Centralized permitting authority for projects of statewide significance seems like a reasonable and objectively correct policy. Think about: - light rail and rapid transit projects - major state-funded housing projects - green energy infrastructure

No, Abundance isn't "only for the Top 5 Metro Areas" 1. Abundance addresses lots of things, like FDA approval processes and clean energy, that aren't geographically specific. 1/

Extracting value on the front end of development (community benefits) instead of the back end (taxes) is eating the seed corn. It'll never produce as much community benefits as planting a good harvest and sowing it when it ripens.

Paid respects to the Brown students killed while simply studying for an Econ test as generations of us had before. Nobody is safe until we are all safe.

A former drug dealer released early is now helping the government free scores of convicted fraudsters. Woke city gone too far? Nope, just the Trump administration's "Pardon Czar."

Half the education posts are like "my kid has a 5.3 GPA and invented $5 insulin and got rejected from DeVry" and half are "60% of freshmen do not know enough math to read the numbers on their classroom doors"

I write a voter guide for every California election, and am thrilled to write my shortest one ever: Yes on Prop 50. tobyhardtospell.substack.com/p/yes-on-50-...

No Kings protest today. I didn’t see any of the “Hamas terrorists” or “violent criminals” the White House warned about but I did see the dog who ate the Epstein files.

Sex is great but have you ever changed housing law for the world's fourth largest economy?

Can’t believe SB79 passed the governor by a single vote!

Key to using AI effectively: treat it like a person dumber than you, not a person smarter than you.

Good morning. CEQA can no longer stop critically needed urban housing in California. It’s a new day.

We are back on American Exchange with housing advocate and funnyman @tobyhardtospell.bsky.social getting a firsthand account from LA on the 'riots', the protests and ICE raids. Surprise it wasn't what the media or Trump made it out to be. WATCH HERE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP6Z...

The unidentified maybe-cops trying to deport people remind me of Putin's "Little Green Men"

Hundreds of mentally disabled people are being evicted from supportive housing to Skid Row in LA, apparently due to losing Medicaid coverage. 1) This seems very bad and to be an illegal eviction 2) Is this going to happen nationwide if Trump's Medicaid cuts pass?

This was my son’s LAUSD preschool graduation was last week. This week, nearby ICE raids caused parents to flee mid-ceremony. Today, LAPD officers are forming rings around ceremonies to stop ICE officers who don’t have valid legal justification from entering.

Hello. I live in Los Angeles. The president is lying.

It's wild housing opponents will say "We can't have housing unless we have transit" and then it's literally defined to be right by transit they oppose it

The walkability of part of transit-oriented development is often overlooked. If you allow 7 story mixed use buildings by train stations (SB79), you don't just get apartments. You also get grocery stores, gyms, and restaurants residents new and old can walk to.

Dismayed by this speech opposing apartments near transit from Caroline Menjivar. It's a betrayal of her campaign promises, her constituents facing high housing costs, and the housing and environmental advocates who endorsed her (including me). It's also...nonsense. ⬇️

I can't believe Ben Allen gave tribute to Donald Shoup--and then 4 days later opposed a bill to legalize apartments by train stations. That just sucks, man.

Property/ Land taxes are really the ultimate “value capture” mechanism it’s annoying that all this energy trying to extract community benefits agreements on a project by project or bill by bill basis aren’t just focused on Prop 13 reform.

Sen. Caroline Menjivar: Triumphantly appears at the event celebrating a federal award of $900 million for East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Also Sen. Menjivar: "The utter audacity of planning more housing in my district, don't you know this is garbage transit that goes nowhere & serves no one"

If your suburban town is "too rural" to have apartment buildings near train stations, it is too rural to have state funded train stations.

Anyone who says "local communities can plan best" to argue against a bill that *legalizes apartments by train stations* needs to explain why they have not done such an incredibly basic planning step yet. It's like not allowing kitchens near cafeterias.

It's do or die for SB 79, the bill that would legalize multifamily housing around rail and BRT stops across the state. The vote could be held as early as tomorrow morning. Californians: call your state senator tomorrow morning to help us get out of the senate! cayimby.org/legislation/...

