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Nathaniel Barrett

@ncoxbarrett.bsky.social
1K followers 1K following 1.7K posts

Dallas developer, urban orchardist, cargo bike rider, parking reformer. Building a better Dallas, one lot at a time.

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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 1h
Looking forward to signing this petition opposing one of the dumbest efforts in Dallas in recent memory. Worse than the Calatrava bridges, worse than Patriot's Crossing, maybe worse than the Trinity Toll Road.
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Robert Wilonsky @robertwilonsky.bsky.social · 5h
From Lawrence Wright's 2019 "God Bless Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State":
An excerpt from Lawrence Wright's "God Bless Texas" about the significance of Stanley Marcus. Or, Mister Stanley, as we knew him.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 7h
Neiman Marcus closed its downtown Dallas flagship on Wednesday. The store played a notable role in the history of desegregation in Dallas. Previously, Black shoppers across the US could enter department stores, but they weren't allowed to try on clothes without adhering to certain conditions. 🧵
A notice about the Neiman Marcus store opening in downtown Dallas.An old photo of the Dallas flagship.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 7h
The problem with Kleberg (and all southeast Dallas) is there's conflicting visions for it: The neighborhood association types want it to be a country livin' reserve. Developers want to build homes. The numerous industrial users mostly want to be left alone. Nobody's happy.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 8h
How to lose an election in new and exciting ways. www.kera.org/2026/10/02/t...
kera.org
Trump tomato tariffs could spell the end of free chips, salsa at restaurants - KERA
The 17% tariff on Mexican tomato imports, combined with bad weather in Florida and Mexico, has caused the price of salsa ingredients to spike in recent months.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 22h
My wife speaking about our son: "I was never so conniving...where does he get this?!" Me: *nervously raises hand*
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 22h
Did not enjoy September weather. It was record setting bad.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Interesting that the response to $10,000 checks directly to residents is "That's a bribe" while roughly the same amount for a water tower replacement is viewed as a community investment. Could be the need is different (Turkey, population 275 has a lot of need) but might be something to that.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Oooh this a good real estate swindle. Looks like the hotel won't be renovated but we get a sordid tale.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm not lovin' it. www.engadget.com/2272211/mcdo...
engadget.com
McDonald's is reportedly using AI to "dynamically" price its burgers - Engadget
Its food isn't the only thing leaving a bad taste in customers' mouths.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
What gets built in the real world is just like the below but they just leave out the foot bridges.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Dallas' Single Stair working group heard from Pew this morning on their research on multi-family and single stair fire safety. Seems pretty clear that what's really dangerous is the status quo.
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Zander🚈🔰 @kohiwonomu.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
how darkly funny would it be if DART’s incoming CEO, who the board members insist to me is actually brilliant at his job and the victim of a smear campaign, got indicted in Florida before day one of his job here
actionnewsjax.com
Florida Attorney General’s Office is now investigating JTA
Action News Jax has learned The Florida Attorney General’s Office is now investigating the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The people of Cities: Skylines continue to invent pedestrian hell from first principles.
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Txnewsprincess @txnewsprincess.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
We are apparently going to get a lot of rain this week, so ahead of that we published this. Check out the little-known Dallas Water Utilities map that you should bookmark. www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/...
dmagazine.com
How to Navigate This Week’s Heavy Rain and Flooding in Dallas
North Texas could receive 2 to 5 inches of rain through Friday, with isolated totals near 8 inches. Here’s what to expect and how to avoid flooded roads.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Designer furniture will really be $5,000 and look like a pile of pool noodles.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Maybe they should have called it a "Coasian Bargain", that'd win them over. www.tomshardware.com/tech-industr...
tomshardware.com
Data center developer offers $10,000 checks to 4,500 households if the 1,300-acre facility is approved — locals push back over noise and 'bribe' concerns
Report says that many residents are rejecting the offer due to fears of noise, falling property values, and mistrust.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"The driver too was not under the influence, nor was he speeding. Even if he were directly at fault, convicting him would not prevent another death like my father’s." It takes a big person to see this in the midst of personal tragedy. I don't know that I could do it. www.sltrib.com/opinion/comm...
sltrib.com
Voices: Deaths like my father’s are not anomalies. They are the bloody cost of our car-obsessed world.
“We can, we must, take action now, before some new senseless death proves the need for change all over again,” Grace Benfell writes in an op-ed.
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grace @gracemachine.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For obvious reasons, I haven't talked much about it on here, but my father died suddenly while cycling. Grateful to @sltrib.com for letting me eulogize him and write about the absolute moral necessity of making roads safer for pedestrians and bikers.
sltrib.com
Voices: Deaths like my father’s are not anomalies. They are the bloody cost of our car-obsessed world.
“We can, we must, take action now, before some new senseless death proves the need for change all over again,” Grace Benfell writes in an op-ed.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Nice to see jobs around Downtown Dallas.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Yowza. At least we're soaking up those ad dollars that could be going to other races.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
AI is coming for my job (finally).
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
There may be a kernel of truth in the "concentrating poverty" argument, but it never seems to go where you'd expect. Just somebody else's problem I guess.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Project owner says it's to be the first completed under Dallas' new 8-unit IRC. My only quibble is that this was already possible under Dallas' adoption of the IEBC (I've done a 2-to-5 unit conversion) but it may be that going through the IRC permitting process is simpler than the IEBC.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Absent regulation, we're headed quickly for a future of "Battlin' Buyer's Bots" vs "Maraudin' Merchant's Models" to negotiate all transactions, otherwise you'll just be just outgunned by agents. There's an SMBC out there about this I swear.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Clearing out a file cabinet and found a very to the point letter from our son.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Clearing out a file cabinet and found a very to the point letter from our son.
