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MF

@michael-fraser.bsky.social
1.5K followers 638 following 124 posts
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MF @michael-fraser.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
So much criticism of Democrats is just willful delusion about the degeneracy of the median American voters we are faced with.
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Dan Bertolet @danbertolet.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Note to Seattle policymakers who want to expand MHA: The most rigorous study ever done on IZ found that the typical program in CA reduces homebuilding by nearly one third. And all renters pay the price in higher rents caused by the worsened shortage. Unfunded IZ is a regressive policy.
bpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com
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BikinginLA @bikinginla.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I'm too damn tired to express my anger right now. But this man's blood is on Cedillo's hands.
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Next door in Silicon Valley @nextdoorsv.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
oof
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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I love Talarico and hope he wins. But he’s already raised $70M On the flipside, control of critical state legislatures will come down to seats where candidates raise 0.1% of that. I’ve researched the highest leverage swing district candidates you should donate to secure.actblue.com/donate/donat...
secure.actblue.com
Donate to the candidates on the front lines of the fight against MAGA gerrymandering
These are anti-MAGA state candidates in *extremely* close races
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Adam Gurri @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com · 19/09/2026
Edward Drinker Cope, a man with the right name for our era, born too early en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_...
en.wikipedia.org
Edward Drinker Cope - Wikipedia
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Vibecession Forever @ghazelleberner.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I’m not entirely sure how to communicate this to you all, but like, the vast majority of the country is to your right. On probably most issues, and definitely on most social issues. The only ways of dealing with that outside blue areas are: 1. Moderating. 2. Pretending to moderate. 3. Losing.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Remarkable. In 2025, Japan had the lowest number of crash deaths on record (going back to 1948). Now they're poised to have even fewer.
theguardian.com
Japan halves speed limit to 30km/h on all narrow city streets
Speed limit dropped from 60km/h for around 70% of general roads in the hope of making narrow streets of crowded cities safer
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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 05/09/2026
In which I calculate that NIMBYs fighting a single DC apartment building thwart CO2 savings equal to fighting a solar array covering a large shopping mall parking lot, switching 2,384 houses to clean energy, or switching 3,620 ICE cars to EVs.
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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
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Ray Delahanty | CityNerd @nerd4cities.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
You’d be surprised at the streets that are part of the NHS. Your state DOT probably has a map, better go check, be aghast, and then start calling your reps
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Payton Chung @westnorth.com · 27/08/2026
Indeed, immigrants' share of the US population bottomed out in the 1970 census at 4.7%, vs. ~13% in both 1920 and 2010 www.migrationpolicy.org/data-tool/us... Something to note for Boomer NIMBYs nostalgic for the dangerous, underpopulated, cheap cities of their youths
migrationpolicy.org
Number of Immigrants and Their Share of the Total U.S. Population, 1850-2024
This chart displays both the number of immigrants residing in the United States and their share of the total U.S. population.
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Michael Schneider @michaelschneider.com · 27/08/2026
LADOT’s second Toronto barrier installation and the first outside DTLA on Imperial Highway. These will also be used on the Spring/Alameda project, and likely on Ohio. Great option for true Class IV protection. Bravo LADOT — let’s replace all K71’s citywide!
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Shane Phillips @shanedphillips.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Anyone know what's going on with LIHTC development in Colorado? This report got a lot of attention for high costs in CA and high LIHTC costs relative to market-rate in CA and TX, but I don't recall anyone talking about how CO is building LIHTC cheaper than market-rate. www.rand.org/pubs/researc...
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3underscores.bsky.social @3underscores.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New academic study: Inclusionary zoning costs renters $800k per affordable unit created. This is more than the per-unit cost for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. While LIHTC which is largely funded by the rich via income taxes, IZOs are regressive because they place the burden on renters.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 14/08/2026
The entities that engage in building code development get their interests met. In the US, the government and multifamily developers don’t engage much, and the biggest engagers are single-family homebuilders, the timber industry, and the sprinkler industry.
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Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem @burhanazeem.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Over the last decade, Austin rents went up 93%. It was one of the worst rent spikes of any major American city. Then Austin changed its rules.
