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Michael Friedrich

@mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social
332 followers 391 following 152 posts

writing about the politics of cities and housing for The Baffler, The New Republic, & others linktr.ee/mfriedrichnyc

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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
In print now in the stacked April issue of @prospect.org.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
In December 1984, a white New Yorker stepped onto a downtown 2 train and shot four black teenagers after one asked him for $5. The shooting signaled a new mood of urban exclusion, following decades of crisis. I wrote about two books on the legacy of the incident. prospect.org/2026/04/09/a...
prospect.org
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The legacy of Bernie Goetz, the so-called subway vigilante, reveals how a 1980s shooting reflected the race-fueled rightward lurch of Reagan's America that lives on today. I reviewed two new books on the incident for @prospect.org. prospect.org/2026/04/09/a...
prospect.org
The Legacy of the Subway Vigilante - The American Prospect
Two new books reveal how a 1980s shooting reflected rising right-wing attitudes in a rapidly gentrifying New York.
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The American Prospect @prospect.org · 09/04/2026
A few days before Christmas of 1984, the self-employed electrical engineer stepped onto a graffitied downtown 2 train and shot four Black teenagers after one asked him for $5. The shooting signaled a new mood of urban exclusion, following decades of crisis.
buff.ly
The Legacy of the Subway Vigilante - The American Prospect
Two new books reveal how a 1980s shooting reflected rising right-wing attitudes in a rapidly gentrifying New York.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The legacy of Bernie Goetz, the so-called subway vigilante, reveals how a 1980s shooting reflected the race-fueled rightward lurch of Reagan's America that lives on today. I reviewed two new books on the incident for @prospect.org. prospect.org/2026/04/09/a...
prospect.org
The Legacy of the Subway Vigilante - The American Prospect
Two new books reveal how a 1980s shooting reflected rising right-wing attitudes in a rapidly gentrifying New York.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
There are two new books out on Bernhard Goetz, the subway vigilante. Why does a tabloid incident in the 1980s have such resonance? To reviewer Michael Friedrich, it prefigured the race-fueled rightward lurch into Trump's America. prospect.org/2026/04/09/a...
prospect.org
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
"We neoconned our way into this mess and we're going to neocon our way out of it."
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
I have a new piece out today in Phenomenal World, on the economics of a freeze in NYC regulated rents. www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/aft...
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Jason Linkins @dceiver.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
thinking we need to suspend Godwin’s Law for the foreseeable future
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
It turns out that data shows the negative impacts of luxury construction that low-income tenants constantly point out based on experience. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/r...
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I went on @marketplace.org to talk about my @bloomberglp.bsky.social story on how community-led tool libraries, founded on the principles of mutual aid, are increasingly becoming a resource during climate disasters. www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...
marketplace.org
Tool libraries lend out hope during disasters
After Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, North Carolina, in 2024, the local tool library stepped in.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
It turns out that data shows the negative impacts of luxury construction that low-income tenants constantly point out based on experience. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/r...
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Will Stancil @whstancil.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
By the way, for those of you not in MN: Homan’s strategy was to withdraw some agents, so it felt like we were in the denouement of the crisis, and then escalate hard against observers. They’re being incredibly aggressive with observers now. National media may not want to check out just yet
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
In this economy, every story is a housing story.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
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Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein @robinks.com · 30/01/2026
I traveled home to Minnesota to report on the rolling fallout of Operation Metro Surge. Both the occupation and neighborhood responses was breathtaking in scale. History in the making. www.nybooks.com/online/2026/... Thanks to the @economichardship.bsky.social for support
nybooks.com
Fifteen Below Zero | Robin Kaiser-Schatzlein
Driving to St. Paul from the airport you pass under Fort Snelling, an enormous limestone structure from the early nineteenth century. In November 1862,
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Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Gentrification, without lots of long-term affordable housing in place to maintain diversity, is likely to lead to resegregated exclusion and NIMBYism. Example #3496 (Kirkwood is a mostly gentrified, formerly predominately-Black neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta.)
atlantaciviccircle.org
Kirkwood NPU rejects 47-microunit complex for elderly unhoused Atlantans
The chorus of “no” votes doesn't mean the plan to build long-term housing for unhoused people is finished.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
In this economy, every story is a housing story.
