iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 3h

Why is the answer not "levy a tax on all residents"? Why should a new townhouse in Los Altos pay $205,000 (not a typo, that is the per unit fee a recently approved development will pay) in impact fees, plus school impact fees, plus another $150,000 or more in inclusionary costs?

140

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 23h

Maybe you shouldn't buy a car that doesn't fit in a parking space.

010

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That's a good-looking building. Are we supposed to look at it and think it's bad?

100

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

They love them in Paris, anyway.

030

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

This is a good use case: trying to slow down cars on low traffic, 25 mph or less roads. And that's fine for bikes, and fine for pedestrians too because cars slow down. My concern is higher-speed, higher traffic roads, which are often the roads bikes and pedestrians need to use.

100

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

How much traffic is there on Meade? The cyclist has to merge in with the cars to get through the roundabout, which is hard if there are a lot of them. Also, the cyclist has to take the lane in the roundabout, and drivers hate that and scream at you or punish pass. What's the speed limit?

210

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

The link is showing me a large neighborhood, not an intersection.

110

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

What's the good design, for bikes?

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Where do the bikes go? Take the lane in the roundabout?

100

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"I don't want you to kill me with your car, I want to kill you with my car."

030

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

But looks like it's always 90 degrees to the ground, which is a problem when the sun is high. Noon happens.

100

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Good thing nobody waits for a bus in the middle of the day when the sun is high. Good thing the seat is on one side because hey, the sun never moves.

110

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

An Uber driver in my city was texting, and killed a cyclist lawfully riding along. No jail time, but he had to complete a safe driving course. Unclear why a professional driver would need a course to tell him not to text and drive at the same time. www.losaltosonline.com/news/no-jail...

losaltosonline.com

No jail time for distracted driver in death of cyclist

The distracted driver convicted in the February 2024 vehicle collision death of a Los Altos cyclist will serve no jail time as a part of his sentence.

131

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

So if you kill someone because you were driving drunk, and then you have two more DUIs where you hurt someone, and then you have another DUI but don't hurt someone, then that is not grounds for revoking your license for 6 years.

1182

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The DA offered the Sergeant Shultz defense: he didn't know the victim said she was raped, or that she was drugged. He knew nothing. Uh huh. Sure.

0120

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'm not as strong as I once was, but I used to ride the 77 miles, 6000 feet of climb from my house to Gayles and back to have lunch there. It's well worth the trip. Old Santa Cruz/Soquel on the way, Eureka Canyon/Highland/Old Santa Cruz Highway on the way back.

011

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The best part of the New Brighton bike site is the strategic proximity to Gayle's. Sometimes I have dinner there, breakfast the next morning there, and get some lunch for the road.

100

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

His accent is non-rhotic—he doesn't pronounce his r's. If you understand his name is Mark, a typical, well-known name in English, and that he appears to pronounce it the usual way, you should also pronounce it your usual way. Otherwise it sounds like you're mocking his accent.

110

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Do your best to say the name they said. If they want to Anglicize their name, that's their choice, but you shouldn't do it, any more than you should call me Annie when I introduce myself as Anne.

010

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

SFHs are not fine for accessibility, and if you want seniors to move to walkable neighborhoods so they don't drive, then some of the units in those walkable neighborhoods have to be accessible.

050

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Eyeballing the chart, it looks like the orange and the blue are about the same area. The CDC is saying 2025-26 flu season flu deaths were around 24,000, while UMinn's CIDRAP says 2025 US Covid deaths were around 34,000 to 54,000. So why are you saying COVID is less deadly? Sounds more deadly.

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Is there any information about why COVID has become less of a killer than the flu? Is it because more people get COVID shots than flu shots? Flu shots are worse? People have developed some level of COVID immunity? The people who were going to die of COVID if they got it are dead now?

050

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

My city is discussing making a one acre downtown parking lot into a park, and turning an adjacent surface parking lot into a parking garage. A person earnestly explained to me this would make the city less walkable, because "walkable" means you can drive right to your destination. Not that you walk.

