Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Yeah I think they were metal. They were remote controlled outside the window so couldn’t touch them, and night so couldn’t see them that well. But I think metal not plastic or wood! 011
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Also they have allegedly 10 years of rent control post moving in but also there’s no property tax and the landlord’s rental income is taxed at a different/much lower rate than normal income… the world is a big place 180
Reposted by Jesse OrrStephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 07/09/2026They taught us about all of these things in elementary school. They called them “simple machines.” Maybe once America is done inventing artificial general intelligence, we can investigate them. 21038
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Me to my parents / and family friend hosts in suburban Cologne living in a ~new-build (2020) townhouse: “So you see the floors here are harder because it’s all concrete construction for a mere house and look at these tilt and turn windows“ 160
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026(A classic @stephenjacobsmith.com fact that is unmissable after hearing it!) 170
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Just want to read more about Pombelime planning and building code reforms for Lisbon… 090
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Going to Europe now I am like “Wow so many tower cranes for mid-sized construction,” “omg look at this garbage collection” and “Huh so these are the famed exterior blinds you can control from the inside.” 4561
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 30/08/2026With my parents who aren’t urban bikers - if we did a day trip, which city best? Of Utrecht, Delft, Rotterdam, Hague, etc 100
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 30/08/2026What a great planned destination for a bike gallivant 000
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Will be mostly in Amsterdam (not Lisbon tho) with my parents who haven’t been on bikes in 10+ years *and* aren’t city bikers but a countryside one might be viable! Any particular recs from what you did? 200
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 30/08/2026@ Chicago / Transit / Urbanist etc. Bluesky - About to leave for Amsterdam and Lisbon for two weeks - any recommendations? Especially things outside of the obvious! 761
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 30/08/2026+ has lots of legacy cultural amenities from when it was bigger, maybe a deeper rooted, enough DC jobs to help weather storms, way cheaper than DC which helps, Hopkins and Maryland as anchors 010
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Baltimore is a rich (relatively) metro area with a poor central city, but with great urban bones and close to lots of other urban / suburban centers. 110
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 13/08/2026I am once again calling for more some bike racks at the California Park Pool @davidpowe.bsky.social even though this isn’t you any more 👀 100
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 10/08/2026It would be cool and at least slightly beneficial for their PR if the CTA could talk about ridership this quickly - @chicagocta.bsky.social what was Lolla ridership like last weekend? Top weekend of the year?? 071
Reposted by Jesse OrrNilo @nilo.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Something that’s very underrated is a lot of elite universities have basically decided certain topics are irrelevant or unfashionable so vast swaths of the American economy simply had no questions asked about them. 418821
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 10/08/2026I thought it was funny when people were like “It’s going to a SLUSH FUND WE DON‘T KNOW” and it’s like dude revenue is allocated via a public and messy budgeting processing it isn’t perfect but it uh is and cannot be secret 000
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 10/08/2026You can get around that if you try hard enough with well-designed maintenance of spending rules but they you destroy future flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances, or folks try to start getting creative within the lockbox, etc. 100
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 10/08/2026I think if you don’t trust certain folks to execute than voters don’t really care about lockbox / trust fund stuff. Which isn’t super wrong because money is fungible and it is usually easy enough to lockbox new votes in revenue but then shift preexisting revenue streams to other items 100
Reposted by Jesse OrrDavid Powe @davidpowe.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Divvy keeps breaking its own ridership records! Yesterday, riders took 47,700+ trips. Divvy is adding hundreds of new stations this year to support record growth, including the newest and IMHO most iconic station in Chicago at North Avenue Beach! 🚲🌊🏙️ 4536
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 10/08/2026CDOT is also expanding “normal” bike parking in the lakefront - biggest issue there is inter-jurisdictional issues with the Park District slowing down installation rather than anything divvy related. 110
