Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
@jgbollard.bsky.social
I am writing a book about the ways the founders of American urban planning experimented on the neighborhoods of Washington, DC before World War II. I am also a licensed architect.
Pinned
White House Architecture Was an Honor System. Trump Noticed.
For 125 years, informal norms constrained what a president could do to one of the nation’s most famous landmarks.
www.theatlantic.com
The only thing that has ever stood in the way of the president building a big gaudy ballroom, is an understanding that the powerful would defer to self-appointed experts.
And now we see what a bad system that was.
And now we see what a bad system that was.
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
32 years ago today, we first witnessed the wonder of the My Dinner with Andre video game. “Boy-Scoutz ‘n the Hood” premiered November 18, 1993.
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 PM
32 years ago today, we first witnessed the wonder of the My Dinner with Andre video game. “Boy-Scoutz ‘n the Hood” premiered November 18, 1993.
Mr. President... they've unlocked a third kind of reclamation.
November 20, 2025 at 1:49 AM
Mr. President... they've unlocked a third kind of reclamation.
So it is true...
November 20, 2025 at 1:45 AM
So it is true...
The number of people saying Devil in the White City makes me want to build a murder house.
Ok BlueSky: what are your favorite history books in terms of sheer page-turning, narrative propulsion? Thinking along the line of Killers of the Flower Moon, etc. Nonfiction chronicles that read like novels or movies.
November 20, 2025 at 12:13 AM
The number of people saying Devil in the White City makes me want to build a murder house.
It’s not at all clear from the obscurantist title but this book is a detailed history of AECOM, one of the biggest firms in the world and the engineers on the Epstein Ballroom.
November 19, 2025 at 11:21 PM
It’s not at all clear from the obscurantist title but this book is a detailed history of AECOM, one of the biggest firms in the world and the engineers on the Epstein Ballroom.
The plan: Stupid Full Sail University.
November 19, 2025 at 5:15 PM
The plan: Stupid Full Sail University.
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
NYC's 125,000 Baby Boxes: Mayor-elect Mamdani promised.
Number of babies born in NYC each year.
Cities can/should learn from each other.
All are different, so not copy-paste, but YES adapt & improve, what to avoid & what to adapt.
Finnish Baby Boxes with NYC's twist
Alexandra Lange bit.ly/4o3blO0
Number of babies born in NYC each year.
Cities can/should learn from each other.
All are different, so not copy-paste, but YES adapt & improve, what to avoid & what to adapt.
Finnish Baby Boxes with NYC's twist
Alexandra Lange bit.ly/4o3blO0
November 12, 2025 at 5:58 PM
NYC's 125,000 Baby Boxes: Mayor-elect Mamdani promised.
Number of babies born in NYC each year.
Cities can/should learn from each other.
All are different, so not copy-paste, but YES adapt & improve, what to avoid & what to adapt.
Finnish Baby Boxes with NYC's twist
Alexandra Lange bit.ly/4o3blO0
Number of babies born in NYC each year.
Cities can/should learn from each other.
All are different, so not copy-paste, but YES adapt & improve, what to avoid & what to adapt.
Finnish Baby Boxes with NYC's twist
Alexandra Lange bit.ly/4o3blO0
Fascinating that this is the issue he decided to go popularist on.
November 19, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Fascinating that this is the issue he decided to go popularist on.
Alvaro Siza in Venice, in Macao www.instagram.com/p/DREch5WjUW...
November 18, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Alvaro Siza in Venice, in Macao www.instagram.com/p/DREch5WjUW...
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
not to give a stranger marriage advice but my man should probably have let those secrets regrow until new leaves started to emerge and then hired a licensed invasive species manager to apply a 1% imazapyr foliar spray at 1-2 year intervals
I see we’re having an unnecessarily flowery writing competition in public
November 18, 2025 at 1:46 AM
not to give a stranger marriage advice but my man should probably have let those secrets regrow until new leaves started to emerge and then hired a licensed invasive species manager to apply a 1% imazapyr foliar spray at 1-2 year intervals
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
Haven’t read the report, but the photo of three-dimensional modules being craned in with double-hung windows kinda sums up the problems with Americans trying to pursue industrialized construction – it’s an advanced topic and we haven’t mastered the basics.
