Happy Fourth of July, New York City

Moved into an ADU this week. Set up a space that I've been dreaming about for a while.

Ironically, because of California's building code freeze through 2031, it could soon be the only state imposing a dual-stair requirement as low as three stories. The legislature and/or the governor need to act!

Hey, during my sabbatical I made a podcast! It’s a one-shot miniseries about what happened after the world’s most ambitious upzoning campaign won. Here’s the trailer; episodes coming weekly all through June & July. You can subscribe on Apple/Spotify/etc. rss.com/podcasts/yim...

What is the story of this fourplex typology that seems to be all over the Sacramento grid?

Cats Can Have Little a Salami as a treat

What no one ever considers is: What if "investing in Red America" is just politically hopeless? Can we maybe, for once, invest in blue America instead?

Gaining access to a multibillion dollar transit system that provides direct access to an international airport, professional sports arenas, and some of the world's most valuable companies while only adding 122 residents should be a crime

I am paying $1750 a month for a new two bedroom, 850 sq ft apartment in a walkable neighborhood that is walking distance from my office and two blocks from a large city park. Is this replicable anywhere else in the state?

This is crying out for the state legislature to pass a bill adopting the 2027 IBC’s four-story single-stair allowance

Sacramento (the city itself, not the legislature) has been doing the most when it comes to YIMBY reforms, and it’s working.

Okay I know everyone is talking about the supreme court and obviously that is bigger news but this news could be really big for road safety in Sacramento. I have logged 91 dead people in a traffic death spreadsheet since 2024 so this is meaningful to me www.sacbee.com/news/local/t...

But this isn't done! We need strong support to get this across the finish line. Fill out the city's survey to show your support for lots of housing (including 3/4 stories) in your back yard! www.cityofsacramento.gov/community-de...

🚨🚨🚨 BIG NEWS! BULK CONTROL IS (ALMOST) DEAD. housesac.substack.com/p/the-promis...

A shockingly close call on how to read plain English in the first sentence of a constitutional amendment.

Michael Tubbs, founder of End Poverty in California, makes the case for AB 1903 - construction defect reform: www.golden-state.org/one-law-is-k...

The ghost of Howard Jarvis rules over this state with an iron fist. And Jon Coupal clings to Jarvis’ corpse. With Buffy Wicks’ leadership, we can come together and deliver the blow to chop zombie Jarvis’ head clean off.

I'm the author of ACA 22. I'm also adamantly opposed to it. That deserves an explanation – so I want to tell you what went down w/the ACA, and the fight over transfer taxes & the Taxpayer Protection Act. 👇

nothing gives me the ick as much as people who refuse to drink tap water potable water on demand for a price so low that it is functionally free is one of the greatest achievements of mankind

Been working through this @urbaninstitute.bsky.social brief. Super important. www.urban.org/research/pub...

My pessimistic runs in the opposite direction! YIMBYism seems unstoppable, while no real popular or elite movement has built for transit. Instead even our largest cities only have transit cargo cults, which build transit-shaped abominations (ESA, PABT, 5x cost Subway extensions, RLX, “light rail”).

Took a Wheel of Time break after finishing Fires of Heaven last week. Reading Perilous Bounty by @tomphilpott.bsky.social getting through the CA section, most of which I already know, but looking forward to the Midwest part. Always fun to think about the ARkStorm, especially as a CA homeowner.

we all make jokes about how woke 1 went too far but woke 1 was extremely, absolutely correct about how much these people were dogwhistling, absolutely correct about the direction they were going in, absolutely correct that how their beliefs were not compatible with a free society

This is a crazy story

Kind of a funny bit in r/Sacramento where a post praises the NYC rent freeze only for someone to point out the rent peaked in 2022 and has dropped every year since. The status quo in Sacramento is literally better than a rent freeze! Rents down almost double digits in real terms!

YIMBYism works

The best time to listen to Buffy trying to save the state was last year; the second best time is now

Just missed an A Line train and have now been waiting for 20 minutes for the next one. This the third E Line train that’s come. Welcome to the developing world, Euros.

My thoughts on the emerging unified progressive politics of housing, as inspired by an excellent conversation with @flojaune.bsky.social that you should definitely watch. @sacyimby.bsky.social housesac.substack.com/p/is-the-lef...

125 years ago. Get with the times, Caltrans. “Superpower” by Russell Gold @calelectricrail.org

@xavierbecerra.bsky.social please… don’t look away now.

Latest amends to the proposed Affordable Housing Bond in the state leg moves money away from building new affordable housing and towards down payment assistance lmao

Do you ever feel like Proctor & Gamble bamboozled an entire generation of Americans into thinking a markedly worse product was somehow better than a good old fashioned mop and bucket?

Okay this is the kind of World Cup content I’ve been waiting for.

Okay only World Cup adjacent but we count those.

DOUTHAT: Let's be honest -- the tone of the administration is not consistently a Christian tone. There is a tone of aggressive uncharity JD VANCE: Tonal arguments are ways of, frankly, policing working class ways of communication, and covering them in elite preferences

Remember when we had a real President who actually negotiated real deals that had real benefits for the U.S.?

Let’s discuss an org called Firefighter Air Coalition (FAC) and how it reflects a contrived safety-need-to-profitable-monopoly pipeline common in fire code. fFAC’s address? PyroChem, a Johnson Controls subsidiary. JCI happens to make the very expensive FARS system this "nonprofit" advocates for.

My colleague @jmooreotto.bsky.social is in @ifp.bsky.social’s Transit Cost Playbook. He argues for replacing discretionary grant financing for transit projects with federal loans! The current regime shreds state planning capacity due to intermittent and capricious funding. ifp.org/loans-can-st...

New Tommy B polo. IslandZone please.

One of the greatest gadflies to ever do it (Dan Allison, gettingaroundsac)

Housing Twitter from 2016-2021 was cuckoo bananas. You could just full-ass bait labor leaders, state senators, and journos into a flame war by asking shit like “How much is your home worth?” Or “When exactly did you move to this neighborhood you’re speaking for?”

We have work to do

Trump DOJ dropped another 'this med school is doing a reverse racism!' report on Wednesday it says UC Davis Med "became the third most racially diverse medical school in the country, behind only historically black universities" in 2024 apparently that's illegal? ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics...

148 homes/acre in Copenhagen, Denmark vs. 130 homes/acre in Walnut Creek.

I will support any primary challenger to Adam Schiff who does not wear dress sneakers.

Put a lot of work into this over the last few months. Very excited. www.forbes.com/sites/markjo...

Angelenos are frustrated right now. I'm frustrated right now. That's why I decided to run. If it feels like the mayor isn't listening, drags her feet, and isn't focused on the things that matter...that's because it's true. You deserve leaders who show up, do the work, and fight for you.