Sign in

macdiehard.bsky.social

@macdiehard.bsky.social
205 followers 197 following 240 posts

All about solving the housing and homelessness crisis. Join us at SeattleYIMBY.org.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Jane Natoli 🥑🚲🍍 @wafoli.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Good. Too often we give pablum about getting people to take alternative methods other than driving, but the number one way we do that is appropriately cost options. If you keep parking free or cheap, people will avail themselves of it. They are acting rationally unless you change the equation
03910
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 04/10/2026
What’s the evidence on rent control? I charted the findings from 112 studies: Great for rent-controlled tenants ✅ But: Pushes up rents for other people ❌ Pushes down new housing construction ❌ Pushes down building quality ❌
36607159
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Terrible. At the same time that is what happens when people keep trying to kill you and all your people for seventy years.
100
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 28/09/2026
So-called “inclusionary zoning,” the practice of requiring home builders to rent new apartments at a loss to low-income tenants, is a tax on new housing that worsens the housing shortage and raises rents overall in exchange for a handful of means-tested units. It’s bad policy!
thecooldown.com
Greater Boston builders say affordable-unit rules stall housing, but Boston won't budge
Developers and city leaders across Greater Boston are clashing over whether affordable-housing requirements are helping address the region's housing shortage.
1730042
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
The Needling @theneedling.com · 30/09/2026
Ballard Congratulates Golf Course on Its New Light Rail Station: tinyurl.com/yncw9jep
Map of new Pinehurst light rail station opening Sept. 30 next to I-5 and 160-acre Jackson Park Golf Course.
1035772
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Mike Eliason @holz-bau.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
you can upzone the sh*t around pinehurst all you want - it's not going to induce an ecodistrict or walkable neighborhood because it's sandwiched between a golf course and a literal highway we're so effing bad at city making folks www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
seattletimes.com
Seattle gets a new light rail station, and then a long wait
Sound Transit built Pinehurst Station despite grim ridership projections. Will anything be done now to transform the neighborhood and attract passengers?
1533
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Push The Needle @pushtheneedle.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In the 1990s, the state was paranoid we would lose Ken Griffey Jr and even the Mariners all together. To prove what a farce EIS’s are, the process was expedited and completed in 8 months despite it being on a brown site in a liquefaction zone. We speed up environmental review when we want to
1797
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Andrew @bikesnacks.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Near literally *two* light rail stations!
051
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Brian Straw @brianstraw.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The status quo allowed a single family home to be purchased for $212,000, demolished, and replaced with a 3,600 sq ft home which sold for $1.25 million. This removes naturally occurring affordable housing and replaces it with housing at the top of the market. This is the status quo.
2195
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Ian @woolie.meowmeow.city · 12/09/2026
I love Berkeley, people will build their entire politics around the idea that mitigating climate change requires radically restructuring the world economy, but they draw the line at a 12 story building a few blocks away or replacing some parking spaces with bike lanes.
17737106
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Are you going to pay for the affordable housing you want? If not, who is? Not a builder, who is not going to build something he is going to lose money on. Only building more housing reduces rent. But I doubt the cost of housing is your real issue. You just do not want you neighborhood to change.
011
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 10/09/2026
Literally vote for anyone else. Her ideas would destroy the California insurance industry and make housing affordability even worse, which is difficult to imagine being possible.
36217
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Race to the bottom
000
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
For shame Jayapal
000
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Kevin Erdmann @kevinerdmann.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
It's saddening that anti-corporate prejudice is so strong that people can explicitly make an argument that renters don't belong in our suburbs and think that makes them virtuous. www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/wall-st...
phoenixnewtimes.com
Wall Street destroying the American Dream in Phoenix, study says
Wall Street investors powerful hold over Phoenix’s housing market is also likely to only get worse, according to experts.
171
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Oh for God’s sake. $15 per sf tax on new housing. Hey Kirkland, you tax things you want less of. Or maybe that is the idea.
020
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Jennifer @jenwith1n.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Y’all please do not report this shit without also mentioning that the administration has gutted transit funding and determined bike lanes and sidewalks are illegal DEI. I’d fucking love it if people drove less but we built this country to trap people in cars and they aren’t letting us fix it.
1102
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Most Americans (including me until recently) don’t know there is any other way it could be. I mean for me it was unfortunate that you have to drive everywhere even when it is not safe but it is a law of nature or something that that’s the way it is..
010
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
As a newly retired psychiatrist I can tell you I am so glad to be done with all that. It was getting worse and worse every year. There needs to be ways of monitoring physicians but it has gone way overboard.
011
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Jeff Baker @jwbee.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Some of the strongest evidence I can come up with to rebut "rents never go down". This newer building—1122 University Ave. in Berkeley—saw all but one unit decline in price compared to the same unit rented last summer. This is in nominal dollars.
310910
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Yes
000
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
OB Chargn @obchargn.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Bill to spur new condos died at the last minute. Senator’s Limón and Umberg working their hardest to worsen the CA housing crisis. Thankfully Umberg is termed out, but the Senate needs a new leader who is pro housing. calmatters.org/housing/2026...
0177
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
DemandSchumerResignCallYourSenatorDaily @nervous1140.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It's just insane to me that there's literally a golf course flanked on either end by light rail stations
Google map view of i5 between n 130th st and n 145th st
2483
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
James everything is analog @analogist.net · 03/09/2026
Not just on Aurora Ave, but at the site of Julie Kang’s former bank. You know, her bank she was likely forced to sell because of what the FDIC called “violations, reckless unsafe or unsound banking practices, and/or breaches of fiduciary duty.” Oh you didn’t know? 😄 I’ll have to do a thread soon
PACIFIC
INTERNATIONA SEATTLE
L BANK

