Ben Ross
@benrosstransit.bsky.social
Transit advocate. Social Democrat. Author of Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism.
Reposted by Ben Ross
I wrote about state-level ADU reform and the differences between @strongtowns.org and YIMBYism. www.maxdubler.com/blog/2025/11...
On The Tension Between YIMBYism and Strong Towns — Max Dubler
Special thanks to those who gave their thoughtful feedback on this piece. The past couple of months have seen quite a bit of Discourse about the differences between Strong Towns and YIMB...
www.maxdubler.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:25 PM
I wrote about state-level ADU reform and the differences between @strongtowns.org and YIMBYism. www.maxdubler.com/blog/2025/11...
Reposted by Ben Ross
Why can't Dems get TV coverage? See this great (for other findings) paper.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
November 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Why can't Dems get TV coverage? See this great (for other findings) paper.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
Reposted by Ben Ross
people say Trump has really coarsened our politics, but pretty much everyone who interacts with him says “pardon me”.
November 10, 2025 at 2:40 PM
people say Trump has really coarsened our politics, but pretty much everyone who interacts with him says “pardon me”.
The center of the Senate Democrats has moved a long way toward a fighting stance since March. The job now is to get the rest of the party there. Go after the 8 defectors & their co-thinkers in the House. I'm with Josh on this. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-qui...
A Quick Take on Team Cave’s Big Win
I have what I suspect is a somewhat counterintuitive take on the...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The center of the Senate Democrats has moved a long way toward a fighting stance since March. The job now is to get the rest of the party there. Go after the 8 defectors & their co-thinkers in the House. I'm with Josh on this. talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-qui...
Reposted by Ben Ross
Call them:
Jeanne Shaheen (202) 224-2841
Gary Peters (202) 224-6221
Jon Ossoff 202-224-3521
Mark Kelly (202) 224-2235
Peter Welch 202-224-4242
Tammy Baldwin (202) 224-5653
Elissa Slotkin 202-224-4822
John Fetterman (202) 224-4254
Catherine Cortez Masto (202) 224-3542
Angus King (202) 224-5344
Jeanne Shaheen (202) 224-2841
Gary Peters (202) 224-6221
Jon Ossoff 202-224-3521
Mark Kelly (202) 224-2235
Peter Welch 202-224-4242
Tammy Baldwin (202) 224-5653
Elissa Slotkin 202-224-4822
John Fetterman (202) 224-4254
Catherine Cortez Masto (202) 224-3542
Angus King (202) 224-5344
November 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Call them:
Jeanne Shaheen (202) 224-2841
Gary Peters (202) 224-6221
Jon Ossoff 202-224-3521
Mark Kelly (202) 224-2235
Peter Welch 202-224-4242
Tammy Baldwin (202) 224-5653
Elissa Slotkin 202-224-4822
John Fetterman (202) 224-4254
Catherine Cortez Masto (202) 224-3542
Angus King (202) 224-5344
Jeanne Shaheen (202) 224-2841
Gary Peters (202) 224-6221
Jon Ossoff 202-224-3521
Mark Kelly (202) 224-2235
Peter Welch 202-224-4242
Tammy Baldwin (202) 224-5653
Elissa Slotkin 202-224-4822
John Fetterman (202) 224-4254
Catherine Cortez Masto (202) 224-3542
Angus King (202) 224-5344
Why can't Dems get TV coverage? See this great (for other findings) paper.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
November 9, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Why can't Dems get TV coverage? See this great (for other findings) paper.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
TV news covers taxes on business 16 times less often than political ads discuss it. Nearly as bad for medicare, jobs & social security.
Cable news covers stock market 12 X more than political ads, Broadcast news 8 X more.
