PlannerMattVT
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mattboulanger.bsky.social
PlannerMattVT
@mattboulanger.bsky.social
In Vermont. Planner by trade.
www.samessenger.com/opinion/edit... today, the TIF sunset in the bill is pushed back to 2031- but it adds a sunset to a law that doesn't have one today. While this is pitched as "monitoring performance", Ways and Means started two weeks ago with a July 2025 sunset date- clearly intended to kill TIF
Ways and Means puts growth, housing at risk
It’s happening again. We’re spending time and energy figuring out how NOT to do something that we all say is the most important thing Vermont needs to do.
www.samessenger.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:02 PM
That sound you hear around #btv right now is every single employee at Beta Technologies reserving one...
This is what got my $50.
April 25, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Zoning reform is great (and was/is much needed in VT) but at this point we need a path to better infrastructure that will support homes in the places it makes sense to build them. Unfortunately the small-scale nature of doing that infrastructure on a municipal level is daunting...
“Abundant housing is the cornerstone of an affordable, vibrant and inclusive Vermont. Yet today that vision of our beloved state is at risk as we face an unprecedented housing shortage that threatens not only our economy but the very fabric of our communities.”
vtdigger.org/2025/01/08/m...
Opinion — Miro Weinberger: A call for decisive action on Vermont’s housing crisis
What worked in Burlington can work across Vermont, but it requires a statewide effort.
vtdigger.org
January 9, 2025 at 1:53 PM
They made a movie about this.
Tech bros know what every parent wants: children who sleep less
December 12, 2024 at 8:11 PM
My favorite, from London this summer. Imagine the foresight of whomever decided these should be planted and all who made sure they grew well all these years- for me to get to see them one day in 2024.
November 30, 2024 at 4:56 AM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
Happy Thanksgiving.
November 28, 2024 at 7:59 PM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
@humantransit.bsky.social’s “frequency is freedom” strikes again
New transit study: Service frequency and coverage both drive ridership, but frequency matters more.

doi.org/10.1016/j.jt...
November 28, 2024 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
#Dallas’ Chief Planner declares that the city’s system of minimum parking mandates "disproportionately burdens small businesses, and this has an equity impact. It perpetuates really an unsafe, unwalkable, totally unpleasant environment very often."

www.keranews.org/government/2...
Eliminated parking minimums in Dallas gets closer to city council
The Dallas City Planning Commission was briefed on a proposal to eliminate parking minimums in the city, leaving parking space up to developer discretion.
www.keranews.org
November 26, 2024 at 5:55 PM
Yes for planning. Especially anyone who ever writes a headline “ Planners (verb)” when I can guarantee it was politicians who (verbed) and not planners.
A lot of discourse problems would be ameliorated by everyone working as some sort of practitioner, preferably at least some of the time in the public sector, in a field relevant to that which they would like to discourse about
November 27, 2024 at 1:50 AM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
Evergreen, needs regular re-sharing.
November 26, 2024 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
How does a 25% tariff work with Canadian hydropower that the northeast relies on or is none of this real please I hope none of this is real where is the mode switch to a different simulation?
November 26, 2024 at 3:54 AM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
We have 38k follows. Had 80k at the bad place. Help us get to our goal of 100k for New Years. Join us!
November 26, 2024 at 12:34 AM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
Optimist: the cup is half full

Pessimist: the cup is half empty

The Institute of Traffic Engineers’ Trip Generation Manual: here’s a linear regression based on 6 observations all collected in Florida in the summertime. Use this to measure the fullness of all cups in the United States.
Optimist: The cup is half full

Pessimist: The cup is half empty

QA engineer: Please tell me someone tried a parameter other than 50%
Optimist:The cup is half full
Pessimist: The cup is half empty

ER doc: Hang 20cc/kg of NS please while we figure out the underlying reason why its IVC is flat
November 24, 2024 at 4:04 AM
The free pile down the street provided these fish scale Kathy 10th mtn skis over the summer- happy to have my bench se up for easy tuning because no ski leaves this house without sharp edges. These are ready for some logging road laps at Cochrans.
November 24, 2024 at 2:10 AM
Bike rack project done! All bikes accessible without rearranging a pile of bikes, which has been the system forever. Now to put the rest of the basement back together!
November 23, 2024 at 7:40 PM
Todays project is making a floor rack for bikes in this space.
November 23, 2024 at 4:43 PM
First Building 100% compliant with the new form-based code I worked on in Williston should be getting its siding soon.
November 23, 2024 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
This place just keeps getting better.
Meanwhile, over on X…
November 22, 2024 at 10:52 PM
Pedestrian safety. Time for a road diet on Dorset street.
November 21, 2024 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
Dispiriting maps on the decline of housing affordability from 2000 to 2019. From Supply Skepticism Revisited by Been, Ellen, & O'Regan: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
November 20, 2024 at 3:36 PM
Very good start to the Vermont Development Conference today. Talking about the convergence of technologies, climate and sociogeographic change.
November 20, 2024 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
@djllu.bsky.social hi! :)
I have a Vermonter starter pack that you can use to find people and I can add you to it also if you’d like. Good to see you!
November 15, 2024 at 11:28 PM
People think (government) planning (and by extension zoning) controls more of what they see in their community than it does. Big-block land ownership and decades-old noncompete agreements and exclusive parking rights do more to hinder suburban mixed-use transitions than zoning reform can help them.
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

‘Pumpernickel’ comes from the German words ‘pumpern’ (“to fart”) and ‘Nickel’ (“goblin”). So enjoy that fartgoblin bagel this morning.
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

(Bringing back a 2018 Twitter hit): Keeping honey bees to save the bees is like keeping chickens to save the birds. They're a managed species and not at risk of extinction. The bees at risk of extinction are wild species.
November 19, 2024 at 2:02 PM
Talk about a memory that was deep in banks. Hadn’t thought of this in probably 40 years but I could hear the song in my head before I started the video.
November 19, 2024 at 3:05 AM
Reposted by PlannerMattVT
One of the recent bike shops in Paris, opened after 2020. A rough estimate suggests that the number of such shops has doubled over the past ten years, increasing from around 130 in 2014 to approximately 260 today. If it's correct, that's on average a new bike shop each month for ten years.
November 18, 2024 at 3:28 PM