WA
57246
Stipulated Orders and Written
Agreements
Assessment of
Civil Money
Penalty
PACIFIC
INTERNATIONA SEATTLE
L BANK

WA
57246
Stipulated Orders and Written
Agreements
Cease and Desist / Consent
Orders
Pacific
International
Bank
Seattle
WA
57246
Stipulated Orders and Written
Agreements
Removal/Prohi bition Order
Pacific
International
Bank
Seattle
WA
5726
Stipulated Orders and Written
Agreements
Assessment of Civil Money
Penalty;Remov al/Prohibition
Order
Pacific
International
Bank
Seattle
WA
57246
Termination of Desist/ Action
Cease and
Consent
59124
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
It's kind of remarkable, the extent to which every aspect of this whole Venezuela debacle is openly vindicating the most extreme things any leftist has ever said about the relationship between the US and Latin America. www.yahoo.com/news/article...
yahoo.com
Oil investors need democratic Venezuela for stability, opposition leader says
BOGOTA/WASHINGTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Only a "serious, democratic government" can provide the stability needed by investors in Venezuela's oil sector, opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner
1495
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Boldly asking the question, what if the federal government doesn't subsidize gas-powered private vehicle use *enough*?
235134
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
This is insane. When I was in first grade my parents let me walk 3 blocks to school in the mornings, and home after it was over. The independence that I got as a child helped me so much in my life. No parent should face charges for something like this, let alone be convicted!
In June, when Parkinson was preparing for the bar—and also happened to be eight months pregnant with her fifth child—she and her then-youngest, Sam, went for a bike ride, as they often do. They stopped for her son's favorite activity: collecting goose feathers from the path near their community pond. When they got home, he asked if he could walk back and get some more.

Parkinson said yes. It's a short walk, along a sidewalk separated from the street by 10 feet of grass. Sam would have to cross two streets with crosswalks, which she'd seen him do safely hundreds of times—including six times that morning, she says. Off he went while she made lunch.

A passerby saw Sam and alerted security. One of the community's security guards escorted the boy back and gave Parkinson an earful. Pretty soon there were three cop cars, just as many cops, a security vehicle, and two Child Protective Services (CPS) workers at Parkinson's door.

CPS ended up investigating her for abuse and neglect.