Income statistics treat a long drive to work & health insurance premiums that pay for doctors' paperwork & functionaries who deny coverage as consumption. Americans are definitely paying for a lot of both, but neither is really voluntary & neither makes them feel richer.
let me be as clear about this as I can:
in terms of overall ability to acquire goods and services, the median American and median American family HAS NOT SEEN A STAGNATION IN OVERALL PURCHASING POWER.
in terms of overall ability to acquire goods and services, the median American and median American family HAS NOT SEEN A STAGNATION IN OVERALL PURCHASING POWER.
sure man, there hasn't been a stagnation in purchasing power. people just don't feel like buying their first home until they're in their 40s
November 9, 2025 at 12:45 PM
Income statistics treat a long drive to work & health insurance premiums that pay for doctors' paperwork & functionaries who deny coverage as consumption. Americans are definitely paying for a lot of both, but neither is really voluntary & neither makes them feel richer.
Reposted by Ben Ross
If I'm reading this correctly, the arrivals rate at #DCA goes to 12 an hour — down from 24 an hour — at 530pm ET.
That's 12 flights an hour at 530pm on a Friday night, one of the busiest travel days of the week.
That's 12 flights an hour at 530pm on a Friday night, one of the busiest travel days of the week.
November 7, 2025 at 9:10 PM
If I'm reading this correctly, the arrivals rate at #DCA goes to 12 an hour — down from 24 an hour — at 530pm ET.
That's 12 flights an hour at 530pm on a Friday night, one of the busiest travel days of the week.
That's 12 flights an hour at 530pm on a Friday night, one of the busiest travel days of the week.
The high point of my literary career came 61 years ago. It's been downhill ever since, but here at last it gets the respect it deserves...
defector.com/wilbur-huckl...
defector.com/wilbur-huckl...
Wilbur Huckle For President: Solving A 61-Year-Old Mets Mystery | Defector
Earlier this year, on a cold Sunday in January, I walked into an antique store in a Washington, D.C. suburb. When I go to a shop like this one, I’m not looking for chairs or lamps. My interests are a ...
defector.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
The high point of my literary career came 61 years ago. It's been downhill ever since, but here at last it gets the respect it deserves...
defector.com/wilbur-huckl...
defector.com/wilbur-huckl...
Question: Has TACO Trump given up on killing NY's congestion pricing? I haven't heard anything about it in a while.
November 6, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Question: Has TACO Trump given up on killing NY's congestion pricing? I haven't heard anything about it in a while.
What a joke for Trumpies to pretend peace between Kazakhstan & Israel is their accomplishment.
Story I heard in mid-1990s: Atomic energy ministers of Kazakhstan & Argentina met at an international conference. They found their only common language was Yiddish.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Story I heard in mid-1990s: Atomic energy ministers of Kazakhstan & Argentina met at an international conference. They found their only common language was Yiddish.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Kazakhstan to join Abraham Accords, Trump administration official confirms to ToI
* * *
www.timesofisrael.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:37 PM
What a joke for Trumpies to pretend peace between Kazakhstan & Israel is their accomplishment.
Story I heard in mid-1990s: Atomic energy ministers of Kazakhstan & Argentina met at an international conference. They found their only common language was Yiddish.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
Story I heard in mid-1990s: Atomic energy ministers of Kazakhstan & Argentina met at an international conference. They found their only common language was Yiddish.
www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...
No. A more likely explanation of these results is that the people who say only 30% want climate action are right. When you try to do something, many of the 2/3 who said they'd pay no longer want to.
Road diets. Parking. Every US city that passed a Vision Zero resolution.
Road diets. Parking. Every US city that passed a Vision Zero resolution.
“Roughly 80-89% of the world’s people want their governments to ‘do more’ to address #ClimateChange, and nearly 2/3rds are on board with that action costing them a bit. Yet most think they are the minority, telling pollsters they believe that only around 30% also want stronger climate action.”
The Media Is Complicit in the Climate Confusion
The vast majority of people want their governments to take climate action—but most wrongly think they’re in the minority. The media is partly to blame.
www.thenation.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:19 PM
No. A more likely explanation of these results is that the people who say only 30% want climate action are right. When you try to do something, many of the 2/3 who said they'd pay no longer want to.
