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Upzone the coastal elites

@aboutdave.bsky.social
942 followers 297 following 8.1K posts

Patent attorney, astrophysicist, & Stack-and-Packist 🏙️🥑🔋⛷️. Ready to help enforce state housing law.

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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Ian @woolie.meowmeow.city · 29/09/2026
We should allow unlimited height and density near San Pablo Ave.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 15h
@bestofnextdoor.bsky.social, imagine if Nextdoor fed every post into chatgpt to give a quick fact check and thereby reduce shitposts.
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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Ian @woolie.meowmeow.city · 29/09/2026
A fun quirk of American urban planning is production of 990 page documents where the observable universe is a narrow strip a hundred feet wide. The yellow areas are unmeasurable and unknowable, we can only infer their existence through the forces they exert elsewhere. berkeleyca.gov/sites/defaul...
San Pablo plan area in black outline
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This project is of too much regional importance to let Concord waste it at such low densities. The site is adjacent to Bart, it should feature a bus system to the Bart enabling the whole thing to be high density.
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The Overhead Wire @theoverheadwire.com · 28/09/2026
Land next to a BART station in Concord has been argued about for years. The reality will soon come to fruition, but at just 5 units per gross acre. 12K housing units is not nothing, but it's so weak on 2.4k acres of land as to enshrine driving for those that live there www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea...
sfgate.com
Concord: Naval Weapons Station Redevelopment Plans Move Forward With Navy's Approval Of Term Sheet
Plans to redevelop an abandoned naval weapons station in Concord moved forward this week when the U.S. Navy approved a financial agreement reached with the city earlier this year.
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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 27/09/2026
Giving a small, well-organized minority of people a heckler's veto over new housing that follows democratically-enacted zoning laws is not "democracy."
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Shockingly, nextdoor doesn't like it when you note that the posters against the transit tax generally have huge prop. 13 subsidies. Conservatives boomers.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Animation erasure. Any list like this not including the Simpsons is just garbage.
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Shane Phillips @shanedphillips.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
So many problems, in so many states, are downstream of our unwillingness to tax real estate at its market value, and more generally of our unwillingness to acknowledge that housing wealth is, in fact, wealth.
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Jane Natoli 🥑🚲🍍 @wafoli.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It is legitimately insulting that we live in a time where democracy ACTUALLY IS under attack, but a bunch of neighborhood busybodies who hate housing think not having enough meetings is an assault on democracy. Get a grip missionlocal.org/2026/09/rich...
missionlocal.org
At Richmond District town hall on Safeway housing project, neighbors see an assault on democracy
Some 60 people attended to listen and air their thoughts about a proposed eight-story Safeway redevelopment project in the Outer Richmond.
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Izzy Seabiscuit @ijspurcell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The main Democratic coalition in major cities for the last couple decades has been union leadership and NIMBY neighborhood groups. Keeping both of those happy keeps you in power for a while. The problem is, it also strangles a city from both directions.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This isn't shocking. Arnold isn't MAGA, and given the pragmatism of Raman over the NIMBYism of Bass, it's not hard to see why Arnold would support Raman. The democratic socialist label is much less significant than Bass's terrible policies.
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Stephen Judkins @stephenjudkins.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is a success story of vulgar YIMBYism and an indictment of places that are spending profligately on "affordable housing" for people who could, in the long run, easily be served by the market.
wsj.com
Portland Real Estate Is Such a Mess That All Housing Is Affordable Housing
Rarely has the Oregon city seen such a narrow price gap between market-rate and affordable units.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The headline on this makes no sense. The issue has basically nothing to do with Yosemite. It's all about whether the Merced station in inside or outside city limits. www.sfchronicle.com/california/a...
sfchronicle.com
Planners want to make high-speed rail a gateway to Yosemite. Central Valley residents aren’t happy
Plans to make the line the new gateway to Yosemite have met resistance from Central Valley community organizers, who sent a cease-and-desist letter to the California High-Speed Rail.
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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
YIMBYonese Liberation Army @dingbattitude.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Construction is happening in San Diego and Sacramento where rents are lower. The interest rates and construction cost problems are real but this is a self inflicted problem in Los Angeles thanks to ULA and high impact fees. www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
Why L.A. developers aren't building more apartments, despite epic housing shortage
L.A. needs more multifamily housing, but developers say it doesn't make sense to build apartments in the current market.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
How are landlords and developers at all on the same side? Developers make money building housing. Landlords make money from a lack of housing.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Genuinely impressed that the Tesla got their plate approved by the DMV. "SCRWPGE"
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It is a huge problem that cities like SF and NYC are hostile to housing growth. I find it hard to care about the billionaire condos, they seem like a distraction from the overall NIMBYism of the cities. Requiring affordability without public funding also doesn't work.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Take getting ratio'd: NIMBYism. Take that's pinned: "I'm an expert in climate change." Ummm.....
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I have fully committed to using AI to write replies in nextdoor. These reactionaries get a level of effort back for what they put in.
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Urban Futurist Democrat @urbfuturistdem.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Apparently farmowner BJ Burns, major funder of a local measure to overturn a nonprofit farmworker housing project (Half Moon Bay, Measure Q), rents space to 60 of his workers at any given time. $300/space/month in shared rooms, likely substandard. The monstrous side of agricultural NIMBYism.
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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Vague Pariah @vaguepariah.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
It was never technocratic. If it had been, zoning would have been repealed a century ago when the beneficent results never materialized at laments in the paper at the time show. It was always about segregation not charity.
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Robert Prinz @prinzrob.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
“WHEREAS, increasingly prescriptive statewide housing mandates and development
approval requirements can overde locally adopted plans, zoning standards, and public review procedures without adequately accounting for differences that exist in each unique jurisdiction in infrastructure capacity, water availability, wildfire and evacuation risks, environmental constraints, fiscal impacts, public service needs, and community priorities; and”Goose chase meme

“WHY DID THE STATEWIDE
HOUSING MANDATES
BECOME INCREASINGLY PRESCRIPTIVE?

IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN AN
AFFORDABILITY CRISIS STEMMING FROM RESTRICTIVE ZONING FAVORING
INCUMBENT PROPERTY OWNERS
THROUGH SPECULATION, COULD IT? COULD IT!?”
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Could be amazing. Could be rain.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Zoning is stupid, yet another exhibit. The planning code amendment should provide a rolling window exemption, not a fixed date. If a building goes years without complaint, there's really no reason to enforce against it. www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/b...
sfchronicle.com
They built a Buddhist sanctuary in their backyard. Then San Francisco said it breaks the rules
The Buddhist design features that make this space dear to a San Francisco couple have also put it in the crosshairs of city planners, who said the structure violates city rules.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Efficient takedown of public art fees.
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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
California Housing Defense Fund @housingdefense.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Public art fee comment to City of Sonoma CA, for tonight's planning commission meeting. drive.google.com/file/d/13iwE...
drive.google.com
_Sonoma - Public Art Fee CC- September 16th.pdf
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Fietser Brandon @americanfietser.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Speeding doesn't actually save you meaningful time. All it really accomplishes is aggressively increasing the chances that you kill yourself or someone else outside your vehicle. It's a mathematically flawed, entirely selfish risk.
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California YIMBY @cayimby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A new UC Irvine study finds inclusionary zoning - requiring developers to include low-income units - cuts annual housing construction by nearly a third. Each affordable home IZ produces costs everyone else $800k in higher rents. calmatters.org/commentary/2...
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 16/09/2026
I am pretty sure the Supreme Court is going to outlaw all forms of rent control in the next few years on the basis that rent regulation is an unlawful taking under the 5th amendment, but really that it interferes with rich people’s ability to make money and primarily benefits urban liberals.
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Hyperlexic @hyperlexic.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
lies, damn lies, and Housing Element opportunity sites
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Reposted by Upzone the coastal elites
Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Yes, every billionaire is a policy failure. You know who else is a policy failure? Your Berkeley hippie grandpa who pays $100 in annual property taxes on a $2.5 million house and uses the leftover cash to sue people who try to build apartments in his neighborhood.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This mid-density in downtown in nice, but the city is still wildly resistant to density on the vast majority of its land, because those are the off limits residential neighborhoods. Example, the city gave Habitat millions to build this low density nonsense right next to the PH Bart.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
What is it with EVs and 12v batteries!? First, our Leaf just routinely undercharged, I had to disconnect the sense line to trick the computer, Nissan refused to acknowledge the defect. Now, our Ioniq 5 seems to have killed a 3 year old battery. These vehicles don't stress the 12v. I don't get it.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Conservatives: omg parking is being lost for commuters..... Also I guess we'll admit at the end that a thousand or so people might not need parking because they can just live there now. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
sfchronicle.com
West Oakland BART housing project to break ground. Here’s how much parking commuters will lose
Parking, bus stops, bike parking and ride-hail drop-offs will also be moved to accommodate construction of the Mandela Station development.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A reminder that SF is certainly going to trigger the circuit breaker in the housing element and these down zoning contrary to affirmatively furthering fair housing requirements will just make the consequences that much bigger.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I personally think any height limits inside urbanized areas, and especially on public land on top of the best transit in the region, are absurd. I think the housing shortage is that severe, the climate crisis that severe, etc. I realize this is not a common opinion.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
he does in fact live almost exactly 1 mile from the station, by road distance. of course, his neighborhood is urbanized by any reasonable definition.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It's hard to assess the exact number, because it would have varied with use of the density bonus, but the drop in base zoning height from 12 to 7 stories appears to have resulted in the loss of about 600 transit-oriented homes. That is major loss for the climate and affordability.
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Mikhail Gorbaechev @mikhailgorbaechev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"12 story monstrosity"
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Less housing is not a better outcome
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
If you're just going to block anyone who challenges you, you are never going to learn
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David Mendelsohn @mendelshanks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Dr. Gleick, you seem to be a pretty good sport about the pile-on. It seems to be a case of an expert weighing in on a topic outside his area of expertise. I hope you'll become more familiar with the urbanist/street safety literature that has been developed over the last several decades.
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Theo Gordon @theogordon.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We call this, "going the full Robert Reich"
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Incredible
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Jeff Baker @jwbee.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I know some people think it's unfair that Robert Reich gets dragged over this every single time he pops his head up online, but I personally think it's great. You shouldn't be able to live down the fact that you NIMBY'd a 4-plex in central Berkeley.
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Jeff Baker @jwbee.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
This individual has only appeared at City Council on two subjects: opposed to bike lanes, and opposed to building infill housing on an existing subway station parking lot in central Berkeley. The climate academy should be actively purging these guys.
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Upzone the coastal elites @aboutdave.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
This is the most LA proposal ever. www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
L.A. freeways, roads to be closed to general traffic for 2028 Olympics. How will it hit your commute?
A plan to block off freeway and street lanes for exclusive use by athletes, staff and others is in the works for the 2028 Olympics.
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Glonzo Ball @groverhaustenbosch.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
some people say it's because this is pelosi's petty revenge against scott because she wanted to hand the seat off to one of her daughters, but i go for occam's razor: pelosi is just an old NIMBY fart, her generation was the one who downzoned SF in 1978 and her brother-in-law was one of the yes votes
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