I understand why American cities took down many of their elevated rail lines, but maybe it's time to build some new ones. Mostly because modern Els are much quieter. But also because waiting for a train on a summer evening is a great way to see the neighborhood.

Why does a new 44-unit affordable rental four minutes from the Junction Boulevard 7 have a 22-space valet garage? Short answer: the parking minimums. Long answer runs through three rezonings and a Council carveout on the block across Junction. danieltrubman.substack.com/p/why-does-a...

Abyssinian Tot Lot community garden on 139th St has no posted open hours (either online or at the site) so can't say I'm surprised it's locked this evening. Site is already owned by the Parks Department; let's just turn it into a real pocket park that stays open on hot nights?

Was just about to publish my article about why a data center is legal on a Bushwick parking lot but housing is banned... and then Gov. Hochul announced a data center moratorium. But does the moratorium apply here? One frantic rewrite later, piece is live: danieltrubman.substack.com/p/why-is-a-d...?

Streets are for giant gift horses from our defeated and departing Greek rivals, not cars.

It's an absolutely lovely evening in the Upper West Side, so why is La Perla Community Garden locked up? What's the point of these cool publicly owned pocket parks if they're closed even during prime hours?

The number of Europeans I've seen staying in Airbnbs on my Central Harlem brownstone block this summer during the World Cup seems like pretty good evidence NYC needs to legalize new hotels.

I may have missed Manhattan-Henge tonight, but the view of Manhattan from Sunset Cove Park in Queens was pretty great too.

One of my favorite things about checking out a new NYC neighborhood is picking up the local hyper-local print weekly. I know NYC isn’t the only American city where you can still do this, but the list of places with thriving, ad-stuffed community papers is getting incredibly short.

The board at Clayton Williams Community Garden is an administrative fiction. It lists open hours, creating an expectation of public access. Yet it was locked up when I walked by after 3pm. A profound failure by 'community gardens' more broadly to deliver on their core purpose.

What are the chances NYC can develop the capacity to implement a residential parking permit system when it can't even stop illegal car washes from dumping chemicals while operating from on-street parking spots on commercial corridors?

Shout out to NYC leftists for being so chill about Mamdani abandoning his push to zero out bus fare revenue. One major perk of your base being hopelessly in love with you is that you can quietly drop your worst campaign promises without anyone actually caring.

I have just total appreciation for Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul focusing on improving the QUALITY of bus service in NYC, instead of getting distracted on secondary issues like prioritizing battery electric buses or eliminating all bus fare revenue. www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

Seems like American soccer fans would have a lot more fun if they just accepted USA is just never going to be a global football powerhouse? Just never going to happen, so why not focus on regional rivalries? That'll make the occasional over-performance even sweeter.

Just saw a textbook example of why offset bus lanes are superior to curbside lanes down by City Hall: This FDNY truck easily sped past a recently arrived UPS truck at the curb. So why is NYC still proposing and building curbside bus lanes in 2026?

Glad I never got that invested in the World Cup, instead pouring all of my emotional energy this summer into the Phillies, who would never emotionally devastate me.

Enjoyed this Real Deal piece on the difficulty of handling clients using Al. But this case seems reasonable? Client did independent research, didn't take the first answer as gospel, worked with the agent, and made a bid after better understanding the market. It worked out!

I can't believe how often I see people hanging out on the hot sidewalk right next to a padlocked community garden on summer days in Harlem. @nycparks.bsky.social already owns this site, so why not just turn this into a real park?!

UPDATE: The Taco Bell in Morningside Heights has opened!

92 degrees last night and people were still out at Richard Tucker Park, thanks to the shade. We rank park systems by acres per resident, but this triangle does more for a summer evening than parks many times its size. Our cities need more pocket parks filled with leafy trees.

If I find out any celebrities are actually taking the subway to this wedding tonight, I'm a fan for life.

American urban parks need more capitalism: Folks were lining up to grab a bite out of this kiosk at Paley Park this afternoon. It should be a lot easier to grab a snack or even lunch in these pocket parks.

We really need so many more street trees on our arterial roads in Manhattan, like Broadway here in the Upper West Side.

A one-story Taco Bell is opening on Broadway and 109th, one block from the 1 train, on a lot zoned for 100 apartments. Not the zoning. Not a landmark. Not a parking rule. So why only a Taco Bell? danieltrubman.substack.com/p/whats-a-ta...

US cities have a bizarre mix of high and low state capacity on land use. In wealthy SoHo, the city holds multiple hearings just to debate window replacements. Meanwhile in Harlem, nobody stops you from running an unpermitted car wash on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.

the "A" in UAW standing for "Auto" is genuinely starting to feel like a niche piece of NYC labor history trivia.

