Laura
@3deckerlaura.bsky.social
Housing, street safety, ultra-local politics. Somerville, MA
Reposted by Laura
This is a phenomenal example of how people advocating for the "character of the neighborhood" are often actually advocating to *change* the character to be less dense and more suburban. Which, if you go play with the city's n'hood GIS explorer, is what has happened all over Boston!
November 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
This is a phenomenal example of how people advocating for the "character of the neighborhood" are often actually advocating to *change* the character to be less dense and more suburban. Which, if you go play with the city's n'hood GIS explorer, is what has happened all over Boston!
Reposted by Laura
My grand unified theory of suburbia is that camera doorbells are like SUVs, they provide an illusion of security while making you more paranoid
“Camera doorbells are social cancer as a technology, breaking down social solidarity and further encouraging people to see strangers with suspicion.”
Christmas is coming, and the Black Friday sales signal we’re in peak gift-buying season.
When you’re picking out gifts for friends and family this year, there’s a whole slew of tech products that are better to avoid. I put together a guide to help you through it.
When you’re picking out gifts for friends and family this year, there’s a whole slew of tech products that are better to avoid. I put together a guide to help you through it.
November 25, 2025 at 5:40 PM
My grand unified theory of suburbia is that camera doorbells are like SUVs, they provide an illusion of security while making you more paranoid
i feel like i should give JAS some money specifically for the suffering of this meeting
November 25, 2025 at 3:56 AM
i feel like i should give JAS some money specifically for the suffering of this meeting
Reposted by Laura
I think about Contrapoints noting how some leftists don’t want power, they want to critique power on an almost daily basis
every time I see a post by Ms Sawant about revolution I think about how she quit a position on the city council to do a podcast
extremely silly shit
November 23, 2025 at 12:27 AM
I think about Contrapoints noting how some leftists don’t want power, they want to critique power on an almost daily basis
Reposted by Laura
cryptography is a mathematical system for transforming problems which aren't key-management problems into key-management problems
November 22, 2025 at 2:15 AM
cryptography is a mathematical system for transforming problems which aren't key-management problems into key-management problems
Reposted by Laura
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
November 21, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Insane but true fact: making US roads as safe as Canadian, Australian, or European roads would save more lives than eliminating murder from the US.
Reposted by Laura
Paying With Their Time: Increasing Traffic Congestion Erodes Benefits of Boston’s Fare-Free @mbta.com Buses - mass.streetsblog.org/2025/11/19/p...
November 19, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Paying With Their Time: Increasing Traffic Congestion Erodes Benefits of Boston’s Fare-Free @mbta.com Buses - mass.streetsblog.org/2025/11/19/p...
Reposted by Laura
as will notes, people tend to *say* they want suburban living. they want a big house and a big yard and etc. this is not however what is suggested by their actual purchasing practices, which invariably result in something like this:
raincitymaps.com/maps/inspect...
raincitymaps.com/maps/inspect...
November 20, 2025 at 1:20 PM
as will notes, people tend to *say* they want suburban living. they want a big house and a big yard and etc. this is not however what is suggested by their actual purchasing practices, which invariably result in something like this:
raincitymaps.com/maps/inspect...
raincitymaps.com/maps/inspect...
Reposted by Laura
Inclusionary zoning is not just terrible policy. It’s also extremely neoliberal policy that outsources a key state function—providing subsidized housing for poor people—to private, market-based actors and shifts the financial burden for the subsidies from wealthy homeowners to middle class renters.
It's also the most '90s Third Way-ish policy idea imaginable, which is why it is both bemusing and frustrating that so many leftists embrace it with such vigour. "Let's solve affordable housing with technocratic, market based incrementalism" really isn't all that progressive!
So-called “inclusionary zoning” is a tax on new housing that reduces the amount of housing that gets built, worsening the housing shortage and driving up rent. It is bad, counterproductive policy and we should stop doing it.
November 17, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Inclusionary zoning is not just terrible policy. It’s also extremely neoliberal policy that outsources a key state function—providing subsidized housing for poor people—to private, market-based actors and shifts the financial burden for the subsidies from wealthy homeowners to middle class renters.
Reposted by Laura
But also maybe they should ruin his life?
A guy asking Epstein for advice on how to sexually harass a junior colleague knows exactly what Epstein was and was clearly OK with it. I am frankly OK with someone ruining his life.
Evidently it ought to have happened decades ago.
