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Codes are important for safety, but US codes (which often result in building light wood frame buildings with sprinklers) have delivered poor results. Switzerland builds 25-story single-stair towers with no sprinklers. The fire death rate in Switzerland is five times LOWER than in the US.

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University of California researchers found that nationwide, bundling the cost of a garage space into rents “adds about 17% to a unit’s rent.” Minimum parking regulations force carless – generally low-income – people to pay higher rents for parking they don’t need and can’t use.

A powerpoint slide that reads:
Minimum parking mandates increase rents.
University of California researchers found that nationwide, bundling the cost of a garage space into rents “adds about 17% to a unit’s rent”
“Minimum parking requirements create a major equity problem for carless households”, they write.
The regulations force carless – generally low-income – people to pay higher rents for parking they don’t need and can’t use.
Source: Gabbe, C.J. and Pierce, Gregory. The Hidden Cost of Bundled Parking. 2017. https://www.accessmagazine.org/spring-2017/the-hidden-cost-of-bundled-parking/

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Multiple research studies have found that: 1️⃣Minimum parking mandates substantially increase rents & home prices. 2️⃣Removing them lets people save money by renting or buying fewer spaces.

A powerpoint slide that reads:
Minimum parking mandates make housing less affordable
San Francisco study of the effect of code-required parking on housing affordability:
Code-required parking increased home prices
24% more households could afford houses if they did not include parking
20% more households could qualify for loans on condominiums without parking
Source: Jia and Wachs. Parking Requirements and Housing Affordability: A Case Study of San Francisco, 1998.

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 30/09/2026

If you are wondering what progressive policy reforms actually increase housing supply, here are three to get you started: 1️⃣ Charge the right prices for curb parking. 2️⃣ Return the parking revenue to the blocks where it is generated, to pay for public services. 3️⃣ Remove minimum parking regulations.

A PowerPoint slide that reads:
Three parking policy reforms
1. Charge the right prices for curb parking.
2. Return the parking revenue to the blocks where it is generated, to pay for public services.
3. Remove minimum parking regulations.

Source: Professor Donald Shoup, University of California Los Angeles

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Reposted by Patrick Siegman

If you want to donate to Democratic candidates without getting spammed with endless fundraising emails, I recommend Oath. I used it in 2024 & again this year. It worked well, helping me identify tossup races for Arizona State candidates (who I supported to help keep election deniers out of office).

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Reposted by Patrick Siegman

Has your town removed minimum parking mandates yet, in some places or citywide? If so, let @parkingreform.org know. Your example will inspire others!

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Has your town removed minimum parking mandates yet, in some places or citywide? If so, let @parkingreform.org know. Your example will inspire others!

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The answer depends on the country. America's peculiar building codes make it difficult and expensive to build multifamily buildings – especially taller ones. This is not true in other advanced nations with better safety records.

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Jersey City could build 700 homes on city-owned parking lots

Last but not least, the Gothamist reported earlier this year that "Hudson County, New Jersey is exploring a proposal to build 700 homes on county-owned parking lots..."

planetizen.com

If approved, a redevelopment proposal would build hundreds of new homes on a pair of city parking lots.

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More Housing, Less Parking? Princeton Unveils Zoning Rewrite Plan

Princeton’s zoning code consultants are recommending parking changes, “including more flexibility, stronger bicycle parking rules and possible exemptions for smaller commercial spaces and existing buildings. The report also raises the idea of eliminating parking minimums across town.”

patch.com

ADUs, parking and neighborhood character drew the most attention as officials reviewed the zoning diagnostic report.

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fredericksburgfreepress.com

“The #Fredericksburg Planning Commission is asking staff to take another look at a series of proposed amendments to the development code that are meant to encourage new housing types…Commissioners want planning staff to consider whether the amount of required parking spaces can be reduced…"

Fredericksburg Planning Commission asks staff to look at residential parking minimums - Fredericksburg Free Press

Attracting new forms of housing may require rethinking parking requirements.

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“Cottage Grove follows several other Wisconsin municipalities that have eliminated or reduced parking requirements in recent years. La Crosse did away with off-street minimums in 2024." Perhaps Cottage Grove will inspire less progressive places (like New York City) to follow suit?

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Cottage Grove ends minimum parking mandates for new development

In #Wisconsin, the #CottageGrove Village Board “voted this week to eliminate the village’s minimum off-street parking requirements for all land uses, citing a combination of economic and environmental impacts.”

madison.com

The Village Board cited a combination of economic and environmental impacts.

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Barcelona’s “initiative reflects a European trend: cities such as London, Amsterdam, and Oslo already build garage-free homes with experts believing that the measure can discourage the use of cars, promote sustainable mobility, and even make housing cheaper.”