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Daniel Aldrich @danielaldrich.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Honored to be quoted in new article: Storm Recovery? That’s a Job for a Tool Library TL;DR: As federal emergency assistance dries up, community tool-lending programs have emerged as a hyperlocal way to fill the gap and improve climate resilience www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Storm Recovery? That’s a Job for a Tool Library
As federal emergency assistance dries up, community tool-lending programs have emerged as a hyperlocal way to fill the gap and improve climate resilience.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
As climate change spurs more frequent and damaging natural disasters, the Trump administration has retreated from providing relief. In this context, tool libraries have grown into more than just an asset for DIY home projects. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Storm Recovery? That’s a Job for a Tool Library
As federal emergency assistance dries up, community tool-lending programs have emerged as a hyperlocal way to fill the gap and improve climate resilience.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
When emergencies arise, coming together to lend and fix tools can represent a radical act: caring for each other where the state has fallen short. I wrote for @bloomberglp.bsky.social about how community tool libraries are responding to climate disasters. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Storm Recovery? That’s a Job for a Tool Library
As federal emergency assistance dries up, community tool-lending programs have emerged as a hyperlocal way to fill the gap and improve climate resilience.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
When emergencies arise, coming together to lend and fix tools can represent a radical act: caring for each other where the state has fallen short. I wrote for @bloomberglp.bsky.social about how community tool libraries are responding to climate disasters. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Storm Recovery? That’s a Job for a Tool Library
As federal emergency assistance dries up, community tool-lending programs have emerged as a hyperlocal way to fill the gap and improve climate resilience.
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Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · 16/01/2026
I was at bankruptcy court for three hours yesterday and listened to more of the hearing online after that. The lawyers for my current landlord and the presumptive buyer were SO mad about organized tenants so I personally think every rent-stabilized building should form a union :)
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Thomas Birmingham @thomasbirm.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
For @thenation.com and @typeinvestigations.org, I looked into American Landmark, a major landlord filing evictions far more than the national average. I found they are owned by an Israeli company with ties to the IDF, including during the Gaza genocide. (1/10) www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Today's must-read by @thomasbirm.bsky.social: a major corporate landlord is fueling homelessness across the U.S. *and* the mass displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Israeli company owns tens of thousands of apartments in the South, filing evictions at nine times the national average.
thenation.com
The Eviction Kings
One of Israel’s biggest companies is taking over huge swaths of US real estate—and tenants are paying the price.
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Stephen Lurie @luriethereal.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
Many Jewish institutional leaders have spent the past few months promising that New York Jews will be in danger if Zohran wins. We’re about to see exactly how wrong they were. Will they admit it? empty-brain.ghost.io/will-jewish-...
empty-brain.ghost.io
Will Jewish leaders atone for their sins next year?
Falsifiable fearmongering and the Zohran Mamdani election. Maybe because they’re clergy so bad behavior takes on an fancier form, or because their worst conduct has played out in the shadow of the Hi...
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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Under Trump, the draconian future of homelessness policy is coming into focus: mass internment. Utah is building a 16-acre site to detain up to 1,300 homeless people inside locked "accountability centers." This is profoundly alarming. Vital reporting from @ellenbarry.bsky.social and Jason DeParle:
nytimes.com
In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape
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Tony Zombie-ano 🎃 @tonydamiano.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Published my first Op-Ed w/ Professor Ed Goetz on how the national narrative about Minneapolis misses how zoning and market rate housing are necessary but not sufficient to help lower-income renters 🧵 www.startribune.com/twin-cities-...
startribune.com
Opinion | We’re seeing haves and have-nots with Minneapolis rents
While the housing cost burden is easing overall, it’s not the case for lower-income renters, the authors write.
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talia jane @taliajane.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Nobody wants it as a story but I have multiple NYPD sources who voted for Mamdani, are eager for his win in November, and who say their colleagues quietly feel the same. They like that he wants NYPD to focus on crime, not quality of life enforcement.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
A group of tenants with rent debt are refusing to pay Equity Residential, one of the largest corporate landlords. The campaign’s goals are to win debt cancellation and spur regulatory action to hold corporate landlords accountable. Michael Friedrich reports: prospect.org/infrastructu...
prospect.org
Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord
The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.