A guy asking Epstein for advice on how to sexually harass a junior colleague knows exactly what Epstein was and was clearly OK with it. I am frankly OK with someone ruining his life.
Evidently it ought to have happened decades ago.
Larry Summers is 70. Firing him is not ruining his life.
November 18, 2025 at 1:50 AM
But also maybe they should ruin his life?
A guy asking Epstein for advice on how to sexually harass a junior colleague knows exactly what Epstein was and was clearly OK with it. I am frankly OK with someone ruining his life.
Evidently it ought to have happened decades ago.
A guy asking Epstein for advice on how to sexually harass a junior colleague knows exactly what Epstein was and was clearly OK with it. I am frankly OK with someone ruining his life.
Evidently it ought to have happened decades ago.
Reposted by Laura
Urbanism—the notion that cities are good, that we should build housing in the dense walkable neighborhoods where people want to live, and that urban governance should prioritize city residents’ quality of life over suburban drivers’ convenience—remains a radical political program in America.
One thing that’s so frustrating living in a city center is the pervasive belief among suburbanites that your neighborhood is nothing more than a consumer experience for them and that the city should bend over backwards to ensure they can speed as fast as possible on their way to buy treats in it.
November 17, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Urbanism—the notion that cities are good, that we should build housing in the dense walkable neighborhoods where people want to live, and that urban governance should prioritize city residents’ quality of life over suburban drivers’ convenience—remains a radical political program in America.
Reposted by Laura
Counterpoint: it's fine for Universities to cut ties with people for being sex creeps. In fact, it's a positive good. Far too many women avoid academia precisely because of shitheads like Summers.
Add to the fact that his code name for her was "peril", likely in reference to "yellow peril"...
Add to the fact that his code name for her was "peril", likely in reference to "yellow peril"...
I have no sympathy for any of Summers’ comments. But universities should not cut ties with people whose comments and/or private associations they find odious, even when they are right. If he violated either the law or university regulations, fine. Otherwise, not so much.
Per CNN, Elizabeth Warren is calling on Harvard to cut ties with Larry Summers after Jeffrey Epstein's emails released last week by House Dems featured Summers making sexist comments + asking for Epstein’s romantic advice.
November 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Counterpoint: it's fine for Universities to cut ties with people for being sex creeps. In fact, it's a positive good. Far too many women avoid academia precisely because of shitheads like Summers.
Add to the fact that his code name for her was "peril", likely in reference to "yellow peril"...
Add to the fact that his code name for her was "peril", likely in reference to "yellow peril"...
Reposted by Laura
uhhh yes please come for the dangerous and uneccesary 0-60mph times
China has banned calling your car self-driving when it isn't, a ban on slick door handles that don't work in emergencies is in the works, and now it's coming for rapid 0-60 times, as it seeks to destroy every last one of Tesla's "innovations."
carnewschina.com/2025/11/13/c...
carnewschina.com/2025/11/13/c...
China proposes 5-second 0-100 km/h acceleration limit on vehicles to enhance road safety
China moves to curb "too fast" cars with new 5-second acceleration requirement.
carnewschina.com
November 17, 2025 at 5:46 PM
uhhh yes please come for the dangerous and uneccesary 0-60mph times
Reposted by Laura
I stand by this. Sorry, @edcooknj.bsky.social. ;-)
November 16, 2025 at 2:03 AM
I stand by this. Sorry, @edcooknj.bsky.social. ;-)
Reposted by Laura
Private islands are scary. I'm a little uncomfortable with how far from other people a single family home is, so a whole private island is insane
November 14, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Private islands are scary. I'm a little uncomfortable with how far from other people a single family home is, so a whole private island is insane
Reposted by Laura
my most woke opinion is that any truck/SUV over 4,000 pounds should require a commercial drivers license, increased insurance/registration, more expensive parking, and higher punishments for traffic violations
"my least woke opinion is---"
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
That's enough. We've had enough people indulging in the "thrill of a little conservatism", as a treat. Of considering reactionary thought to be a salacious and taboo in a world descending into reactionary mania.
Give me your MOST woke opinions. We're bringing it back.
November 14, 2025 at 4:10 PM
my most woke opinion is that any truck/SUV over 4,000 pounds should require a commercial drivers license, increased insurance/registration, more expensive parking, and higher punishments for traffic violations
Reposted by Laura
"Does our plastic actually get recycled?" The #CamberVille newsletter is always excellent, but this one is truly a must-read: a deep dive into the recycling processing plant where all of Somerville's recycling winds up: mailchi.mp/bostonglobe....
