Jeff Baker
@jwbee.bsky.social
Notorious GIS reply guy
YIMBY
I will come to your hearing, Berkeley politician
Vuvuzela owner
Father
@jeffinatorator on certain bird sites
YIMBY
I will come to your hearing, Berkeley politician
Vuvuzela owner
Father
@jeffinatorator on certain bird sites
@mtcbata.bsky.social you here?
Imagine what Bay Wheels ridership would be if it served cities beyond Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley.
It would be a huge help with the last mile problem in East Bay cities with less bus service, including El Cerrito.
It would be a huge help with the last mile problem in East Bay cities with less bus service, including El Cerrito.
Bay Wheels last month in the East Bay: up 35%, record November ridership.
December 29, 2025 at 9:13 PM
@mtcbata.bsky.social you here?
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains.
December 29, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains.
This is fine, and it raises my opinion of Schiff slightly, but the numbers here are ridiculously low in proportion to the problem. If this was proposing a ten TRILLION dollar loan fund, then it would be something.
The solution to our housing crisis? More housing. A lot more.
My Housing BOOM Act would spur construction and jobs just like when we built millions of new affordable homes after World War II for returning GIs.
www.sfexaminer.com/news/urban-d...
My Housing BOOM Act would spur construction and jobs just like when we built millions of new affordable homes after World War II for returning GIs.
www.sfexaminer.com/news/urban-d...
Schiff calls for new “housing boom” in America
he California senator wants to funnel $15 billion into new housing.
www.sfexaminer.com
December 28, 2025 at 7:25 PM
This is fine, and it raises my opinion of Schiff slightly, but the numbers here are ridiculously low in proportion to the problem. If this was proposing a ten TRILLION dollar loan fund, then it would be something.
Soon to be condos in Napa. Actual for-sale condos.
December 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Soon to be condos in Napa. Actual for-sale condos.
Li's Knife Cut Noodle is exactly what downtown Berkeley needed. I assume when the university resumes it will be impossible to get in there, but this week it's perfect.
December 28, 2025 at 2:29 AM
Li's Knife Cut Noodle is exactly what downtown Berkeley needed. I assume when the university resumes it will be impossible to get in there, but this week it's perfect.
@idothethinking.bsky.social Rents in post-2000 construction in Berkeley, by bedroom, according to the rent registry. Data at observablehq.com/@jwb/rents-i...
December 27, 2025 at 6:32 PM
@idothethinking.bsky.social Rents in post-2000 construction in Berkeley, by bedroom, according to the rent registry. Data at observablehq.com/@jwb/rents-i...
I saw this Chinese EV on campus today. Very cool.
December 26, 2025 at 10:33 PM
I saw this Chinese EV on campus today. Very cool.
I should sue the regents of TAMU for devaluing my transcript. Absolute clown show.
Texas A&M University will not reinstate a lecturer who was fired after a video of her teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature class went viral, despite a faculty appeals panel unanimously concluding that her dismissal was not justified.
Texas A&M won’t reinstate fired lecturer despite findings
A vice chancellor upheld the firing of Melissa McCoul, seen in a viral video being confronted by a student on her gender identity teachings, saying the termination was done with “good cause.”
www.texastribune.org
December 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I should sue the regents of TAMU for devaluing my transcript. Absolute clown show.
Very cool of Contra Costa County to have fixed Wildcat Canyon Road so that I can get run off the side of the road by Deep East Bay teenagers driving clapped out Miatas while I'm just trying to enjoy a park.
December 25, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Very cool of Contra Costa County to have fixed Wildcat Canyon Road so that I can get run off the side of the road by Deep East Bay teenagers driving clapped out Miatas while I'm just trying to enjoy a park.
Area bicyclists in mourning
The coffee trailer that featured beans from Mother Tongue Coffee officially closed on Dec. 13.
Richmond’s Open Air Coffee shutters
The coffee trailer that featured beans from Mother Tongue Coffee officially closed on Dec. 13.
www.berkeleyside.org
December 24, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Area bicyclists in mourning
We don't have to canonize bad people just because they get a disease.
December 23, 2025 at 4:42 PM
We don't have to canonize bad people just because they get a disease.
People said "Stand By Me" was Reiner's masterpiece so I watched it and I was throwing things at the TV at the end. Apparently it did not face contemporary or modern criticism for the Boomer victory lap of the last 5 minutes. Makes me want to enroll in a venue where I can denounce this film.
December 23, 2025 at 12:45 AM
People said "Stand By Me" was Reiner's masterpiece so I watched it and I was throwing things at the TV at the end. Apparently it did not face contemporary or modern criticism for the Boomer victory lap of the last 5 minutes. Makes me want to enroll in a venue where I can denounce this film.
The new clout chasers are all about making up stories about what AI cannot do. People love these posts. But they are easily falsified. Actual results on the right. You can quibble about the legend, of course. The smarter way to use the tool is ask it to write a program that makes the map (3rd pic).
December 22, 2025 at 6:24 PM
The new clout chasers are all about making up stories about what AI cannot do. People love these posts. But they are easily falsified. Actual results on the right. You can quibble about the legend, of course. The smarter way to use the tool is ask it to write a program that makes the map (3rd pic).
