Push The Needle
@pushtheneedle.bsky.social
the closer we are physically, the closer we are socially.
Pinned
we shouldn’t divide our cities like TV dinners with zoning. we should plan cities like salads and mix everything up
Reposted by Push The Needle
Any changes to the neighborhood will be approved 'over his dead body'.
MoCo Makes History By Appointing First Ever Dead Historic Preservation Commissioner
WHEATON, MD – The Montgomery County Council took a visionary leap toward modernizing bureaucracy by confirming the appointment of its first-ever dead resident to the Historic Preservation Com…
takomatorch.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Any changes to the neighborhood will be approved 'over his dead body'.
Design review exempt too. Because only apartments change “neighborhood character”
November 22, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Design review exempt too. Because only apartments change “neighborhood character”
What an awesome “trail” (its a road)
The lights are fixed!!! The Midtown Greenway is now lit up from the river all the way to Uptown!
November 22, 2025 at 4:22 AM
What an awesome “trail” (its a road)
Amtrak kills it on the east because they have their own tracks. Out here they share the tracks with the freight rail companies that own them and demand priority.
A growing number of Americans are rolling into the holidays by train with Amtrak reporting an increase in riders after federally mandated flight reductions led to thousands of delays and cancellations at major airports nationwide. NBC News' Emilie Ikeda reports.
November 22, 2025 at 3:02 AM
Amtrak kills it on the east because they have their own tracks. Out here they share the tracks with the freight rail companies that own them and demand priority.
Get that red bus lane paint ready
November 22, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Get that red bus lane paint ready
8 cottages on 60,000 sq ft lots don’t seem like the answer to me. They do look nice though and would work in exurban or fringe suburban areas I guess
Opticos has built some cottage courts. Here's one, and it looks pretty nice to me.
opticosdesign.com/work/wine-co...
opticosdesign.com/work/wine-co...
Wine Country Pocket Neighborhood - RiverHouse - Opticos Design
opticosdesign.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:11 PM
8 cottages on 60,000 sq ft lots don’t seem like the answer to me. They do look nice though and would work in exurban or fringe suburban areas I guess
An art gallery …..
November 21, 2025 at 8:32 PM
An art gallery …..
Planning is so doomed in the US if we think this is a viable solution for cities
People talk about cottage courts because it makes (minor) density increases palatable to suburban tastes. If you belief in the incremental development strategy, cottage courts are often the least-threatening increment.
November 21, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Planning is so doomed in the US if we think this is a viable solution for cities
Can someone in planning explain to me the obsession with “cottage housing”? I hear about “cottages” all the time. Does anyone even build them?
November 21, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Can someone in planning explain to me the obsession with “cottage housing”? I hear about “cottages” all the time. Does anyone even build them?
These permits add absolutely nothing either. We have created a process that basically stifles anything from being built. Especially on the west coast. Surprised they don’t have to go through a community design review too
It takes forever to build power lines and these permitting holdups don't come cheap. Consumers suffer through higher electricity bills and dirtier, less reliable power—but utilities actually make money on project delays. Like, a lot of money.
The High Cost of Slow Permitting | Sightline Institute
Sluggish approval of Cascadian transmission projects inflates electricity bills and strands renewable energy.
www.sightline.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:51 PM
These permits add absolutely nothing either. We have created a process that basically stifles anything from being built. Especially on the west coast. Surprised they don’t have to go through a community design review too
Reposted by Push The Needle
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...
*Ahem* here’s looking at you, Aurora Avenue (cc @wilsonkatieb.bsky.social and @seattledot.bsky.social). We know how to make our city’s most deadly road safer, and now we have the Mayor who supports this idea.
🚸 How we design roads dictates the speeds that drivers adopt, regardless of the posted speed limit.
👟 🚲 🚌 Research shows that narrowing vehicle travel lanes can reduce speeds and create #saferstreets in communities.
Read more in our latest blog ➡️ buff.ly/xxKOAxu
👟 🚲 🚌 Research shows that narrowing vehicle travel lanes can reduce speeds and create #saferstreets in communities.
Read more in our latest blog ➡️ buff.ly/xxKOAxu
November 20, 2025 at 7:05 PM
*Ahem* here’s looking at you, Aurora Avenue (cc @wilsonkatieb.bsky.social and @seattledot.bsky.social). We know how to make our city’s most deadly road safer, and now we have the Mayor who supports this idea.
I am all for these avenues of rage outlets for NIMBYs to get the relief they need without paying for therapy, we just shouldn’t listen to them or change this building at all.
“Thanks for your concern”. And move on
“Thanks for your concern”. And move on
San Rafael residents reacting to the proposal for a 188-unit building in a city of ~60,000.
November 20, 2025 at 7:02 PM
I am all for these avenues of rage outlets for NIMBYs to get the relief they need without paying for therapy, we just shouldn’t listen to them or change this building at all.
“Thanks for your concern”. And move on
“Thanks for your concern”. And move on
The anger around “woke censorship” was always an admission, not an accusation. Why would anyone still post over there?
Got suspended yesterday on Twitter for “violent speech”, but I really think I’m getting woke-policed for content Twitter doesn’t like.
I appealed, but haven’t heard back yet.
Twitter keeps reminding me that if I remove the tweet, I can be fully reinstated immediately.
I appealed, but haven’t heard back yet.
Twitter keeps reminding me that if I remove the tweet, I can be fully reinstated immediately.
November 20, 2025 at 6:07 PM
The anger around “woke censorship” was always an admission, not an accusation. Why would anyone still post over there?
Reposted by Push The Needle
Big 2 Line news: operational trials testing four minute headways between International District and Lynnwood start NEXT MONDAY
www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/20/s...
www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/20/s...
