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Chris Beam

@nerdkid93.bsky.social
223 followers 73 following 87 posts

Bike commuter, runner, #YIMBY, rock climber @ Ascend, active in Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, and North Way Christian Community member

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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
Let's make it a bike tunnel!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
If the census says our workforce is growing, I'd really hope to see our city's revenue increasing too. Otherwise, what's the point? Is it even correct to say our workforce is growing?
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
@chrisbriem.bsky.social if this graph is true, wouldn't Pittsburgh's collected LST in 2024 for employees within the City of Pittsburgh be significantly higher in 2024 than 2018? Rachael Heisler's Annual Report states that we collected 12.4 million last year in LSTs compared to 15.5 million in 2018!
Page 163 of 2024's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report found here: https://www.pittsburghpa.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/controller/documents/city-of-pittsburgh-acfr-final-2024-5.pdf
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Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 07/07/2025
So-called “inclusionary zoning”—the requirement that landlords rent new units to poor tenants at a loss as a condition of building new homes—is a tax on new housing that worsens the housing affordability crisis it is ostensibly designed to address. It’s bad policy and we should stop doing it.
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Amy "rides an ebike" Zaiss @thewildamy.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
I can only dream and hope for a day when Pittsburgh PRT gets their act together and communicates with riders as much as WMATA does 😩
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
I wish so badly Pittsburgh had these in our denser neighborhoods. Our city would be so much cleaner without small trash cans constantly blowing over or getting knocked over by cars and driven over. Such a QoL win
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Nice map! I think the general contractor for this is containerhomesusa.com if you include that in your map at all
containerhomesusa.com
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Originally announced almost 2 years ago: triblive.com/news/top-sto...
triblive.com
Bloomfield home will be fabricated with shipping containers for $825K
Six shipping containers stacked and welded together will become a house in Bloomfield. You read that correctly. Rebekah Siegel and Eric Smooke of Siegel Smooke Holdings LLC, both Allderdice High Schoo...
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
I can't believe the dumb shipping container home is still happening! I'm all for wacky home designs and letting people do whatever they want, but I can't imagine this home will perform as well as something like what modulehousing.com builds. This won't even have a basement, it's slab-on-grade!
A picture of a home under construction being built out of 6 used shipping containers. The sign on the front purports this will be the first such home made from shipping containers.
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James Santelli @santelli.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
🚨 CITYNERD PITTSBURGH VIDEO ON YOUTUBE 🚨
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Mitchell @mryannagy.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
I welcome all City Nerd viewers to our city.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
People do genuinely move away from Pittsburgh due to the weather, but I love it here! Not too hot, not too cold, and my plants are very happy. We're definitely not full though. Please move here people and start walking, biking, and transiting around! Degrowth is the enemy. Make SWPA powerful again!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
I'm so sad to see this project die. It would have allowed over 250 households to live in walking distance to the East Liberty's business district and preserved over 50 low-income homes for decades. We cannot continue to allow new housing to die on the vine in the midst of a housing crisis!
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Ray Delahanty | CityNerd @nerd4cities.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Pittsburgh has been hiding in plain sight and I will not stand for it nebula.tv/videos/cityn...
nebula.tv
CityNerd — Pittsburgh: the Affordable Urbanism Mecca?
I love to use data to analyze which cities give you the most urban amenities for your housing dollar, and Pittsburgh always seems to show up. But data is one thing; actually seeing and experiencing a ...
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Mitchell @mryannagy.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
My source tells me this is a pilot program for the 2026 draft, it is gonna be lit!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Hopefully some updates on statewide public transit funding will be discussed here
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
That does seem like the kind of term that might struggle with prior trademarks. Hopefully they get it squared away soon!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
I do not understand why someone would run a small business from downtown if they did not plan to benefit at all from the people who arrive there via bus. Like, there are cheaper places to rent literally anywhere else in the city with worse bus access!
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Jon Geeting @jongeeting.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Some of us are starting a Pro-Housing Philly grassroots pro-housing advocacy group here, and we're having a kick-off event next week on 6/3 at the Pen & Pencil Club. If you have liked or retweeted 5 pro-housing tweets in the last year, you have to come! actionnetwork.org/events/pro-h...
actionnetwork.org
Pro-Housing Philly Kick-Off Event!
Hi everyone! Thanks for staying up to date with our first event, coming up on Tuesday, June 3 at 6:30pm at the Pen and Pencil Club. Our goal from this first meeting is to give folks a chance to get to...
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Though frankly, when friends visit, I just use the app to purchase multiple tickets at once, one of my favorite features of the new system!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
My hope is that with these new fare cards for the Masabi QR Code readers, we also get tap-to-pay with cEMV cards as well! It would be so nice for our visiting friends to not need an app or cash to pay for rides if they have a credit/debit card instead! www.masabi.com/full-fare-co...
masabi.com
Justride Fare Payments Platform - Fare Payments-as-a-Service for Public Transport. Transport Ticketing.
Justride, leading fare payments platform for public transport. Account-Based Ticketing, contactless ticketing, mobile ticketing, MaaS.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Tunnel monsters are the perfect case study of traffic calming. Narrowing a road instinctively causes people to drive more slowly and more carefully.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Any Ouigo trains on the itinerary?
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
@governor.pa.gov @lgaustindavis.bsky.social I hope Pennsylvania can show Illinois how much better we do multimodal transportation with a similar record breaking investment in bike lanes, sidewalks, and trails!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Not really. I could probably make some assumptions based on age, but it would be just confirming my priors. Only 1 transplant told me when they moved, and it was a Morningside resident who moved here from Minnesota in 2022.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
For what it's worth, I was out canvassing for Corey and met a lot of generational PGHers who were very supportive of O'Connor in Carrick, Morningside, Highland Park, and Bloomfield. Many of the transplants I met complained about Corey "accepting MAGA money" and wanted to nationalize the election
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
My family was 2 of them! What a great time, even if we only tied!
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Pro-Housing Pittsburgh @prohousingpgh.org · 14/05/2025
Over 1,000 homes are on hold in Pittsburgh because of the Gainey administration’s flawed inclusionary zoning proposal. We warned this would happen. They denied it. Now families are stuck waiting—and the city is pretending it’s not their fault.
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Pro-Housing Pittsburgh @prohousingpgh.org · 06/05/2025
Today, Pro-Housing Pittsburgh announced our endorsements for the May 20th Democratic primary. These candidates best exemplify our pro-housing vision for Pittsburgh, and we encourage all of our members to vote for them in the upcoming primary!
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh Endorsed Candidates