The cops, meanwhile, charged her with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. CPS found the allegations substantiated and placed Parkinson on the state's child abuse and neglect registry. She will remain there for seven years.
881158258
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 29/08/2026
What share of architecture programs require students to pass an economics class to graduate? I ask because this story profiles the architect who just persuaded the ICC to ban windowless bedrooms in its model building code. It offers zero consideration of how this will affect building costs or rents
archpaper.com
6012110
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Domination of the state by powerful elites is why I mix a good bit of libertarianism in with my political thinking.
010
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
If I was Jewish I would assume what El-Sayed said before he felt the need to apologize is his true opinion.
310
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 02/09/2026
In which I calculate that NIMBY delays of a single DC building have so far resulted in 286,000 tons of additional CO2, equal to burning enough coal to fill a 16 mile long train
1297
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 01/09/2026
In Seattle, affordability requirements carry no corresponding offsetting benefit for developers, which makes them a tax on housing. In Bellevue, affordability requirements come with a generous property tax exemption that offsets the added cost to developers. Here’s the scoreboard:
0196
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
If you live in Los Angeles, vote for @nithyaforthecity.bsky.social and cease to have your life diminished by the worst mayor in the United States.
225440
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Spokane Rising @spokanerising.com · 30/08/2026
Unambiguously the worst mayor in America.
1433
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Joe Fish @sadbusdriver.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
working paper arguing that the 2019 NYC strengthening of rent control lead to substantially less property maintence and lower housing quality. beaubressler.github.io/papers/rent_...
34110
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Nilo @nilo.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This whole microsaga where Pelosi has gone all in on one of the most anti-urban urban legislators in all of California because of a fit of pique against Scott Weiner has been something to behold.
2786
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
One of the most subtly insane aspects of the unrelenting car dependency we’ve deliberately built across North America is the incredible reluctance we have to remove the driving privilege, even from those who clearly are a danger to themselves & others, because “people have to drive.” #CarDependency
Freeways filled with car congestion.
1014427
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
The Stinkfoot @thestinkfoot.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Seattle needs to pause (or cancel entirely) MHA fees. The fees, combined with high interest rates, make most projects simply not pencil out. Nobody is going to build anything for a loss, and we need reform to get projects back in the pipeline.
0244
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Ryan Packer @typewriteralley.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The new Alki Elementary is getting dedicated tomorrow and the Seattle City Council still hasn't revised the ancient development standards for schools that caused it to get held up by appeals for years. westseattleblog.com/2026/08/prev...
westseattleblog.com
PREVIEW: Dedication ceremony on Wednesday for rebuilt, expanded Alki Elementary School
(WSB photo, July) As we first told you in June, tomorrow's the dedication day for the new Alki Elementary School (3010 59th SW). The community is invited to the 10:30 am ribboncutting - here's the of...
5738
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 09/08/2026
This is why you should be wary of any ostensibly left politics that gives its adherents moral license for cruelty.
118810
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 25/06/2026
Americans and Europeans need to do a building technology knowledge swap: we help them retrofit their old buildings with air conditioning and they help us retrofit ours with elevators.
2338250
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Push The Needle @pushtheneedle.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The city of Seattle is going to waste 6 months “studying” the effects of not upzoning around transit stations under the guise of “equity” and “anti displacement” when they already know this actually causes and exasperates it
3686
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This
010
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
God forbid they should reform zoning and reduce permitting fees.
010
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Councilmember Eddie Lin @cmeddielin.seattle.gov · 26/07/2026
Blaming evil greedy developers is an easy and convenient rhetorical trick, because it’s not very popular to say you’re against providing housing to renters, working families, low-income seniors, young adults, or refugees.
1345
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Councilmember Eddie Lin @cmeddielin.seattle.gov · 26/07/2026
Our City and region are going to continue to grow in population. We can’t stop that even if we wanted to (and that’s not what I want). So where are people going to live? Are they going to live in the City or are we going to cut down more forests and farmland to build suburban housing?
13811
macdiehard.bsky.social @macdiehard.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
The vote is this Tuesday. Contact your councilmember!
000
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Seattle YIMBY @seattleyimby.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
This is UCLA research about California but Seattle is doing the exact same thing with our MHA fees. It’s time to end MHA fees before more damage is done.
0142
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 24/07/2026
The US House’s proposed transportation legislation—sponsored by both Republicans & Democrats—would cut transit funding massively, affecting every state & congressional district. Instead, it focuses on highway building through blank checks to state DOTs
urban.org
How Will Congress’s Proposed Cuts to Transit Funding Affect Your State and Congressional District?
The next transportation reauthorization law will reshape federal transportation spending for years to come.
38529
Reposted by @macdiehard.bsky.social
Scott Berkley @scott-berkley.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Paperwork will not save our planet! Thank you @cmeddielin.bsky.social for making it possible to do good things in Seattle!
082