David Pollack
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davidmpollack.bsky.social
David Pollack
@davidmpollack.bsky.social
Lead, follow, or get out of the way. 縁の下の力持ち。
📍Menlo Park
Pinned
Has anyone successfully gotten busy streets to allow no left turns without a light?

This was me on bicycle on El Camino Real northbound hit by a turning driver trying to beat traffic. Pictures of me where the driver hit me in the leg and ending up on the windshield.
Happy New Year. May the new year bring peace, compassion, and contentment.

明けましておめでとうございますす。今年もどうぞよろしくお願いいたします素晴らしい一年になりますよう。
January 1, 2026 at 4:21 PM
The latest reminder that ranked choice voting is the only way forward in California.
December 31, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
Americans do not have a "love affair" with cars, the term typically used in the media.

Rather we are in an abusive relationship, wanting to leave but fearing the consequences.
December 31, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
Good news for the Santa Clara County Assessor runoff election, the first batch of ballots has Neysa Fligor (endorsed by Democrats, labor unions, and many progressive elected leaders and organizations) with a significant lead!

Thank you to everyone who voted! ✅😍
December 31, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Reposted by David Pollack
It should be harder to get a drivers license and easier to lose it.
The California DMV is in deep need of reform. Enraging stuff, uncovered by a team of reporters at @calmatters.org

calmatters.org/investigatio...
December 31, 2025 at 1:28 AM
A six-story building like this should be allowed by default virtually everywhere, especially in cities like San Mateo and Palo Alto who think it’s a slippery slope to becoming Hong Kong.
December 30, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Just another day on the suburban car-brained roads of Palo Alto as police arrest woman involved in a road rage incident. www.kron4.com/news/palo-al...
December 30, 2025 at 4:45 PM
Meanwhile over on Nextdoor, “if we build that 4 story skyscraper, our schools will be overwhelmed.” www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/m...
Multilingual learner grad rates increased
The San Mateo Union High School District has seen a decline in newcomer students in the past year, but those in the district’s Multilingual Learner Program have seen an increase
www.smdailyjournal.com
December 29, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Check out the latest happenings at www.trumpkennedycenter.org
December 29, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Great, another one of those memes about how they worked and saved enough to take the rest of 2025 off. Ha ha ha.
December 29, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Boba-ization of downtown the leading indicator of a vibrant, walkable community. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.

San Mateo and Berkeley have a high ratio while cities like Menlo Park have one. Even San Carlos downtown has like 4+.
I bet other people aren’t as thrilled about the Chinese restaurantification of Berkeley. I think about this take from Millbrae:
December 28, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Wishing a very @bvbofficial.bsky.social Christmas to all.
December 27, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
On behalf of everyone in The Resistance movement following the massive EPSTEIN coverup, I want to wish all my fellow Radical Left Scum the happiest of holidays!- ♥️, Mar🐫
December 26, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
Sort of like how one has to diversify an investment portfolio or risk losing everything all at once, a transportation system that doesn't have a diversity of modes is destined to crash. Building everything around cars, autonomous or otherwise, is always going to lead to this outcome.
December 26, 2025 at 1:27 AM
How to show you’re an entitled homeowner without saying you’re an entitled homeowner. I live nearby and never noticed. Maybe because I’m a renter. 🤷🏻‍♂️
December 26, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by David Pollack
Who needs a village when you can have parking lots?
December 24, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
In Santa Monica, the FPPC has disqualified pro-housing Councilmember Jesse Zwick from all future housing votes. They said that because he works for a housing non-profit, he’s “conflicted” and must recuse.

Pretty absurd. The NIMBY deep state strikes again.

www.smdp.com/state-regula...
State regulators say Councilman Zwick is conflicted on housing votes
The California Fair Political Practices Commission has ruled that Santa Monica Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Zwick must recuse himself from housing production decisions
www.smdp.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
Sometimes you just have to look a nice 78yo left-liberal white lady in the eye at the Hanukkah party and say “no, there is no upper limit to how many people can live in the Bay Area; and I believe that we are morally called to welcome the stranger, which means being ok with neighborhood change.”
December 22, 2025 at 3:18 AM
M*A*S*H.
December 20, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
When Bon Jovi wrote the words “my heart is like an open highway” in It’s My Life, he was presciently foreshadowing the battle over the Great Highway and secretly showing which side he is on. In this essay I shall…
December 20, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Reposted by David Pollack
That’s the woman who said whatever that guy is saying, 5 minutes ago, but got ignored.
December 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
Swanton Berry Farm is a organic UFW contract company in Davenport CA, in Santa Cruz County. "Angela" worker who labors there invites UFW supporters in the area to try their holiday pies, saying we have apple, pecan, blackberry and strawberry rhubarb pies. #WeFeedYou
December 19, 2025 at 10:46 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
The people yearn for dense, walkable urban areas with public plazas!
Americans are hungry for community. So why don’t we have more European-style squares? | CNN
As travel abroad has become common for more Americans, many have enjoyed Europe’s vibrant squares. Why doesn’t the United States have more of that kind of gathering spot and is change afoot?
www.cnn.com
December 19, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Councilmember Phoebe Venkat said she would be opposed to any potential e-bike ban, calling it “very shortsighted. It’s about prioritizing the right actions rather than blame and shame kids and blame and shame parents,” Venkat said. www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/w...
What to do with rules for e-bikes in Foster City?
Foster City leaders are weighing in on future e-bike rules and regulations, a topic that’s grown more contentious than initially anticipated.
www.smdailyjournal.com
December 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by David Pollack
This is a damning graph but it shows exactly what you would expect. People living off Prop 13 largesse inveigh against newcomers and yet they need them to actually pay for the services of their community.

They are not serious people
Someone requested this alternate graphic: total tax, by year built, for all residential structures in Berkeley. In terms of local property/parcel tax yield, the five years from 2020-2024 amount to more revenue than all the buildings built during the thirty years 1970-1999.
December 19, 2025 at 12:53 AM