iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The FAR density of 100 Gold St will be 30, which comparable to some of Namdar's Journal Sq towers (the one at Newark and Central will have a residential FAR of 38.6). By far the highest residential FAR of any Manhattan apartment building (NYC a FAR cap of 12 from 1961-2024)

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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 25/09/2026

I didn’t attend climate week but: 1—US is falling way behind on electrification 2—even if US electrified, electricity generation isn’t decarbonizing fast enough 3—public incentives & land use policy are still vastly weighted toward inefficient cars & trucks 4—transit ridership remains in crisis

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🚲Bike JC🗽 @bikejc.org · 22/09/2026

Big meeting Wednesday evening on bus rapid transit on JFK Blvd!! Come out and support!

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Better Blocks NJ @betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

We heard you want your buses fast, free from traffic, and on-time. Attend the Hudson County Bus Rapid Transit meeting this Wednesday to help make that a reality. betterblocksnj.org/2026/09/21/w...

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Bus-priority 🚌🚍 @bus-priority.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

All day

Bus riders walking in between cars to get on the bus.

Bus riders walking in between cars to board the bus because the cars are illegally parked

Bus has to stop in the left lane because drivers are illegally parked

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Andy Craig @andycraig.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Symbols matter. White House isn't a palace. Kennedy Center is for the general public to enjoy. We don't have a triumphal arch in DC because that's imperial. We don't put the president's face on money because it's monarchical. It's about tearing down everything that says we're a democratic republic.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I cant seem to come on BlueSky these days without having a DSA person argue that some tyrant who executed political dissidents and starved the population is Good Actually. Call me crazy but I find this negatively polarizing.

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Boaz Nash @boazhsan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Seeing a book by Mao being handed out at a local DSA meeting was a bit disturbing.

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Better Blocks NJ @betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A judge voided Jersey City's demolition ban on Aug. 26. Since 2018, the city could deny demolition of any building, landmarked or not, with no public list of what was protected. The court held state law only lets historic commissions review designated sites. betterblocksnj.org/2026/09/17/c...

betterblocksnj.org

NJ Court Strikes Down Jersey City's Demolition Ban Ordinance

Jersey City's demolition ban overturned by court, clarifying rules on historic buildings and demolition.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Fire hit two 3-story rear (accessory) tenements in Jersey City' Paulus Hook neighborhood today. In the 19th century these were built in the backs of lots, with larger tenement buildings in front. This block has 3 altogether, with these 2 attached and the other a few lots away. Photo from reddit.

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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

inclusionary zoning is such a deceptive name because it sounds like the opposite of exclusionary zoning when in reality it often just ends up being a whitewashed form of exclusionary zoning I wrote about it here for anyone who wants to learn more:

bettercities.substack.com

Everything You Need to Know About Inclusionary Zoning

An analysis of the pros and cons of an often-misunderstood housing policy

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

In other words, low-income people in California tend to live in market-rate housing in places that do *not* have inclusionary zoning at all. At a national level too, low-income people are fleeing states with strict IZ for market rate housing in states that ban IZ altogether.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

New academic study: Inclusionary zoning costs renters $800k per affordable unit created. This is more than the per-unit cost for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. While LIHTC which is largely funded by the rich via income taxes, IZOs are regressive because they place the burden on renters.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Did...did the city make this developer save the tacky, non-original, painted pink stucco side facade of this Journal Square building as historic preservation? Did they think it was original or something? 🥴

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Better Blocks NJ @betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

PATH Weekend Ridership Smashes Modern-Era Records After Service Improvements Ridership surges 26% in June, after JC & Hoboken stations get 7-10 minute headways all day on weekends and direct Journal Sq-33 St service is reintroduced. betterblocksnj.org/2026/07/21/p...

betterblocksnj.org

PATH Weekend Service Improvements Drive 26% Ridership Surge YoY

Discover how recent PATH service improvements boosted weekend ridership by 26% in June, highlighting the impact of transit-oriented development.

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Fun find this afternoon: In 1957, the Port Authority did the engineering work to link the downtown PATH to the Lexington Avenue subway local tracks.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Some local flavor: downtown JC has a 15% IZ set-aside for upzoned land. In five years, not a single affordable unit has broken ground in downtown JC. When thr IZO passed, then-councilman Solomon pledged to relax the IZO if it didnt work. Instead he ran on making it more onerous & applying citywide

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jimmybot @jimmybot.com · 08/04/2026

If we could fund better transit in NJ through a new revenue stream, how would you do it? Didn't Pompidou reveal we could be using special improvement districts for regional/localized public goods? @upzonenj.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social @mdasilva.bsky.social @eaconner.bsky.social

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

So...tonight JC's new infrasturture director asked neighborhood meeting attendees for a show of hands if we should have paid parking permit zones. Is this how we're going to do street safety improvements now, under the new admin? Straw polls at NIMBY meetings with an average age of 65?

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Bought a coat rack in Bayonne and biked home with it over my handlebars a couple days ago. It was an odd revelation having cars give me almost the legally required 4 feet of passing clearance. Feels so different, and virtually never happens when youre not carrying a 6-foot pole.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

The new Target in Journal Sq is a disappointment. The store is too small with not enough variery ir quantity of items in stock, especially value sizes. Fine, but the store 's retail space could easily be 3x larger—above it there are two levels of dedicated "free" parking that sit mostly empty...