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Goodbye to the mandatory garage: Big city architecture bypasses personal parking

Last week, the decline and fall of minimum parking mandates continued. “Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area (AMB) has just eliminated this regulation for new apartments being constructed in downtown, depending on their proximity to public transportation.”

english.elpais.com

Experts believe that the initiative approved by Barcelona helps to discourage car use while promoting sustainable mobility, but supporting measures are vital

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 30/09/2026

Google doesn’t think so, but someone should really check their references behind this answer. It seems to me like a fruitful topic for a student who aspires to make housing more affordable, while studying colorful tales of bribery, scandal, and Byzantine bureaucracy.😊

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 30/09/2026

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 29/09/2026

We need a good investigative journalist to look into these claims circulating on the Internet. Is the sky still standing in Salem, Massachusetts?

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 29/09/2026

bsky.app/profile/sieg...

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“…as a baseball player in a vacant lot. I bring him into our baseball club. That fixes him. You’ll find him workin’ for my ticket at the polls next Election Day.” Similarly, today, the YIMBY movement host picnics, parties, and happy hours to keep housing advocates coming back.

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“Tammany Hall was more than a machine; it was a building in Manhattan that had an oyster bar, a ladies’ lounge and a theater, whose performances helped launch vaudeville. One Tammany leader, George Washington Plunkitt, explained how he won over new voters: “Young feller gains a reputation…”

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Opinion | Young Democrats Are Putting the Party Back in Politics. It’s Working. (Gift Article)

"Politicians used to understand the power of a good time. A century ago, attracting volunteers and voters often meant hosting a dance with cheap drinks at the neighborhood hall or drawing whole families to a clambake in the park.“

nytimes.com

Fun, free events communicate a larger goal: that everyday people should be able to afford a joyful life.

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I’ve spent my whole career working to make housing more affordable and transportation more sustainable, so I just can’t vote for Connie Chan. Over and over, she’s voted to block good projects.

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It’s a person who professes to be an environmentalist, but also supports policies that subsidize cars. For example, auto-oriented environmentalists typically argue that curb parking must be preserved & given away for free. To achieve that they say cities must require ample parking at all buildings.

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The environmental movement has 2 camps: auto-oriented vs. Walkable City environmentalists. Perhaps nowhere is the divide between them more clear than in SF, where democrat Connie Chan is running for Congress as a “pro-car progressive,” who aims to convert Sunset Dunes Park into a high-speed highway.

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How do high housing costs affect birthrates?

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Mortgage Rates Hit 7% as Iran War Fallout Crushes a Weak Housing Market (Gift Article)

“'Because we can’t afford a home, we’re probably not going to have kids,' she said. 'We can’t even afford a dog.'” Do high housing costs reduce birthrates? What does the best evidence tell us about this question?

nytimes.com

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the United States jumped to 7.03 percent, putting pressure on housing affordability.

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Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 25/09/2026

To relocate the story above, I googled “San Francisco fire department scandal.” That turned up a long list of recent scandals. Unfortunately, the skills that let firefighters endure decades of medical calls & fires don’t seem to translate into good recordkeeping, risk analysis, or fire code writing.

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you certainly aren’t under any obligation to provide links to the data you rely on. I brought it up because there seems to be considerable debate among people who are interested in this topic about which sources are reliable.

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I wonder if the fossil fuel industry is gearing up to put obstacles in the building code to this kind of induction stove with battery. Or perhaps an electricians‘ union will try to add building code obstacles, to preserve panel upgrade jobs for their members?

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Can this new induction stove help fuel the transition to clean…

“Copper’s Charlie 2.0, to be manufactured by appliance giant Miele, comes with a battery that lets homes ditch the fossil fumes without an expensive electric upgrade.” Anybody tried one of these yet? I love my portable induction cooktops, but look forward to replacing my entire fossil-gas stove.

canarymedia.com

Copper's Charlie 2.0, to be manufactured by appliance giant Miele, comes with a battery that lets homes ditch the fossil fumes without an expensive…

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Thanks. Interestingly, the ourworldindata.org page you cited cites its source as "UN, World Population Prospects (2024)." Stephen's described that source, or at least parts of it, as unreliable – see below. Are some parts of the "World Population Prospects" reports reliable, but others unreliable?

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I’m old-fashioned enough to give more credence to posters who can cite published, peer-reviewed data to back up their arguments. I pay a lot less attention to people whose only evidence is “they all say.”

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I don’t feel strongly enough about it to do it myself, but if someone has written a scholarly paper that disputes the WPP report, maybe they will!

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Given the number of people (including me) who use Wikipedia for quick access to basic statistics, it seems to me that someone could make a substantial impact by editing that page and the associated pages that describe the UN’s ”World Population Prospects“ report.

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I read it on this Wikipedia page. Did I pull the wrong figure?

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You may well be right about the point that you are trying to make. However, you’d be able to make a stronger case if you could cite data to back it up. For ex., one source cited above says Mexico’s TFR is currently 1.85, while another says it is 1.2. Is data for Scandinavia, etc. equally disputed?

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Specifically, I propose legalizing apartments near transit stops in very high fire hazard zones within urban areas, as long as they meet Type 1 construction standards. People are already allowed to build houses made of wood in many of these areas, so why not apartments made of concrete?

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