses feel more like homes. 🌹

I'll be there! Commenting is easy and less anxiety-inducing than you think. Ask me about it if you'd like! And let's tell the world ABQ actually wants to fix its issues, be a welcoming place for everyone, and be a more sustainable steward of our land ♥️

Albuquerque showed up. At the first LUPZ hearing on the pro-homes IDO amendments, 38 people spoke in support, more than double the opposition. A broad, citywide coalition made the case for practical, incremental housing reform. More to come. #abq #albuquerque #strongtowns #yimby #nmtrue