Corey O’Connor — Mayor of Pittsburgh
Kim Salinetro — City Council District 2
Anthony Coghill — City Council District 4
Erika Strassburger — City Council District 8
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Thank you to Councilors @barb4pgh.bsky.social, Wilson, and @charlandbob.bsky.social for writing/sponsoring this legislation to reduce obstacles to housing here in Pittsburgh. Thank you to @prohousingpgh.org members and allies for testifying in support of this as well! Let's do parking minimums next!
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M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
"Estimating the model using policy variation and microdata on development from 2003 to 2015, I find a citywide marginal fiscal cost of $1.6 million per low-income unit." Wow, funded affordability mandates are expensive. h/t @cselmendorf.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/rest/article...
direct.mit.edu
The Price of Inclusion: Evidence from Housing Developer Behavior
Abstract. In many cities, incentives and regulations lead developers to integrate low-income housing into market-rate buildings. How cost-effective are these policies? I study take-up of a tax incenti...
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Redbuds are gorgeous, full stop. I have a flamethrower redbud in my backyard that is fully blossomed right now with red and orange leaves starting to open up! Couple more weeks before it looks like this!
Small flamethrower redbud tree with gorgeous red, yellow, and green leaves randomly growing in all directions
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Great reporting from PublicSource! I always appreciate their dedication to transparency by reviewing our annual payroll expenses. I hope someday Pittsburgh is able to pay our city staff better wages so we aren't incentivizing people to move to Harrisburg/DC for better careers.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
I very much miss the Confluence! CityCast is nice-ish, but doesn't quite fill the shoes left by you, Kevin Gavin, and team.
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critical slop studies @struthious.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
New housing doesn’t cause displacement, that’s what the NIMBYs don’t (or refuse to) understand. Not building housing causes displacement
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Consent decrees don't seem to be very quick, so I'm not super mad at Echo for not wanting a years-long process. New Burgh is still in the process after having signed a consent decree with Gainey to rezone their Negley Ave Mellon's Orchard project.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Actually, it was within Gainey's power to enter into a consent decree with Echo Realty and work with the developers to get their variance. Gainey's administration presumably didn't help at all and Echo decided it would be easier to back out and try to build elsewhere instead.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
This matches the data I've seen with the city's building permits that indicate that way less than 1600 affordable units have started construction.
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Pro-Housing Pittsburgh @prohousingpgh.org · 21/04/2025
CALL TO ACTION: This Wednesday, April 23rd, join Pro-Housing Pittsburgh as we speak in favor of bill 2025-1579 that will reduce minimum lot sizes and make it easier to build starter homes and small apartment buildings in Pittsburgh!
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Jon Hanrahan @hanrahanrahanra.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Good to see Pittsburgh's Fatal Crash Response Team getting national attention:
strongtowns.org
Pittsburgh’s Leaders Made Streets Safer—Your Officials Can Too
For years, Pittsburgh struggled with rising traffic fatalities. Instead of accepting these tragedies as inevitable or waiting for outside funding, city leaders acted decisively with the resources they...
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Pro-Housing Pittsburgh @prohousingpgh.org · 18/04/2025
Missed the candidate forum? Watch it on YouTube!
youtube.com
2025 Democratic Primary Candidate Housing Forum
Pro-Housing Pittsburgh and the Pitt Law Democrats are hosting a housing forum for 2025 primary candidates.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Makes me wonder if the roof was designed that way to get around possible zoning prohibitions on 3rd stories
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Pro-Housing Pittsburgh @prohousingpgh.org · 17/04/2025
REMINDER: Our candidate forum on housing is TONIGHT! Join us at Pitt to hear from candidates running to represent YOU in city government!
Candidate Housing Forum