November 14, 2025 at 3:03 AM
"Does our plastic actually get recycled?" The #CamberVille newsletter is always excellent, but this one is truly a must-read: a deep dive into the recycling processing plant where all of Somerville's recycling winds up: mailchi.mp/bostonglobe....
Reposted by Laura
Somerville officially has a hammock district at the newly opened Junction Park!
November 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Somerville officially has a hammock district at the newly opened Junction Park!
Reposted by Laura
People in my "progressive" neighborhood NIMBY'd a *senior affordable housing development* into reducing its units from 71 to 41. Just an absolute moral travesty. (Rogerson/Beaufort project in JP)
November 13, 2025 at 12:18 AM
People in my "progressive" neighborhood NIMBY'd a *senior affordable housing development* into reducing its units from 71 to 41. Just an absolute moral travesty. (Rogerson/Beaufort project in JP)
Reposted by Laura
🏡 Help us get more housing on the 2026 ballot!
Join AHMA, Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, and the Legalize Starter Homes Ballot Initiative for a Day of Action this weekend!
tinyurl.com/2sk34xt9
Join AHMA, Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, and the Legalize Starter Homes Ballot Initiative for a Day of Action this weekend!
tinyurl.com/2sk34xt9
Legalize Starter Homes Day of Action
Cambridge City Councillor Burhan Azeem, Abundant Housing Massachusetts, and the Legalize Starter Homes Ballot Campaign are organizing a coordinated Day of Action to rally support for legalizing…
tinyurl.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:43 AM
🏡 Help us get more housing on the 2026 ballot!
Join AHMA, Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, and the Legalize Starter Homes Ballot Initiative for a Day of Action this weekend!
tinyurl.com/2sk34xt9
Join AHMA, Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, and the Legalize Starter Homes Ballot Initiative for a Day of Action this weekend!
tinyurl.com/2sk34xt9
Reposted by Laura
Much like senior apartments, teacher housing, and service worker housing, artist housing is an example of "we will tolerate new housing in our community but only if it is reserved for People Who Really Deserve It."
November 12, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Much like senior apartments, teacher housing, and service worker housing, artist housing is an example of "we will tolerate new housing in our community but only if it is reserved for People Who Really Deserve It."
Reposted by Laura
When we build enough supply of homes so that landlords must compete, renters win.
"The more properties there are, it drives all of us to lower rents and offer concessions" says the property manager pictured here.
bendbulletin.com/2025/11/11/b...
"The more properties there are, it drives all of us to lower rents and offer concessions" says the property manager pictured here.
bendbulletin.com/2025/11/11/b...
Bend's surge of apartment construction flattens rent hikes - The Bulletin
When Ian Gray looked for an apartment to rent in Bend earlier this year, he had something not available only a few years ago: a choice. Gray, who moved to Bend for a job as the city’s first-ever urban...
bendbulletin.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:25 PM
When we build enough supply of homes so that landlords must compete, renters win.
"The more properties there are, it drives all of us to lower rents and offer concessions" says the property manager pictured here.
bendbulletin.com/2025/11/11/b...
"The more properties there are, it drives all of us to lower rents and offer concessions" says the property manager pictured here.
bendbulletin.com/2025/11/11/b...
As we build more bus shelters in greater Boston habe we considered www.discover-nagasaki.com/en/sightseei...
Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops
Info about Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops on Discover Nagasaki's Official Website. In the small town of Konagai, which is about 10 miles from the center of Isahaya City, there are 16 bus stops running along H...
www.discover-nagasaki.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:37 AM
As we build more bus shelters in greater Boston habe we considered www.discover-nagasaki.com/en/sightseei...
Reposted by Laura
my hot take is if a building getting landmark status it should be owned by the public and open to the public
Schedule a building census every 25 years or something.
The whole idea of landmarking private buildings is deeply goofy regardless tho
The whole idea of landmarking private buildings is deeply goofy regardless tho
November 11, 2025 at 11:05 PM
my hot take is if a building getting landmark status it should be owned by the public and open to the public
I wish the T’s website and the T’s employees could agree on where the temporary stops at Somerville and Central are
November 11, 2025 at 3:50 AM
I wish the T’s website and the T’s employees could agree on where the temporary stops at Somerville and Central are