The bar set by this FPPC nexus test requires anyone with a "foreseeable" source of income to recuse themselves from decisions. It should be turned around to toss realtors and consultants off planning and landmarking commissions.
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...
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 5:23 PM
The bar set by this FPPC nexus test requires anyone with a "foreseeable" source of income to recuse themselves from decisions. It should be turned around to toss realtors and consultants off planning and landmarking commissions.
If you are a full-time professional take-haver, dedicated to the narrative that AI has no uses, then I guess you wouldn't know, or indeed would have carefully curated ignorance of the fact that AI can indeed recognize handwriting. But AI experts would tell you that AI is extremely good at this task.
December 22, 2025 at 1:40 AM
If you are a full-time professional take-haver, dedicated to the narrative that AI has no uses, then I guess you wouldn't know, or indeed would have carefully curated ignorance of the fact that AI can indeed recognize handwriting. But AI experts would tell you that AI is extremely good at this task.
This strikes me as an extremely counterproductive housing platform, and tends to confirm my suspicions that after Newsom and Weiner are out of the picture California Democrats intend to revert to the SF-Huntington Beach axis of building absolutely nothing.
Here is the draft housing plank for the 2026 CA Dem platform. Not only has this section been reorganized, with lines moved in from other parts of the platform, there's also some new language such as an emphasis on increasing housing production in the opening paragraph.
December 21, 2025 at 9:39 PM
This strikes me as an extremely counterproductive housing platform, and tends to confirm my suspicions that after Newsom and Weiner are out of the picture California Democrats intend to revert to the SF-Huntington Beach axis of building absolutely nothing.
Where are all the people at the ski rental counter at Sports Basement coming from? There is no snow anywhere in the west.
December 21, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Where are all the people at the ski rental counter at Sports Basement coming from? There is no snow anywhere in the west.
This is a neat article worth reading. But I think the scope of "cases" is misleading. According to this method, unions have only used CEQA against 25 projects in 50 years. If we expand to threats of CEQA cases I can show you hundreds of those from labor unions, every year.
The Abundance movement often points to environmental groups as the obstacles to building. But who actually files the lawsuits blocking projects? It’s not environmental groups. It’s been lawyered-up HOAs protecting property values all along. Regulation by litigation is the problem.
December 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM
This is a neat article worth reading. But I think the scope of "cases" is misleading. According to this method, unions have only used CEQA against 25 projects in 50 years. If we expand to threats of CEQA cases I can show you hundreds of those from labor unions, every year.
It's pretty embarrassing that PG&E has a major outage from water-transformer contact in the Bay Area every single year. If we had real regulators, they would have shut PG&E down by now.
December 21, 2025 at 12:48 AM
It's pretty embarrassing that PG&E has a major outage from water-transformer contact in the Bay Area every single year. If we had real regulators, they would have shut PG&E down by now.
If you are baffled by the behavior of car-first westside conservatives, or if you're just younger than me and didn't see the old battles, read this book: www.amazon.com/Street-Fight...
December 19, 2025 at 10:29 PM
If you are baffled by the behavior of car-first westside conservatives, or if you're just younger than me and didn't see the old battles, read this book: www.amazon.com/Street-Fight...
The "housing package" that the NY city council passed yesterday is wall-to-wall NIMBY poison pills. Incredible stuff. Never been a superfan of Adams, but a mayoral veto of all this junk would be just. www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2025/...
City Council passes several controversial housing bills, setting up potential veto battle
On Julie Menin’s desk in January: Potential vetoes, new legislation and a union push to preserve staff jobs.
www.cityandstateny.com
December 19, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The "housing package" that the NY city council passed yesterday is wall-to-wall NIMBY poison pills. Incredible stuff. Never been a superfan of Adams, but a mayoral veto of all this junk would be just. www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2025/...
My contribution to Berkeley's "Corridor Zoning Update" for North Shattuck. Before 1978, the whole area around Shattuck was classified R-5, the now-extirpated maximum density zone. If the NIMBYs don't think we should have 5-6 stories on Shattuck, we can simply RETVRN to R-5 for the areas behind.
December 19, 2025 at 5:56 PM
My contribution to Berkeley's "Corridor Zoning Update" for North Shattuck. Before 1978, the whole area around Shattuck was classified R-5, the now-extirpated maximum density zone. If the NIMBYs don't think we should have 5-6 stories on Shattuck, we can simply RETVRN to R-5 for the areas behind.
I've complained about the disappearing artifacts of the AC Transit BRT design process so many times over the years, I guess I should just start gathering them up. Here, at least, is the almost impossible to find draft EIR as a single PDF.
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
December 19, 2025 at 5:13 PM
I've complained about the disappearing artifacts of the AC Transit BRT design process so many times over the years, I guess I should just start gathering them up. Here, at least, is the almost impossible to find draft EIR as a single PDF.
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
drive.google.com/drive/folder...
A Boomer tried to tell me that Boomers are the most highly educated generation. This is not true, obviously. But if that was true it would admit a monumental failure of Boomers to shepherd the future. So why would someone say such a thing?
December 19, 2025 at 5:47 AM
A Boomer tried to tell me that Boomers are the most highly educated generation. This is not true, obviously. But if that was true it would admit a monumental failure of Boomers to shepherd the future. So why would someone say such a thing?