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Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential prospect.org/infrastructu...
prospect.org
Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord
The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Real this lovely essay on Krasznahorkai by @luriethereal.bsky.social
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Stephen Lurie @luriethereal.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Well it’s not long sentence, but I did get to write this essay for @newrepublic.com! I strongly encourage you to join us. newrepublic.com/article/2015...
newrepublic.com
The Vindication of László Krasznahorkai
The Hungarian author’s intricate and complex style has aggravated some and deterred many. Until now.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Imagine real estate-backed securities, but on the blockchain and totally unregulated. What could go wrong?
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Many Americans racked up rent debt during the pandemic, often due to corporate landlords’ predatory practices. Now, strikers argue that their debts to Equity Residential are uncollectible under consumer protection laws. Read my report at @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...
prospect.org
Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord
The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
A group of former tenants has organized the first rent debt strike in U.S. history. They are refusing to pay back unjust debts to Equity Residential, a corporate landlord accused of widespread misconduct. I wrote about their campaign for @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...
prospect.org
Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord
The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.
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Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Atlanta has been been rapidly gentrifying for years & seen tremendous growth in property values since 2011. Yet the public schools starve. And now Mayor wants to extend its tax increment districts, which include some of city’s hottest areas, for 25 years, diverting more $ from schools. #AtlantaWay
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
A group of former tenants has organized the first rent debt strike in U.S. history. They are refusing to pay back unjust debts to Equity Residential, a corporate landlord accused of widespread misconduct. I wrote about their campaign for @prospect.org. prospect.org/infrastructu...
prospect.org
Rent Debtors Strike Against Abusive Corporate Landlord
The Debt Collective is leading the charge against the real estate behemoth Equity Residential.
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 29/08/2025
there is no question in my mind that rfk jr is the most dangerous person in this administration and that his eugenicist ideology threatens the lives of millions of people www.advocate.com/politics/dem...
advocate.com
RFK Jr.’s damage to the CDC is ‘past the point of no return,’ Dr. Demetre Daskalakis warns
“The CDC you knew is over,” the infectious diseases doctor told The Advocate. “Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged.”
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
The Trump administration has deployed armed troops and masked paramilitaries to brutally kidnap people from U.S. streets. That is why, as a Democratic member of Congress, I am proposing a bill that provides these agents with a free subscription to the Headspace meditation app.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
In the 1970s, landlords burned their buildings for profit, displacing thousands of tenants in poor neighborhoods. For @thebaffler.com, I wrote about @benchansfield.bsky.social's excellent “Born in Flames” and the consequences of the arson wave. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...
thebaffler.com
Ring of Fire | Michael Friedrich
A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.
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The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 22/08/2025
“Born in Flames” investigates the wave of arson that swept across the Bronx in the 1970s—and the landlords who were often behind it. @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social reviews the history of white-collar criminals run amok.
thebaffler.com
Ring of Fire | Michael Friedrich
A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
I wrote about “Born in Flames,” a new history of 1970s arson-for-profit, financialization of housing, and the consequences for tenants, for @thebaffler.com.
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Bench Ansfield @benchansfield.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
So grateful for this very sharp review of Born in Flames in @thebaffler.com Thank you @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social ! !
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New York Review of Architecture @nyreviewofarch.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
“There are, of course, some experiences that you just cannot realize without the paternalism of private enterprise.” @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social‬ puts out park conservancies to pasture in NYRA no. 46/47. nyra.nyc/articles/cen...
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Michael Friedrich @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
In the 1970s, landlords burned their buildings for profit, displacing thousands of tenants in poor neighborhoods. For @thebaffler.com, I wrote about @benchansfield.bsky.social's excellent “Born in Flames” and the consequences of the arson wave. thebaffler.com/latest/ring-...
thebaffler.com
Ring of Fire | Michael Friedrich
A new book explores the incentives that sparked an arson wave in the Bronx during the 1970s.
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The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 21/08/2025
In the 1970s, a wave of arson swept across the Bronx. As @mfriedrichnyc.bsky.social writes in a review of “Born in Flames,” it helped pave the way for today’s highly financialized, boom-and-bust real estate cycles.
thebaffler.com
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