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Hence, one story commercial, 3 stories residential. I don’t think you see much 3-story infill vs 4-stories unless it’s a preference for by-right construction because of timing or alder 010
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026I’d you’re building on a single 25-foot lot it’s hard to make an elevator make sense so you usually stick to 4 stories. Elevator and 2 sets of stairs eat up a lot of space, plus elevators have high operating and capital costs 140
Reposted by Jesse OrrStephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 09/08/2026This is very interesting and speaks to the importance of building codes, and I am looking forward to the day when we have code reform tools to bring down costs of denser typologies that do not involve simply making the structure flimsier, more flammable, and less soundproof 113013
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Paging (🙏) future CTA bus operations director @chicagotrans-plant.bsky.social 050
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026More height at same FAR also gets better floor plates, better light and air! 030
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Makes you wonder the impact of switching the Type 3 rules from 5 stories to 6 or 7. Since neighborhood FAR caps at 5 (for now) and you can get 6-7 stories at 5 FAR, pretty cost free way to unlock existing zoning capacity 2120
Reposted by Jesse OrrDaniel Kay Hertz @danielkayhertz.bsky.social · 09/08/2026New post, in which I try to coin an awkward new housing typology name (the "III-5"), and describe how what I thought was a parking reform story was actually a building code and parking reform story daniel-kay-hertz.ghost.io/the-birth-of... 713128
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Chicago (fortunately) mostly immune to facaditus (doing many facades instead of a single decent one) though this building has a mild case imho 😬. 130
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 02/08/2026Have they posted what the revised schedule will look like when done? Will it just help the south shire line or MED too? 130
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Big crowds on train and at stations tonight post game, and I’ve seen nobody smoking - @chicagocta.bsky.social is really making a comeback! 1120
Reposted by Jesse OrrDaniel Kay Hertz @danielkayhertz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026The thing is, Chicago also downzoned in the 60s-early 2000s--in fact, a huge chunk of Humboldt Park was downzoned. You will be shocked to hear that this has not prevented gentrification, and that in fact downzoned areas are associated with disproportionate growth of white residents. 416631
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 17/06/2026Best thing to do would just make the red section or rest of building 1-2 stories taller! 120
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 17/06/2026As a residential proposal the second building‘s footprint is really wide and would probably have pretty bad floorplans - too much interior space far from any windows / external walls! 120
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 16/06/2026And there are still some condo upzonings with ARO condos they are just rare and doable when really pricey units and bad baseline zoning make the math work 020
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 16/06/2026RT-4 / 3-flats by right would be way more impactful for condos vs anything else because Chicago developers are happy to build 3/4/6/8 flats and the market / rezoning headwinds for everything else would persist. 120
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 16/06/2026- There are not that many places where 10+ unit condo buildings by right are doable (and outcompete larger rental buildings via rezoning) and the market is still hard but they happen. - Small by-right or upzoned 3-8 flat condos happen all the time! 120
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 16/06/2026My (weakly held) thesis: - Post-GFC headwinds / changes mostly killed high rise condo construction, period. - ARO (including lack of offsets) specifically kills most condos with 10+ units that result from rezonings. 110
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 15/06/2026They still haven’t hired enough staff to actually operate their own schedule? At this point… why not write a schedule that can actually be fulfilled at least then? 100
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 14/06/2026This all seems fair - CTA just managing a harder problem potentially? 320
Reposted by Jesse OrrStar:Line Chicago @starlinechicago.bsky.social · 14/06/2026I think Metra takes their extra board (additional workers on-hand without a scheduled run who can fill in for absent co-workers) more seriously, and I wouldn't be surprised if Metra also had fewer call-offs because they're less reliant on part-time shifts 2171
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 14/06/2026+ unplanned outages are often predictable (after super-bowl, etc.) so you’d think they could compensate for that pretty decently? 000
Jesse Orr @jessezorr.bsky.social · 14/06/2026This makes sense - also given CTA’s austerity approach to operations I can see them not wanting to have unneeded staff… but they seem to consistently need them 120