Road diets. Parking. Every US city that passed a Vision Zero resolution.
Road diets. Parking. Every US city that passed a Vision Zero resolution.
Important piece by national-security conservative @maxboot.bsky.social rethinks Dick Cheney's legacy in the light of Donald Trump's authoritarianism.
Would like to see a similar rethinking on the left in the light of Trump's destruction of USAID.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Would like to see a similar rethinking on the left in the light of Trump's destruction of USAID.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
The Cheney Effect
How Dick Cheney became the accidental architect of Trump’s power.
www.foreignaffairs.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Important piece by national-security conservative @maxboot.bsky.social rethinks Dick Cheney's legacy in the light of Donald Trump's authoritarianism.
Would like to see a similar rethinking on the left in the light of Trump's destruction of USAID.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Would like to see a similar rethinking on the left in the light of Trump's destruction of USAID.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Local journalism is not dead! From the list of "most read" articles on the Bangor Daily News website:
November 5, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Local journalism is not dead! From the list of "most read" articles on the Bangor Daily News website:
Reposted by Ben Ross
When you look at election returns, nimbyism is almost always a right-wing or elite centrist phenomenon.
Left nimbyism functions basically as political cover for right nimbys. When left nimbys win elections, it's by uniting right nimbys with people voting left on other issues.
Left nimbyism functions basically as political cover for right nimbys. When left nimbys win elections, it's by uniting right nimbys with people voting left on other issues.
November 5, 2025 at 5:34 PM
When you look at election returns, nimbyism is almost always a right-wing or elite centrist phenomenon.
Left nimbyism functions basically as political cover for right nimbys. When left nimbys win elections, it's by uniting right nimbys with people voting left on other issues.
Left nimbyism functions basically as political cover for right nimbys. When left nimbys win elections, it's by uniting right nimbys with people voting left on other issues.
Re-upping my article from June, even more relevant today.
How liberal Zionists, who constitute the broad center of American Jewry, should react to Mamdani. Don't abandon progressivism, but choose a progressivism based on economics-centered solidarity rather than charity.
forward.com/opinion/7327...
How liberal Zionists, who constitute the broad center of American Jewry, should react to Mamdani. Don't abandon progressivism, but choose a progressivism based on economics-centered solidarity rather than charity.
forward.com/opinion/7327...
After Zohran Mamdani’s upset, there’s a way forward for pro-Israel progressives
In the fight for economic fairness for all, Jews shouldn’t have to give up on defending their particular interests, writes a long-time contributor to Dissent magazine.
forward.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Re-upping my article from June, even more relevant today.
How liberal Zionists, who constitute the broad center of American Jewry, should react to Mamdani. Don't abandon progressivism, but choose a progressivism based on economics-centered solidarity rather than charity.
forward.com/opinion/7327...
How liberal Zionists, who constitute the broad center of American Jewry, should react to Mamdani. Don't abandon progressivism, but choose a progressivism based on economics-centered solidarity rather than charity.
forward.com/opinion/7327...
This election was a stunning rebuke to the claim that voters choose based on vibes rather than issues.*
*But it gave a lot of support to the idea that voters need to experience the issues, not just hear about them from the candidates.
*But it gave a lot of support to the idea that voters need to experience the issues, not just hear about them from the candidates.
November 5, 2025 at 2:27 PM
This election was a stunning rebuke to the claim that voters choose based on vibes rather than issues.*
*But it gave a lot of support to the idea that voters need to experience the issues, not just hear about them from the candidates.
*But it gave a lot of support to the idea that voters need to experience the issues, not just hear about them from the candidates.
Staying up late last night worked out much better than staying up late last Saturday.
November 5, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Staying up late last night worked out much better than staying up late last Saturday.
Most sewer socialist line in Mamdani's speech - and one that says a lot about how he wants to govern: the promise to get rid of bloated bureaucracies.
November 5, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Most sewer socialist line in Mamdani's speech - and one that says a lot about how he wants to govern: the promise to get rid of bloated bureaucracies.
