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!
"Democracy is a system in which parties lose elections"
Again, I'll note how incredibly extreme the GOP is, not only in absolute terms, but relative to other far right parties in rich democracies, which quickly concede elections <all the time> w/o a fraction of the post-election nonsense we endure.
Jacob Bruggeman has a neat new article out, "Phreaking Politics in Modern America," which covers telephone hacking, AT&T's status as an icon of American technology, and the New Left-to-libertarian pipeline in modern American political order
doi.org/10.1017/mah....
Navalists everywhere: the Navy needs more money to buy ships
The Navy: inactivates attack sub after spending 1.6B on repairs because they don’t have maintenance capacity
news.usni.org/2026/04/10/n...
Safer, more efficient streets start at the curb. We’re launching an Office of Curb Management to bring greater coordination and consistency to how curb space is used citywide. This office will lead policies across 6,300 miles of streets and nearly 3 million curbside parking spaces, bringing a more coordinated approach to managing competing demands, from deliveries and pick-ups to outdoor dining, bike parking, and waste containerization. By expanding loading zones, reducing double parking, and applying modern tools and best practices, this new office will help improve safety and keep New York City moving.
Mamdani launches Office of Curb Management
Not the first to make this observation, but Mamdani's political superpower basically seems to be that he is happy and enjoys life.
No real problem with ordinary folks asking about the 25th, but every time a congressman asks for the cabinet to remove a president you should read that as them abdicating their own duty to pursue impeachment through congress
It doesn’t go as far as Texas’s starter home law to block local obstructions to small lot development, BUT it sets a new nationwide standard: localities can’t require more than 2,100 square feet for lots in subdivisions of 4+ acres
If anyone on here works at one of the 57 forest service research stations that are going to be closed and you want to tell me about your work there and why it's important, reach out: jmckenzie@thebulletin.org
Almost half of US data centers planned for 2026 are expected to be delayed or canceled. One big reason is the shortage of electrical equipment, such as transformers, switchgear and batteries. US doesn't have manufacturing capacity, forcing it to rely on imports.
🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
People do not appreciate what a vast, fundamental sea change batteries are bringing to the electrical system.
yes, most of what you know about the civil war came from people who weren’t there and had an agenda (shelby foote-esque southern sympathizers). people who were there described it as a jihad against the satanic plantation aristocrats
Average union soldier memoir: "at first I was like I signed up for this war, but is it really worth it? Then I saw the reality of chattel slavery and I had to be physically restrained from slaughtering every white southerner I encountered"
A screenshot of the cover of the following report: Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, National Association of City Transportation Officials, and United States Department of Transportation. 2018. Optimizing Large Vehicles for Urban Environments: Downsizing. Cambridge, MA United States 02142. (March 29, 2022). The image on the cover shows an aerial ladder truck next to a large warehouse style building, with the aerial platform extended to reach the roof. It appears to be a European-style turntable ladder truck.
Source for infographic above:
Optimizing Large Vehicles for Urban Environments: Downsizing. 2018. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, National Association of City Transportation Officials, and United States Department of Transportation.
trid.trb.org/view/1575450
Many global fire vehicle manufacturers build aerial ladder trucks designed to work well on slender streets (with just 10 to 12 feet of clear, unobstructed width. Rosenbauer builds such vehicles for the US market. Who else does?
#emergencyresponse #firefighter #firefighting #trafficcalming
“Are New York’s Environmental Concerns Worsening a Housing Shortage?
Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing to exempt a majority of new housing from state environmental reviews, arguing that sufficient safeguards are in place at the local level.” — www.nytimes.com/2026/03/28/n...
The balcony-mounted heat pump comes even for Switzerland. NYC needs to get with the program and allow these, or else we're going to get a ton more PTACs. www.swiss-arc.ch/de/projekt/m...
My friend Salim is hiring for a a few positions at his start-up that does AI plan check. Very cool company, the positions are mostly in software engineering plus one that’s building code-centric. Tell him I referred you if you apply! www.withmason.ai/careers
very proud of newly minted PhD @cthelala.bsky.social who successfully defended his thesis this afternoon!
Chirag is a brilliant strategic thinker who is a joy to work with; finishing a thesis is not easy esp. w/ work & life & he made it happen
v. sweet of @publicenterprise.bsky.social to show up!
“Build to rent is essentially home builders switching their construction from building homes for people to building homes for large institutional investors,” said Jim Baker, the executive director of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a watchdog organization focused on the impact of institutional investors. “It puts homeownership further out of reach for individuals,” denying them an opportunity “for building wealth for themselves, their families and their children.”
I hate this shit so much. My family rents, and we are also people! www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/b...
The median year that a rental building in the United States was built is 1977. I think the fact that fact that half of rental housing in the United States is more than 50 years old, is quite important for the economics of housing. www.census.gov/data-tools/d...
from 1868 to 2025 there was little dispute about what the birthright clause meant and the idea that the past year has been some great scholarly debate is absurd. a handful of partisans and hacks have churned out junk so that the president can get what he wants. that’s it.
The fastest growing and shrinking counties in the US
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
Los Angeles’ housing crisis is self-inflicted.
For decades, city leaders have taken deliberate actions to limit new housing.
Today, we announced our plan to fix this and triple housing production.