It's startling how spectacular The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza looked before automobile traffic ruined the view. But we can have this again.

Maybe this makes me a carceral urbanist, but I wish the NYPD had the drone capacity to figure out who's setting off fireworks in Central Harlem at 2am on a weeknight. You get an entire Fourth of July. Why is this happening at 2am on a Tuesday?!

Unless you regularly walk around Central Harlem you really can't conceive of how many nominally public parks (often at least partially publicly owned like this one) which are just ALWAYS locked up during summer evenings.

Who's the biggest transit advocacy group in NYC focused on actually improving and expanding service? @ridersalliance.org has seemingly pivoted to focusing on anti-poverty issues recently, so I really don't know what would be the most notable group campaigning for better transit.

Everyone knows seating and trees are crucial to a good city park, but tables are underappreciated. It's nice to have a place for food or drinks!

This map of NY-13 is also definitely another data point in favor of the argument Spanish/East Harlem can never gentrify because there's just too much public housing.

American cities are under-served by cute little pocket parks. All you really need is some seating and trees in a comfortable space a bit removed from all the cars and trucks.

As someone who gave up on 116th St buses because they're too slow, the idea of bus lanes sounds great. But why are we still building curb-adjacent lanes?? It’s like we’re purposely designing transit infrastructure to serve as auxiliary parking & loading zones.

Another big loser on election night seems to be TWU Local 100, who went 0 for 4 in NYC's competitive primaries. The victorious opponents will likely still be supportive of transit employee unions, but the results show a notable inability for the union to deliver wins for its friends.

Had some time to kill in the West Village, so I figured I'd check out the Jefferson Market Garden, but it's already locked up. Was such a bummer to hear a dad explain to his toddler that the park was already closed. I wish the NY Public Library cared a bit more about keeping their garden open.

Knowing you can hop off a local train because the express is reliable enough to actually show up soon (even if you can't see it) is what separates elite urban transit from the rest. Usually a safe bet in NYC, but felt like much more of a risk on SEPTA's BSL in Philadelphia.

Kind of shocked more people aren't talking about how badly the institutional labor machine got beaten last night in NYC. The big unions backed the establishment in race after race. Most of them lost. Another hollowed-out political institution?

Hard to overstate how cleanly the Avila Chevalier/Espaillat result tracks where educated white voters are gentrifying (or have already gentrified) Northern Manhattan (but not the Bronx). A useful guide to where transplants like me are landing, and where we aren't.

I can't prove it, but I bet if the New York Times still made local endorsements Espaillat wins tonight, right?

While you wait on tonight's results check out my latest substack piece on why the newest building on this Chelsea corner is the shortest on the block. Why it opened short is a not-so-quick tour of how the city holds itself back. danieltrubman.substack.com/p/why-is-the...

Darializa Avila Chevalier's "affordable for whomst" takes on new Harlem housing are funny because she lives in a newish (2002) building that's currently market-rate. That's the housing she opposes! Would it be better if, as a transplant, she lived in & bid up an older building instead?

Nobody talks about the 1922 Rand Revolt anymore. Huge labor uprising in Western history: 22k white miners, Communist-led, bombed via artillery/planes (~200 dead). They lost the strike but got the colour bar into law anyway. No wonder the general-strike crowd never brings it up.

Good to see NYC DSAers finally blaming structural forces, not individual gentrifiers, for uptown displacement. Weird they're doing that to justify supporting NIMBYs like Darializa Avila Chevalier & Conrad Blackburn. Isn't blocking new housing the structural force?

Occasionally getting woken up by birds here in Harlem is a fun reminder Manhattan is surprisingly quiet if you don't live on an arterial road, like the avenues. Cities aren't loud; it really is just the cars and trucks!

There were tons of people hanging out at this block party in Harlem this Juneteenth weekend, but unsurprisingly the community garden was locked up this afternoon. Just hate to see a site owned by @nycparks.bsky.social like this one locked up on such a gorgeous day!

Summer is an underrated season in NYC, but it'll be a lot easier to enjoy these warmer months once we get all the stinky trash off the sidewalks and into on-street dumpsters!

I wonder if Darializa Avila Chevalier thinks the U.S. made a mistake when they deported Nazi prison guard Jakiw Palij from Queens back in 2018? She was living and working in NYC at the time, so somebody should ask her!

I can't believe Darializa Avila Chevalier thinks we need even MORE community input and process over proposed residential buildings in NYC. How many "truly" affordable apartments exist at that truck stop right now, @darializaforny.bsky.social?

Candidate Mamdani campaigned on free buses, only to be replaced by a Mayor Mamdani who has actually prioritized improving bus infrastructure. Maybe some of his supporters feel betrayed, but this is a smart prioritization. www.amny.com/news/exclusi...