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Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 27/09/2026
It’s very unclear and that’s part of the problem! If any architect, engineer, or other researcher would like to do the work to figure out where exactly they’re required (analyze the code, interview design professionals and developers, etc.), reach out! I could fund such a thing
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Adventures in Espalier (Turnbull Pear on Betulifolia)
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Eric Heimlich @eheimlich.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
80 at noon in dallas? Yes please
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Txnewsprincess @txnewsprincess.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Save Dallas City Hall Coalition gathered this morning at City Hall to announce their latest effort: a charter amendment that would codify that the city’s seat of government is 1500 Marilla, and that would require an election to move city operations away from City Hall.
dmagazine.com
Watch now: Save Dallas City Hall will attempt a referendum
The Save Dallas City Hall Coalition is gathering signatures for a May referendum that could require voter approval before operations leave 1500 Marilla.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Baked pumpkins for all.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"Mass. voters will decide whether to allow single-family homes to be built on any property...that is at least 5,000 square feet...with 50 feet of street frontage and access to public infrastructure" Unlike any of the homes in the picture. 50x100 is such a low bar. www.governing.com/urban/for-th...
governing.com
For the First Time, Zoning Reform Goes Directly to State Voters
Massachusetts voters will decide whether to allow single-family homes on smaller lots. Supporters hope that a successful measure will demonstrate broad support for more pro-housing policies in the sta...
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Also takeout trash, it is trash day and you don't want to have an overflowing bin for a week.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
At could anything possibly affect whether someone would vote for Paxton? You know what you're getting. Maybe murder on television?
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Just another day in 5% turnout land. "The recall effort was spurred by several zoning cases, including a multifamily housing project at North Boulevard Terrace. [which allowed] the developer to convert 3.2 acres on North Boulevard Terrace from single-family to multifamily"
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Chuck's basic argument is "Though supply can make rents lower than they otherwise would have been it won't make housing broadly affordable. Demand subsidies are insufficient to meet the scale of need because the system itself causes high costs" and lists his policy responses which imo are not great.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Classic car sighting
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
One of the cruelest aspects of our state will at last become a little less so.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Former Dallas Mayors think Mayors should have more power, news at 11. (None of them were very good btw)
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Reading "The Hobbit" to the 7yo: Me: "There were five armies" 7yo: "Is this the battle of five armies?" Me: "Um, yes." 7yo, leaps up and shouts down the hall: "DAD'S READING THE PART ABOUT THE BATTLE OF FIVE ARMIES" All the other kids come in to hear the big climax. Reading to kids is great.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The sad thing that this might be less bad than what we actually have (impossible configurations notwithstanding).
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The more I look at this the more cursed it gets.
An AI image showing Dallas with all of the highways in the wrong places.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Someone wasn't enjoying unloading the silverware.
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steven monacelli @stevanzetti.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Scooplet: after Texas State Representative Brian Harrison and megadonor Monty Bennett publicly complained about the University of North Texas having a large archive of primary sources related to LGBTQ history in North Texas, UNT has taken down a website about it, and Rep. Harrison is taking credit.
First Brian Harrison post Second Brian Harrison post Monty Bennett postHarrison takes credit
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Colakovic said he didn't want to wait until Election Day for fear of [ICE]. He is a naturalized U.S. citizen who moved from Bosnia... “This echoed what I saw in Bosnia,” he said of the [ICE] agents who repeatedly swept...his neighborhood. “These were my neighbors, my friends,” being arrested.
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"Wimberley said the neighbors are not NIMBYs...and said they oppose the developer’s plan. "We had no problem with more with more development, but we just don't want something that's out of character with the neighborhood," Wimberley said." www.dallasnews.com/business/rea...
dallasnews.com
Centurion American alters Walnut Hill project after resident opposition
Change to patio home project marks third change after pushback from neighbors.
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sick public transit, gloria @seung.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
not the first time Nat Ford was flirting with a death spiral. it's shameful that so much of the reporting from the San Francisco press -- like this longform feature on 2010 Muni's state of crisis by @esksf.bsky.social -- can only be found on Wayback Machine web.archive.org/web/20100903...
web.archive.org
The Muni Death Spiral - Page 1 - News - San Francisco - SF Weekly
In 1912, San Francisco founded its municipal railway as the realization of a radical notion: In an era of private for-profit rail lines, the residents of this city were given a publicly funded transit service formed spe
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sick public transit, gloria @seung.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
would love to read Dallas/Texas reporters follow up with the new DART prez Nat Ford and ask what holy mess did you leave behind at Jacksonville
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Nathaniel Barrett @ncoxbarrett.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Oh cool. www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/s...
actionnewsjax.com
‘She’s lying’: Former JTA board member blasts Mayor; calls for criminal investigation into agency
A former Jacksonville Transportation Authority board member is speaking out 18 months after being removed from the board by Mayor Donna Deegan, saying warnings she raised about the agency’s finances a...
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