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

In his order denying the city's temporary injunction against closing Christ Hospital on Saturday, Judge Anthony d'Elia basically says Mayor Solomon has been gaslighting constituents with the argument that Christ Hospital illegally closed.

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William B. Fuckley @opinionhaver.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

The only ethical slopulism is unethical slopulism, where you don’t believe any of the crowd pleasing shit and will do sane policy in office while handwaving away how it’s actually no tax on tips or whatever. Unfortunately both politicians and voters almost always become what they pretend to be.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

If you sign up for updates from Ward F councilman Gilmore, he sends you advertisements for his for-profit business "Educational Gilmore Speaks LLC." The proceeds benefit the "EGS Scholarship Fund," which just means he gives kids discounts for his "services" and pockets the money. Grifter.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

If your inclusionaey zoning is well calibrated, you can get vurtually 100% utilization without making it a mandate. If it is poorly calibrated and it is a mandate, it will raise rents by reducing supply.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

I went to the Lidl on 32 St in Manhattan today and the produce was cheaper than at the Korean fruit stands in McGinley Square (and fresher). The first time I've ever found cheaper produce in a supermarket than these produce places.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

"IZ seeks to produce affordable homes by substituting land use policy in place of broadly shared taxes and public subsidies. This analysis suggests that the public may be paying either way, and that the costs of IZ are both higher and more regressive than the alternative."

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

Highland Avenue before and after being destroyed by developers

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Kind of interesting that this single-family house near the epicenter of the Journal Sq/Homestead Pl construction boom on Van Reipen Ave just sold for 2% *less* adjusting for inflation than it did in March 2018, despite the new retail amenities in the area.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Bus stop on Newark Ave still completely snowed in 3 days after storm, just as it was for two weeks after the last blizzard. Even worse this time: no foot path. Nothing was learned by city government.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

The Planning Division's analyses and memos about the cost of this law included curtains and blinds as low-cost compliance options. But they have since confirmed to us they are not included under the law. Please email council to ask this law to be sent back to Planning for revision.

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Eric Allen Conner @eaconner.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

This debate has shown me how little due diligence the city council does on the ordinances that come before it and how much the activists for it remind me of the lobbyists against nuclear and wind energy. Working to make all new construction in a city more expensive is climate (and fiscal) suicide.

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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 23/02/2026

This bird-safe glass stuff seems extraordinarily expensive, and that’s before even getting into the questionable benefits (it doesn’t work well at night??) betterblocksnj.org/2026/02/23/j...

betterblocksnj.org

JC Birds misleads on costs, impacts of bird-safe materials

Better Blocks advocates for a better bird-safe ordinance to reduce bird strikes in Jersey City without burdening new construction with higher costs

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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 23/02/2026

“Housing for whom?” assumes a zero sum world in which we have to choose between building new market rate housing and building subsidized housing for poor people. No such tradeoff exists. We can let the market serve people who can afford market rate housing AND subsidize housing for those who can’t.

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Henry Grabar @henrygrabar.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

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Henry Grabar @henrygrabar.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

new from me: a story about VACANCY CHAINS, the idea that underlies the argument that more housing is good even if you can't afford it www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

High-End Construction Really Does Help Everyone

A new rung at the top of the housing ladder permits people lower down to climb up.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Oregon's state senate just voted to ban unfunded inclusionary zoning, recognizing that it makes housing *less* affordable, not more affordable.

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Retweeted by Garry Tan [UNOFFICIAL] @garrytan-mir-rt.selfhosted.social · 21/02/2026

Great piece of legislation passed the Oregon Senate. SB 1521 bans inclusionary zoning UNLESS Portland-area govts create a pay-for to compensate builders for being forced to provide affordable units. NIMBY local governments won't be able to use IZ to block new housing supply.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

This is like the tenth research group using a totally new dataset to reach this same conclusion: building new market-rate housing helps low-income tenants. "These findings demonstrate that housing supply expansions benefit lower-income households through moving chains"

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

The gall of developers erecting out-of-scale apartment buildings that violate the neighborhood character of single family homes. (Duncan Ave, Jersey City)

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Better Blocks NJ @betterblocksnj.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Better Blocks NJ is putting out a call to action asking all Jersey City pro-housing advocates to email the city council as soon as possible! The potential to build 1,000 apartments on a parking lot downtown is at risk unless planning starts to amend zoning near transit in downtown Jersey City.

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Nolan Hicks @ndhapple.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Getting money for housing, NYCHA and transit won’t get easier by losing reps, that’s for sure.

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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

🚨 Jersey City Heights residents: Meeting on safety improvements (including bike lanes) on Franklin Ave NEXT WEDNESDAY at 96 Franklin St (PS 8)

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Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️ @jgbollard.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

An MEP engineer told me the other day that he often times gets better heat pump/geothermal systems installed in red jurisdictions because they just go for the operations savings, while sustainability-focused jurisdictions dither and assume climate-friendly design has a sort of penitential cost.

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Jake Berman @lostsubways.com · 10/02/2026

Before 1986, affordable housing had accelerated depreciation schedules, which was a much faster way of getting things built than the current system of tax credits.

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