Sound Transit 2 Line Testing Enters a New, More Visible Phase » The Urbanist
# Light rail riders will see out-of-service trains running between International District-Chinatown and Lynnwood as the next major milestone for testing on the full 2 Line.
www.theurbanist.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Big 2 Line news: operational trials testing four minute headways between International District and Lynnwood start NEXT MONDAY
www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/20/s...
www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/20/s...
And to ignore the real estate value of each is so economically illiterate
I hate to even weigh in on this, but citing the fact that the proportion of people living in suburbs has grown faster than the proportion of people living in core cities as evidence that “people prefer suburban living” is…well, I barely know where to start
November 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
And to ignore the real estate value of each is so economically illiterate
Single stair apartments are safer than double loaded ones. You get more exiting per unit, more routes, no congestion on exiting, AND they make bigger and better homes!
apnews.com/article/cali...
apnews.com/article/cali...
One California city’s idea to tackle the housing crisis: Take the stairs
In late September, Culver City became the first municipality in California to legalize the construction of mid-rise apartment buildings with a single staircase.
apnews.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Single stair apartments are safer than double loaded ones. You get more exiting per unit, more routes, no congestion on exiting, AND they make bigger and better homes!
apnews.com/article/cali...
apnews.com/article/cali...
I don’t like how Seattle calls bike lanes and urban bike routes “trails”. It makes it sound informal and leisurely. These are actual bike roads that get people to work, school, and to run errands. They aren’t for joy riding in the park
November 20, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I don’t like how Seattle calls bike lanes and urban bike routes “trails”. It makes it sound informal and leisurely. These are actual bike roads that get people to work, school, and to run errands. They aren’t for joy riding in the park
This is actually what YIMBYs tell the NIMBYs who don’t want zoning changed, that a lotto change will happen and you’ll barely notice but the benefits overall will be big—like Minneapolis’s rent going down!
Part of why I get really annoyed at YIMBYs claiming that non-SFH is illegal to build everywhere is that WE VERY FAMOUSLY ABOLISHED SFH ZONING IN MINNEAPOLIS.
And you know what happened? We got some new apartment construction, and it was good, but it definitely didn’t transform the metro.
And you know what happened? We got some new apartment construction, and it was good, but it definitely didn’t transform the metro.
November 19, 2025 at 7:43 PM
This is actually what YIMBYs tell the NIMBYs who don’t want zoning changed, that a lotto change will happen and you’ll barely notice but the benefits overall will be big—like Minneapolis’s rent going down!
This building was viciously protested at the time it was proposed. Its now celebrated as a great building in form and detail, proving the initial public reaction to change is usually wrong
The architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham designed the Flatiron building in New York City and had a truly exemplary moustache. #goals
November 19, 2025 at 7:37 PM
This building was viciously protested at the time it was proposed. Its now celebrated as a great building in form and detail, proving the initial public reaction to change is usually wrong
Then why do our city zoning maps look like this?
November 19, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Then why do our city zoning maps look like this?
In other words, we have contributed to strangle the building industry with more restrictive codes just because (not scientific) and it hasn’t made anything safer, just more expensive and unlikely to be built. Maybe that was the goal
per SF Fire Data, since 2003 in pre-1976 high rises (not just condos), there's been
- 0 deaths
- 20 injuries
- ~15 million in property damage (not adjusted for inflation)
This ordinance would hit 9800 units and cost 2.7 billion.
@stephenjacobsmith.com
www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
- 0 deaths
- 20 injuries
- ~15 million in property damage (not adjusted for inflation)
This ordinance would hit 9800 units and cost 2.7 billion.
@stephenjacobsmith.com
www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
November 19, 2025 at 5:14 AM
In other words, we have contributed to strangle the building industry with more restrictive codes just because (not scientific) and it hasn’t made anything safer, just more expensive and unlikely to be built. Maybe that was the goal
The free market kept manhattan affordable in the late 1800s and early 1900s
A fun thing about YIMBY dorks is that they are incapable of scrutinizing the hyper capitalist economic model that treats housing as a service that can only be solved via free market principles rather than a human right that may be at odds with endless profit and rent seeking
A fun thing about single stair is that when you ask people defending the status quo on safety grounds to make a judgment call about whether the small buildings that would be allowed under the proposed reforms are more dangerous than the big ones we currently allow they get mad and refuse to answer.
November 19, 2025 at 4:58 AM
The free market kept manhattan affordable in the late 1800s and early 1900s
This project actually will save the area. But that’s not what they were referring to. They were trying to save the area from it existing and letting new people live there
More than nine years after the process started, the "Save Madison Valley" building is finally getting close to opening its doors to residents.
November 19, 2025 at 1:30 AM
This project actually will save the area. But that’s not what they were referring to. They were trying to save the area from it existing and letting new people live there
Real estate prices don’t reflect this
Real estate prices do reflect people want to be close to the core and in walkable areas
Dollars / Square Foot
Real estate prices do reflect people want to be close to the core and in walkable areas
Dollars / Square Foot
Right, this is true, but the OVERWHELMING evidence of the past 100 years of American life is that vastly more people want space and a car than a smaller unit and a car-free lifestyle. This is mostly why the suburban share of US population has grown relentlessly for the entire 20th and 21st century
Some people put a premium on space in my experience, others put a premium on not having to have a car and not being isolated out in the suburbs
November 18, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Real estate prices don’t reflect this
Real estate prices do reflect people want to be close to the core and in walkable areas
Dollars / Square Foot
Real estate prices do reflect people want to be close to the core and in walkable areas
Dollars / Square Foot