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MF @michael-fraser.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Imagine a world in which the public treated traffic violence w/ the same import and urgency they treat violent deaths from terrorism
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jimmybot @jimmybot.com · 31/07/2026
There is a problem in the Vision Zero community of repeating a disproven and tired line of discounting traffic enforcement. Turning off traffic enforcement created a disaster. Road design didn't get worse yet crash deaths skyrocketed. NYCDOT found 2 cell phone violations / year = 40X KSI crash risk!
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Joe Fish @sadbusdriver.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Mini-thread on the Vancouver vacancy tax (and resulting study). The tax is Vancouver's 2017 empty homes tax; the study from CD Howe looks at its impact. The study claims the tax had large impacts on vacancies and minimal impacts on prices. As I'll discuss, I think there are problems with the study.
cdhowe.org
Ripple Effects: The Impact of an Empty-Homes Tax on the Housing Market
The Canadian housing market is experiencing an unprecedented crisis. One solution being explored is the adoption of demand-side measures like Vancouver’s 2017 empty-homes tax. This E-Brief evaluates t...
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John Boo! 🏳️‍🌈 @jsoo.refl.club · 22/07/2026
Campism is only one of many red-brown vectors. Others include: - labor protectionism leading to anti-immigrant hatred - woo-to-conspiracism - related but different, anti-empiricism - authoritarianisms - related but different, accelerationism - GENDER, interacting with every other item
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Dr. Samantha Hancox-Li @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com · 21/07/2026
yeah that's right. here's my national service take. we're not gonna be conscripting eighteen year olds. we're gonna conscript the olds. when you retire you gotta do two years washing windows
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Ryan Radia @ryanradia.com · 21/07/2026
www.buzzfeed.com/jeremiahdjoh...
buzzfeed.com
I got: Forced Agricultural Laborer - Find What Your Job Will Be After The Revolution!
Once we’ve completed the revolution and implemented a new socialist society, what will your job be? Find out in just four questions!
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Jacob Wasserman @jacoblwasserman.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Covered by the K Line North planned stop. But yes, private transit and (pre-SB 79) zoning laws are at the very edge of readable into the law: escholarship.org/uc/item/7g41...
escholarship.org
"Stop” and Think about It: How the Different Interpretations of What Counts as a “Major Transit Stop" in California Make a Difference
Author(s): Wasserman, Jacob L.; Barrall, Aaron; Millard-Ball, Adam; Lee, Amy | Abstract: “Major transit stop”: how these three words are defined determines what can be built where, throughout much of ...
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 17/07/2026
We need a term for the rhetorical practice of inventing a theoretical marginalized person who would be harmed by a broadly-beneficial policy that you dislike because it would inconvenience you.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
I looked into this a bit for my book, and while AAA's methodology is proprietary and not publicly available, I think they might actually be underestimating the total cost by excluding second-order expenses like parking.
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Joe Linton @lintonjoe.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The city's rendering of the Wilshire street closure west of MacArthur Park
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Joe Fish @sadbusdriver.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
housing charts are my coping mechanism
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Nick Andert @nickandert.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
youtu.be
The REAL Story Behind the LAX People Mover Fiasco
YouTube video by nandert
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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 03/07/2026
Is your city suffering under America's huge heat dome? Want some relief? Parking lots create massive heat islands. We can do a lot to fix that. If you can, grab a cold drink, find a cool spot, and make a plan to depave your neighborhood. Here are four steps to get started.
A pair of images. The caption reads "the photo on the right shows a UCLA student in a parking lot in Huntington park. The image using the sensor on the left, shows how temperatures can rise in parking lots due to asphalt and cars. (Photo courtesy UCLA study "Improving microclimates in Los Angeles' heat vulnerable communities, 2016-2017."). In the photo on the right, the student is standing in a long unshaded strip mall parking lot. The image on the left shows the heat sensor image of the same scene, color-coded by heat level. The asphalt is colored red, indicating very high temperatures, while patches of shade are colored green, indicating significantly lower temperatures.
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Evergreen Intel @vcdgf555.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Amazing things may be happening in Crimea.
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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Thanks to @stephenjacobsmith.com for suggesting this paper: "Magic Numbers and Golden Rules" Some pretty clever reasoning about "magic" numbers and thresholds in fire regulations, something than can be said for a lot of arbitrary regulations in general. publications.iafss.org/publications...