"Progressive yimbys are firmly in charge" in Baltimore as mayor signs bills:
No off-street parking required.
Single-stair buildings up to 6 stories.
Reduced setbacks.
Still in process: Allowing 2- & 4-unit buildings in multifamily zones.
www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
No off-street parking required.
Single-stair buildings up to 6 stories.
Reduced setbacks.
Still in process: Allowing 2- & 4-unit buildings in multifamily zones.
www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
Mayor Scott signs controversial housing laws in effort to spur growth
A suite of housing and zoning reforms, once pie-in-the-sky dreams for some advocates, are now law in Baltimore, with Mayor Brandon Scott signing four bills Monday in a City Hall ceremony.
www.thebanner.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:19 PM
"Progressive yimbys are firmly in charge" in Baltimore as mayor signs bills:
No off-street parking required.
Single-stair buildings up to 6 stories.
Reduced setbacks.
Still in process: Allowing 2- & 4-unit buildings in multifamily zones.
www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
No off-street parking required.
Single-stair buildings up to 6 stories.
Reduced setbacks.
Still in process: Allowing 2- & 4-unit buildings in multifamily zones.
www.thebanner.com/politics-pow...
This is a success of the yimby attack on 1-family zoning. Nimbys giving up on keeping housing out of commercial areas to use their power to protect the 1'family zones.
It genuinely seems to be the position of this article that upzoning commercial areas for dense residential is "direct...public planning" but upzoning single-family areas for dense residential is "private-sector deregulation"
November 3, 2025 at 6:30 PM
This is a success of the yimby attack on 1-family zoning. Nimbys giving up on keeping housing out of commercial areas to use their power to protect the 1'family zones.
Truly classic line about Mamdani from the Republican Jewish Coalition: “I have two sons that work on Wall Street and I’m extremely concerned about their safety.” forward.com/fast-forward...
Zohran Mamdani, Muslim Democratic NYC candidate, looms large at Republican Jewish confab
Florida Rep. Randy Fine, one of four Jewish Republicans in Congress, called for Mamdani to be deported.
forward.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Truly classic line about Mamdani from the Republican Jewish Coalition: “I have two sons that work on Wall Street and I’m extremely concerned about their safety.” forward.com/fast-forward...
"As liberalism & progressivism have become increasingly identified with controversial & sometimes unpopular social stands, “socialism” may actually provide a clearer label, in the minds of voters, for the types of economic policies that Sanders, Warren & Mamdani favor" www.notus.org/perspectives...
Why Zohran Mamdani’s Socialism Might Have a Future Outside New York City
In 1973, I was part of the leadership of the New American Movement, a socialist group that would later merge with Michael Harrington’s Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee to form the Democratic ...
www.notus.org
November 3, 2025 at 2:53 PM
"As liberalism & progressivism have become increasingly identified with controversial & sometimes unpopular social stands, “socialism” may actually provide a clearer label, in the minds of voters, for the types of economic policies that Sanders, Warren & Mamdani favor" www.notus.org/perspectives...
Reposted by Ben Ross
There's nothing voluntary about an HOA period.
You can only escape it by not moving into its territory, and you can escape a local government in the same way.
Yet HOAs can ignore rules that bind governments: 1st amendment, state FOIA laws, state restrictions on snob zoning.
You can only escape it by not moving into its territory, and you can escape a local government in the same way.
Yet HOAs can ignore rules that bind governments: 1st amendment, state FOIA laws, state restrictions on snob zoning.
November 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM
There's nothing voluntary about an HOA period.
You can only escape it by not moving into its territory, and you can escape a local government in the same way.
Yet HOAs can ignore rules that bind governments: 1st amendment, state FOIA laws, state restrictions on snob zoning.
You can only escape it by not moving into its territory, and you can escape a local government in the same way.
Yet HOAs can ignore rules that bind governments: 1st amendment, state FOIA laws, state restrictions on snob zoning.
Reposted by Ben Ross
Love the Brick!
October 31, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Love the Brick!