iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Lori Droste

Jeffrey Tumlin 🏳️‍🌈 🌁 @jeffreytumlin.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

“Doing nothing isn’t a neutral option — it just means higher prices and displacement,” @loridroste.bsky.social said.

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Mark Humbert @markhumbert.bsky.social · 03/08/2025

Wonderful Chez Panisse lunch with equally wonderful people - City Manager Paul Buddenhagen, @ericpanzer.bsky.social, @loridroste.bsky.social, Beth Gerstein, and Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani. Lori is leaving our staff to become planning and housing director for SPUR!

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

What a week for Berkeley: -passed the budget addressing the structural deficit -opened the Willard Clubhouse which will children and families across Berkeley -passed Missing Middle 🎉 to address skyrocketing housing costs and scarcity I couldn’t be prouder of our city.

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Hyperlexic @hyperlexic.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

“when can my city get a Zohran” we already have our in Berkeley, that’s @cecilialunaparra.bsky.social, she makes housing vision charts with rose logos on them

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Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

It's done!! On a unanimous council vote, and after 6+ years, countless hours of public comment, and more than 40 community meetings... ...Berkeley has *officially* ended single-family only zoning and legalized multifamily housing citywide!!!

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Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

CM Kesarwani is making a motion! It would allow up to 70 units/acre, an effectiveness analysis report being triggered after 2 years or 25 projects, and a few other add-ons. And folks, it's unanimous! After more than 6 years, Berkeley has *finally* eliminated single-family only zoning!!!

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Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

CM Kesarwani speaking now, looking like we're going to compromise at 70 du/a, which is still extremely reasonable!

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Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

We're on to council comments now. Incredible comment from CM Humbert on the need for this rezoning: are we truly an equitable community, or are we just cosplaying as one? 🔥🔥🔥

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Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Comment of the night goes to Mily, a young renter who says she was priced out of the city. She uses the rest of her time to cite things that took less time than this rezoning, including: - The Civil War - WWI - US involvement in WW2 - Construction of the Bay Bridge - The dot com bubble

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Jordan Grimes @cafedujord.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Happy Thursday, folks! I'm spending my evening (virtually) in Berkeley, where the City Council will *finally* vote on the Middle Housing Ordinance to legalize duplexes, fourplexes & small apartments in most neighborhoods throughout the city. Grab some 🍿, 🧵 starts here!

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Karen Chapple, preeminent scholar on anti-displacement policy supports Berkeley’s missing middle ordinance

Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers:
I am writing to convey my strong support for Berkeley's Middle Housing Ordinance. At present, there is no viable path to broad housing affordability in Berkeley, and only our most affluent residents get to see their children and grandchildren live in Berkeley. Single-family zoning, with its origins in systemic racism, threatens to lock us out of our own community - i.e., exclusionary displacement.
The Middle Housing Ordinance puts us on the path to housing justice. However, adopting two essential amendments will help ensure the ordinance has real potential to redress inequities: (1) equalizing density across all residential neighborhoods and (2) raising the limit on dwelling units per acre.
As written, the current proposal would allow densities up to 50% higher (6o units per acre) in our historically disinvested neighborhoods than in more affluent areas (which allow 40 units per acre).
However, Berkeley's obligation to affirmatively further fair housing means that it should particularly encourage higher densities in its most exclusive single-family neighborhoods. To enable this, potential densities should be the same across all residential neighborhoods (while still maintaining fire safety protections in Very High Wildfire Zones).
That means also raising the cap of 40 units per acre. A 40 dwelling unit per acre limit may preclude some building typologies that are characteristic of the Berkeley vernacular, including townhouses and
3-story apartment buildings. Berkeley has thoughtful form-based standards that help to maintain neighborhood character, and there is thus no need to restrict density.
We have learned from a decade of serious reforms to accessory dwelling unit (ADU) legislation that it takes time to get it right. We started boldly in 2017 and made incremental reforms thereafter - and are still well below 1,000 ADUs permitted in Berkeley. But Berkeley led, and others followed, and now 20% of California's housing comes …

I urge you to adopt these two amendments and stop enabling exclusion in Berkeley. It is time for Berkeley to act on housing justice. Thank you for your continued leadership.
Sincerely,
Karen Chapple
Professor Emerita, City and Regional Planning
Director, The Urban Displacement Project

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Karen Chapple, preeminent scholar on anti-displacement policy supports Berkeley’s missing middle ordinance

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Berkeley Neighbors for Housing and Climate Action @bnhca.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

More critical support for Thursday’s middle housing proposal in Berkeley!

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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 24/06/2025

We love to see leading environmentalists thinking globally and acting locally.

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Robert Cruickshank @robertcruickshank.com · 24/06/2025

Housing policy is climate policy

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Stephen Menendian, preeminent scholar of racial inequality, segregation, and land use strongly urges Berkeley to pass the middle housing ordinance.

Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers,
As a scholar of racial inequality, segregation, and land use,
(1 who also works in Berkeley, I strongly support the adoption of Berkeley's Missing
Middle Ordinance, a necessary plan to expand housing at a critical range, and urge you to strengthen it by adopting two important amendments. These changes help ensure the ordinance meets its full potential as a tool for equitable, inclusive growth. Without them, the policy risks falling short of its goals and inadvertently reinforcing the very inequities it seeks to address.
1. Equalize Density Across All Residential Neighborhoods
The current proposal allows just 40 units per acre in most areas previously zoned for single-family homes, while permitting up to 60 units per acre in neighborhoods that have experienced redlining and underinvestment. While this disparity may reflect historical zoning, it also risks perpetuating exclusion by continuing to constrain housing growth in wealthier, high-opportunity neighborhoods where children and families can thrive.
This inequity could also place the City at odds with California's legal obligation under Government Code § 65583(c)(10) to affirmatively further fair housing. Restricting density in affluent areas shifts new development onto communities that have already faced decades of disinvestment and displacement.
Equalizing density across all residential neighborhoods-while maintaining fire safety protections in Very High Wildfire Zones-would:
• Ensure that all communities participate in addressing Berkeley's housing needs
• Advance racial and economic justice in a measurable, structural way
• Distribute housing growth more equitably and reduce displacement risk citywide
2. Consider Raising the Dwelling Units Per Acre Limit
Berkeley's emphasis on form-based standards-such as setbacks, height limits, and open space-has advantages in the direction of more predictable and thoughtful housing design. However, capping density at 40 dwelling units per…

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Nobel Prize winning climate scientist, coordinating lead author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Former US State Department Science Envoy SUPPORTS MIDDLE HOUSING ordinance in Berkeley

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks urges Berkeley to support middle housing ordinance

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Nolan Hahn @nolanhahn.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Housing Policy is Climate Policy

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scientists urge support of Berkeley’s middle housing ordinance.

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Marc Hedlund @marcprecipice.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

I very much appreciate this argument for "missing middle" housing in #Berkeley, from my City Councilmember, @markhumbert.bsky.social. Berkeley (and elsewhere) regularly leaves a big gap between our stated values and our actions. Mark is calling on us to close that gap, and I agree.

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Buffy Wicks @buffywicks.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

By championing the strongest CEQA reforms in decades, @governor.ca.gov is showing that CA is ready to meet this moment. Building housing in environmentally responsible locations will tackle our housing crisis, advance our climate goals & deliver on the promise of a government that solves problems.

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Senator Scott Wiener @scottwiener.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

1/ Today @gavinnewsom.bsky.social showed his commitment to tackling the delays, costs & frivolous lawsuits that make it so hard to build in CA. His proposed budget supports the strongest reforms to CEQA in decades by enacting my & @buffywicks.bsky.social’s CEQA reform bills, SB 607 & AB 609. 🧵

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Jonathan Berk 🏠 @berkie1.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

"In 2020, [Portland, OR] approved building [middle housing] on lots zoned for single family homes... A new report from the City says, it's working. 1,400 new units built in just a few years and each one is $300,000 less expensive than a typical single family home." @nbcnews.com

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Donald Shoup revolutionized how we think about parking, cities, and transportation. His work will shape urban policy for generations. I was honored to have his support and will always be inspired by his legacy in his memory, Im revisiting this: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

bloomberg.com

Free Parking Is Killing Cities

With the pandemic opening up streets, Donald Shoup and his followers say it’s time to stop subsidizing drivers at the expense of everyone else.

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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Interactive piece on proportional representation in the NYT today 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

Opinion | How to Fix America’s Two-Party Problem

Proportional representation could help restore American democracy.

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Alex Ghenis 🧑‍🦼 @rollonyouchairs.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

I'm excited to share the first deep dive post on DisabilitYIMBY! It's a detailed look at the founding of the #disability rights movement in Berkeley, and how NIMBYism blocked thousands of people with disabilities from being able to live there. Check it out 😉 #housing #yimby #DisabilityRights

disabilityimby.com

How Berkeley's NIMBYism Betrayed the Disability Rights Movement: Part 1

Berkeley is the home of the modern disability Rights movement. But anti-housing activism in the '60s and '70s made the town inhospitable to people with disabilities...

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Buffy Wicks @buffywicks.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Twinsies!

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get a pic of @buffywicks.bsky.social in her @bart.gov sweater

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Let’s go lesbians, let’s go!

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Anirvan Chatterjee @chatterjee.net · 06/12/2024

We took BART to our first date, and even our wedding. Please join me in congratulating @barnalighosh.bsky.social, the newest member of the @bart.gov board of directors!

A selfie of an beaming American man in a blue shirt with a Indian American woman wearing a white sari, standing inside an office, with a US flag behind them

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Exciting day for Berkeley! Congrats to Mayor @adenaishii.bsky.social Terry Taplin, Shoshana O’Keefe, and @brentblackaby.bsky.social (and Ben Bartlett who was out of town).

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City of Berkeley @berkeleyca.gov · 05/12/2024

The Tsunami Warning has been CANCELLED for Coastal Areas of California and Oregon inws.ncep.noaa.gov/a/a.php?i=10...

inws.ncep.noaa.gov

iNWS Alert

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City of Berkeley @berkeleyca.gov · 05/12/2024

• See Berkeley's Emergency Map: protect.genasys.com/ for updates. • Radio stations: KQED 88.5 FM, KCBS 740 AM, KGO 810 AM, and KNBR 680 AM • Local news. • City of Berkeley Radio: 1610 AM

protect.genasys.com

Genasys Protect

Genasys Protect helps you stay safe in an emergency and keeps you safe wherever you go. The data in Genasys Protect comes straight from your local officials, and can tell you about danger nearby and how to stay safe.

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Lori Droste @loridroste.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

I couldn’t be more excited for Berkeley today.

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