Magic Numbers and Golden Rules
MARGARET LAW AND PAULA BEEVER
Arup Fire
Ove Arup and Partners
13 Fitzroy Street
London W1 P 6BQ
ABSTRACT
The application of fire safety research using engineering methods is frustrated by
conventional attitudes. The desire of researchers to always achieve a greater level of
understanding means that they cannot recognise that satisfactory engineering solutions
may be achieved with partial information. The desire of regulators to have simple
rules and tests for administrative convenience contrasts with the need of designers to
have maximum flexibility in order to arrive at optimum solutions. The magic numbers
embodied in regulations are accepted without question whilst any engineering solution
is subject to a disproportionately high standard of proof. To move forward, rules
need to have an engineering basis and to be goal related: the purpose of the rules
needs to be understood by both researchers and regulators.
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Joe Cohen @cohenhouse.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Compare LA's 1930 zoning map to 2026: - Areas that were not-yet-zoned in 1930 were predominately added as single-family - Most of the downzoning to R1 that occurred was in South LA or NE LA
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Chris @chrisbybikes.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Every left nimby who says new housing is 'trick down housing" also believes that banning airbnb and a vacancy tax would get more units back on the market that would bring down rents.
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Idothethinking @idothethinking.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Should be legal citywide
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patrick.kennedy @thedotcity.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Cities which lost the most real estate to highway rights-of-way lost the most population when grouping by amount of highway ROW to filter out the noise.
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Fischer 🛠️🚇 @fischer.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
study: not only do apartments reduce emissions through improved energy efficiency and better travel patterns, they also have significantly less embodied carbon per resident than low density housing because they use building materials more efficiently www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
chart showing ghg emissions per capita of different housing types. high rise buildings have less than half the emissions of detached housing
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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
I haven't studied it in detail, but from what I have seen, the natural experiment that Buenos Aires ran over the past six years seems like yet more clear evidence that rent control limits supply and (ironically) raises rents.
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Aleksandra Vaca @transiticsnews.com · 23/06/2026
1. She changed her ID to comply with Kansas’ new anti-trans law. Now, the state wants to put her in jail for having an inaccurate license. Kris Ripper is being charged with driving with an invalid license—a class B misdemeanor—after a cop refused to believe the ID the state forced on her was valid.
transiticsnews.com
She Changed Her ID to Comply with Kansas’ New Anti-Trans Law. Now, the State is Trying to Put Her in Jail for Having an 'Inaccurate' License.
A Kansas trans woman is being charged with driving with an invalid license after a police officer refused to believe the license the state is forcing her to carry was valid. She won’t be the last.
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 17/06/2026
I do not think that a company that owns 200,000 apartments in a nation with forty six million rental housing units can be reasonably described as a “monopoly.” You cannot exert pricing power by controlling 0.0043% of the market.
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Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
RAW MILK TIME I was surprised to find most of the "raw milk cures ___" talking points from the last 20+ years come from one (1) raw milk dairy farmer in California. Let's get to know him!
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Chris @chrisbybikes.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
You can just run over a 92 year old in a parking lot in this country and say "whoops" and the cops let you off. I hate it.
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Soupster @soupster16.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
This thread is on why the massacre of protestors in Iran on January 8th and 9th may have killed 70-80,000 people, more than twice the widely understood maximum of 30,000.
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Urban Land Rent 🇸🇴🚰 @urbanlandrent.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Also just to put a point on this here has been my experience renting in Sac: 2021: Moved into a studio in a new building where I paid $1800 2022: Moved into an older 1 bdrm where I paid $1700 2023: Because rents were falling, I negotiated a reduction to $1600 Now I’m moving somewhere cheaper.
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Nithya Raman @nithyaforthecity.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Why is Los Angeles spending millions of dollars fighting to block affordable housing during a housing crisis? We have the highest rent burdened population in America, the result of years of decisions motivated by politics rather than the needs of Angelenos. That ends when I’m mayor.
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MF @michael-fraser.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Wolf Hall The Beauty of the Husband The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
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Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 15/05/2026
Exciting new Transit Priority Atlas from @chittimarco.bsky.social & NYU Marron provides an exciting look at mechanisms to speed transit on surface streets, including a large set of strategies & toolkits, all beautifully illustrated! tpa.transitcosts.com
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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
It turns out that fining people for speeding makes them less likely to speed.
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Nick Andert @nickandert.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Oh there's a 2nd part to this:
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