Mayor: Corey O'Connor
City Council District 2: Kim Salinetro
City Council District 4: Anthony Coghill
City Council District 8: Erika Strassburger

Thursday April 17th
6:30 PM to 9 PM
Pitt Campus
Barco Law Library 107
3900 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh PA 15260
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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 07/04/2025
Neon Liberalism #22: Samantha and guest David Vatz, founder of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, discuss the meaning of the housing crisis, the death of the "asset economy," and what we liberals can do to fix housing despite Trump. www.liberalcurrents.com/neonliberali...
liberalcurrents.com
Neon Liberalism #22: We CAN Fix Housing
Samantha and guest David Vatz, founder of Pro-Housing Pittsburgh, discuss the meaning of the housing crisis, the death of the "asset economy," and what we liberals can do to fix housing despite Trump....
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Land value tax would fix the parking lot!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
You should check out the Carnegie Main Library in Oakland, which is co-located with the Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Music Hall, and Carnegie Museum of Natural History. It's a block away from both Pitt's Cathedral of Learning and Phipps Conservatory if those are more your speed!
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
I love how right below that one of the listed "incentives" for building IZ units is the legalization of ADUs, a thing that can only be used twice per lot and definitely won't be part of a 20+ unit project.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
I do wish Gainey was directing PACs to focus more about his ideas for a future Pittsburgh than about planning attack ads on another dedicated public servant. As a comparison, Corey's strategy is about highlighting his accomplishments when he was on city council and highlighting his plans if he wins.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
And there is no priority 2 or 3!
Second and third priorities are only partially filled out. One is online voters under 50 but missing a message. The other is direct door-to-door messaging again with no message.
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Chris Beam @nerdkid93.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Priority 1 of the Gainey campaign seems to be deafening Pittsburgh TV listeners!
Screenshot of Gainey for Mayor's PAC strategy from their public facing website with "three ads at maximum volume" highlighted.
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