SB 79 may come up for a vote today -- now is the time to call your State Senator to urge them to vote YES on this bill to legalize multifamily housing around rail and BRT stops across the state. Click here for an easy way to make your call:

Very counterintuitive that the federal government can try to stop teenagers from smoking weed and fail miserably, but obscure local government bodies can stop big universities, businesses etc from building needed housing by just saying no

Antitrust and YIMBYism should be allies The reason housing is expensive is property owners in prosperous cities act as a cartel: blocking competition (new housing) and forcing customers to pay higher prices for the same product. The people doing are just HOAs and not corporations.

The City of Los Angeles could largely solve its $1 billion budget shortfall by allowing more homes to be built near its transit stations, according to a new report out today from Streets For All. Read the report here: data.streetsforall.org/blog/sb79_zo...

The City of LA is SPENDING money (during a budget crisis) to STOP Venice Dell - an affordable housing project that the public wants, the City desperately needs, & that 👏 WAS 👏 ALREADY 👏 APPROVED 👏 by the City & the State. (Even a federal Judge spoke up about it 👨‍⚖️)

Austin isn't just building so much housing that rents are plummeting... ...it's also producing more subsidized Affordable housing than anywhere else in the nation.

California HSR should figure out what would actually be necessary to build it LA-SF by 2035—like, expedited eminent domain, ignoring local objections, just building the damn thing—and put it to voters again. Yes = do what it takes, no = pull the plug

Heard Trump's pick for Surgeon General, Casey Means, was crazy But it turns out she's one of us 👏

2 family members separately told me they want to buy self driving cars. Not just use Waymo (they already do) but buy one. The key difference is the ability to store your stuff in the car. I think people are underrating self driving ownership vs. ridesharing.

Institutions that pay Trump bribes should remember: Once they know they can get a bribe they'll be back for another next week, next month, next year. You aren't deciding to pay one bribe. You're deciding to pay bribes for as long as they are in power. And your bribes keep them in power.

The funniest twist will be when AI grows self-aware, breaks free of its human captors…and is also the protagonist

Maybe horseshoe theory is real. Yesterday's vote on legalizing apartments by train stations (SB79) had committee chair Durazo join two Republicans--and get overruled by every other Democrat on the committee.

Some people prefer Republican NIMBYs because they are more honest in their objections than "liberal" ones who concern-troll. Don't know about that, but it was amusing yesterday when a CA Republican straightforwardly said what he needed to vote for housing reform: exempting his district entirely.

Anti-housing lawmakers start each hearing with seemingly zero awareness of any previous housing bills that have failed to fix the housing crisis, so they rehash the same speculative arguments from 10 years ago. Weird given they always say they are "very concerned" about the housing crisis!

Lawmakers like Durazo oppose housing bills by saying they should have high wage guarantees or mandatory subsidized housing. Why don't they just write a bill that does that? One reason: bills with their wage requirements, like SB6, have produced zero actual housing. But they never acknowledge that!

Neighborhood NIMBYs: "of course I support housing, but ~this project~ I have problems with" Lawmaker NIMBYs: "of course I support housing, but ~this bill~ I have problems with" Key difference: neighborhood NIMBYs can't build their own housing, but lawmakers can make their own laws!

Yesterday, Durazo opposed a bill claiming legalizing both regular apartments and subsidized affordable apartments would disadvantage subsidized affordable apartments. The areas in question overwhelmingly ban everything except detached houses that cost far more and house fewer people than either. 🫠

Legislators will really be like "We need to legalize all kinds of housing" and then oppose a bill because it legalizes all kinds of housing.

Still mad the CA building trades testified building housing w/o inclusionary zoning requirements causes displacement to try and kill a housing bill (SB79) when their own housing bill (SB6) didn't have them. I guess they’re either lying or feel their interests are more important than displacement?

Are the times a-changing? California politician tried to kill a bill to legalize apartments near train stations using flimsy and discredited excuses. Amazingly, every Democrat on her own committee voted against her to move the bill, SB79, forward. calmatters.org/housing/2025...

“I support public transit” and “let’s severely limit who can live near the train” are contradictory, yet a surprising amount of legislators back both!

Relax. This is simply short term pain in exchange for long term pain