All federal wind power R&D at the Department of Energy is $0.137 billion. So the government is paying 7x the amount it spends on all wind power R&D just for a fee to kill one wind project. Seems bad.
To harp on this a little bc it’s worth harping on: the B/D Line from Wilshire/Vermont to 7th/Metro is 4 minutes. The A Line from Washington to 7th/Metro is 14 minutes- if everything goes well which it often doesn’t. Not often you can propose a transit project that would save your riders 10 minutes.
I wouldn't be surprised if theyre arguing that the added costs just come out of residual land value. I'd actually buy that, within some reasonable limits, in cases where greenfield development happens on former ag land. Otherwise very obviously bogus.
The depicted 7-11 building is owned by a local developer who is currently building a 12-story apartment building on Bancroft. But, a local busybody has just filed an application to landmark it. The owners of the parcel have not endorsed the landmark designation.
Okay CTA. This is a good sign.
Interesting chart from @kevinerdmann.bsky.social, with this even more interesting commentary: "Since [the 1990s], the growth of owner and renter households have moved in opposition to each other because the housing shortage means that more of one requires less of the other."
YIMBY Edmonton councillor reading landlord Facebook groups about the effect of new housing supply on the housing market:
“I don’t think anyone expected this many units to hit the market at the same time”, “tenants have options”, “you have to be realistic about pricing”, “free months of rent”.
We made sure the amount of housing in the bay area stayed exactly the same and because of that, everything else had to change.
This is why the Center for Building is taking on plumbing codes next. The inefficiencies caused by codes are staggering. Tons of unnecessary vent piping, wider diameters than needed, expensive and difficult-to-join metallic materials where plastics are used elsewhere. www.wsj.com/personal-fin...
it’s true that overall likes are way down on bluesky over the past year. however, if you look closely at the data, that’s mostly an anomaly resulting from the fact that your posts specifically have gotten worse and are dragging the vibe down.
City council is considering revisions to the Measure ULA real estate transfer tax in Los Angeles. We discuss our research on its impacts so far, including reduced property sales and multifamily production, and lessons for LA and other cities: www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/04/01/1...
I do think that those lawyers and law professors who tried to fabricate a historical or legal case against birthright citizenship should be socially and professionally ostracized for their shocking cynicism and intellectual dishonesty as well as for their bald hostility to pluralist American values.
Blue state democrats should be scouring their laws for things that are protectionism for reactionary political actors. Car dealers being a prime example
Line chart showing presidential approval rates for disaster aid requests submitted by Democratic- and Republican-led states, covering the period from the Reagan administration to today. The chart is based on a Politico/E&E News analysis of records from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
89% – percentage of disaster aid requests Trump has approved for states with a Republican governor and two Republican senators
23% – percentage of disaster aid requests Trump has approved for states with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators
www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.
Much appreciation for this abundance of seating
Their vision, in their own words, here. This ultra-wealthy town of 4,000 people wants to slow down the US's 2nd highest ridership train because of nonsense concerns about tunnel vibrations - the same concerns holding up Los Angeles subways. @ridesd.org
thecoastnews.com/commentary-d...
The Measure ULA coalition has a new report and I thought it was pretty bad, so I wrote about some of the reasons why: www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2026/3/...
379 affordable apartments and 146 parking spaces in 7- and 9-story buildings on a brownfield site in Zurich for just 150 million CHF – under $300 per gross sq. ft., $400k/unit for a mix of 1-4BR apartments. Completed in July. www.swiss-arc.ch/de/projekt/w...
The Measure ULA coalition has a new report and I thought it was pretty bad, so I wrote about some of the reasons why: www.betterinstitutions.com/blog/2026/3/...
I'm sure I will feel that way if I ever get to the point where I'm confident in my use of a semicolon.
I experience a strange mixture of pride and serenity when using an en dash in its appropriate context. Like the tiniest hit of "I've got it all figured out and everything's gonna be okay."
They’re telling me a great empire will be destroyed if I attack Persia. Even the oracles who don’t like me very much, very nasty, they all said to me, “Sir, it’s one of the great empires, and it’ll be destroyed. And all because you attacked Persia.” That’s what they’re telling me.
Billionaires’ % share of federal election spending in:
2008: 0.3%
2024: 19%
@nytimes.com #GildedAge
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/u...
Overhead power also causes problems with the LA Dept of Water and Power, with additional requirements for transformer clearance and staging that increase costs and consume a lot of space -- it's a particularly big problem for smaller sites.
🏘️Suburbia: Home is where the car is.
Evict people from city homes to make room for more parking lots.
Wishlist my game: store.steampowered.com/app/3031880/...
Check out the latest episode of UCLA Housing Voice, out today, featuring a conversation with Bob Simpson and Paavo about my December 2025 report on the potential of wealth-building rental housing, enabled through federal housing finance reform.
www.lewis.ucla.edu/2026/03/05/1...
More about the report and its findings here: bsky.app/profile/shan...