150

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

If you listen to what they actually say, it's that they think these policyholders do not exist, or were fraudulently enrolled in insurance without their knowledge (and thus would never make claims). I wish the Trump administration would go after actual fraud more often, but this seems defensible.

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

It appears to be worse in NHJ's daughter's case. When she had to repeat algebra at her new school because she didn't pass the statewide exam, and she took the tests, *she thought she'd done well* but she failed. The school lied to her! They told her she could do algebra when she couldn't.

030

Reposted by Anne Paulson

Jason @jrock08.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I felt so strongly about this nextdoor comment that I decided to do a dramatic reading of it. I hope you'll listen with the volume on to fully appreciate the quiet reverie.

915233

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If God were real, the dude would have been struck down by lightning the minute he posted that.

130

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

It's also typical when the DA wants to let a killer off without charging them.

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Hey drivers, don't threaten me with a deadly weapon. Stop your car, don't roll it at me.

010

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The city of Los Altos wants to turn one of its parking lots into a park, but local NIMBYs put up a ballot measure to require a vote for any changes to city parking lots, which they deem "scenic," "beautiful" "public lands" that represent the "village character" of our suburb. They are nuts.

1172

Reposted by Anne Paulson

Nate is waking up @nf1nk.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

So much of this resistance to upzoning would be eliminated if off street parking was a requirement to own the car, not to build a place to live.

082

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A bike shop, a nail spa, a small Indian grocery, a hole-in-the-wall family-owned ethnic restaurant... wouldn't those businesses want to go to the cheap Prop 13 firetrap strip malls?

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

On the other hand, with Prop 13 there are always small cheap strip mall commercial rentals available, so there might not be enough market for small expensive commercial rentals.

100

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The developers of these projects where retail was forced don't have the knowledge of how to run retail. They're not commercial landlords. There might be a business taking over these unused spaces, converting them as necessary, and renting them out as small commercial spaces.

130

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

None of these projects have yet been built. I see 82 net new units of housing, plus whatever happens at the illegally demolished duplex (not sure why illegal demolitions are blamed on YIMBYs but whatever). So how are they so confidently predicting no reduction in rents/prices?

142

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Leave home at 7:40 on the bike, take the 8:10 from Palo Alto Caltrain, Open AI is close to the SF Caltrain, you end up with a nice bike ride and a comfortable train ride before work.

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you like to ride your bike, Portola Valley -> Caltrain would be a great commute.

000

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Poking around, I discovered the complex might be one of the condo groups along Plaza Del Amo, built in the late 1980s. According to redditors, the pipes leak, and a real estate listing picture of the parking underneath makes me understand why it might need repairs. $50K doesn't sound out of line.

020

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Me too, but I was wondering if it was different in this case. I'm trying to find out whether in this case something funny is going on, or it's a matter of "I don't want to pay money so the building doesn't fall down. Someone else should pay."

110

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Does the complex not need the expensive structural repairs? Are the HOA directors just stealing the assessments? I'm trying to understand why the residents don't want to pay.

130

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The RHNA should believe in filtering, and just demand a lot of housing and a few deed-restricted VLI.

131

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Often when I leave Costco, famous for the volume of goods people buy, I look at other shoppers' carts and see if I could put their shopping on the e-bike I arrived in. Usually, I could. E-bikes carry a lot.

0110

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

One of things I noticed when I moved from the East Coast to California was how many people here use their car as their coat. And that may be why people are confused about how I can ride my bike in the rain. I put on a coat! What about if it's cold? I put on a coat!

120

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Why would people want a downtown park in Los Altos, Pat asks. There must be some ulterior motive. Perhaps—work with me here—it's a sinister plot to steal the entire waffle supply of the city, Pat. @nextdoorsv.bsky.social

1141

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I'm going to guess Anaheim, tourists.

010

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The question the initial report didn't answer for me was, If the people lured into addiction by Prop 47 hadn't become addicted (because there was no Prop 47) where would they have lived, and where would the people now living in those places live?

010

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Wasn't one of the "comorbidities" being old? I don't feel expendable.

010

Anne Paulson @annepaulson.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Good thing Ohio is just a random team on Michigan's schedule, rather than Michigan's hated rival and the butt of countless jokes.

2470