Center for American Progress Housing Plan:
Take down barriers that make it harder to build homes.
Build more affordable homes at a lower cost.
Protect consumers and lower other housing costs.
www.americanprogress.org/article/buil...
Take down barriers that make it harder to build homes.
Build more affordable homes at a lower cost.
Protect consumers and lower other housing costs.
www.americanprogress.org/article/buil...
Build, Baby, Build: A Plan To Lower Housing Costs for All
CAP’s plan would focus federal efforts on building homes and lower housing costs.
www.americanprogress.org
November 17, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Haven’t read the report, but the photo of three-dimensional modules being craned in with double-hung windows kinda sums up the problems with Americans trying to pursue industrialized construction – it’s an advanced topic and we haven’t mastered the basics.
Don't waste your time on this op ed. Read this instead:
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Don't waste your time on this op ed. Read this instead:
The fourth slide really says it all: organization before electronics before concrete.
Major announcement in just-posted board documents: DC's Metro is moving fast toward automation.
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
Over 15 years, Metro plans full automation & platform screen doors, which the agency says will improve safety, reliability, & travel times—at reduced costs.
www.wmata.com/about/board/...
November 17, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The fourth slide really says it all: organization before electronics before concrete.
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
Please help Bryan, a decent and hardworking person who was just kidnapped off the street in DC. He has been in this country since he was a child. He has a business and a family. He does not deserve such shameful cruelty. Please share.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan...
www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan...
Donate to Help Bryan Fight for His Freedom, organized by Kira Tewalt
Help Bryan Fight for His Freedom
My name is Kira, and I’m asking for your help on… Kira Tewalt needs your support for Help Bryan Fight for His Freedom
www.gofundme.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Please help Bryan, a decent and hardworking person who was just kidnapped off the street in DC. He has been in this country since he was a child. He has a business and a family. He does not deserve such shameful cruelty. Please share.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan...
www.gofundme.com/f/help-bryan...
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
How conservative were early housing reformers like Lawrence Veiller?
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
November 16, 2025 at 6:16 PM
How conservative were early housing reformers like Lawrence Veiller?
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
Reposted by Neil Flanagan 🧱🗃️
You wake up. Clinton? 9/11? iTunes? Epstein? Your friend is pounding on the door of your walkup in Belltown. You missed your shift at Bauhaus Books and Soundgarden is on at 9.
November 15, 2025 at 7:23 PM
You wake up. Clinton? 9/11? iTunes? Epstein? Your friend is pounding on the door of your walkup in Belltown. You missed your shift at Bauhaus Books and Soundgarden is on at 9.
"Harry Truman is forcing me to sleep with Asians as part of a commie-catholic plot. Please don't put in the newspaper that this is my fetish."
November 17, 2025 at 1:54 AM
"Harry Truman is forcing me to sleep with Asians as part of a commie-catholic plot. Please don't put in the newspaper that this is my fetish."
Uh, check this bad boy out.
My pilgrimage around Erling Viksjø’s Oslo is now complete. On Sundays we go to church, so let’s start with Bakkehaugen Church (1959), which I’ve dreamed of for months 🧵:
November 16, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Uh, check this bad boy out.
In addition to being a real dude (derogatory), the other major reason working-class Nevadans were skeptical of Francis Newlands was the extensive employment of Chinese (not necessarily immigrant) people in the family businesses.
November 16, 2025 at 9:41 PM
In addition to being a real dude (derogatory), the other major reason working-class Nevadans were skeptical of Francis Newlands was the extensive employment of Chinese (not necessarily immigrant) people in the family businesses.
Interesting product out of Germany: prefabricated mortar pads for hollow clay tile walls.
I am curious how they pitch an all-mineral (plastic free) wall if there's hot glue in there... but either way, this would have less plastic in it than the average American wall.
I am curious how they pitch an all-mineral (plastic free) wall if there's hot glue in there... but either way, this would have less plastic in it than the average American wall.
Mauern mit Maxit-Mörtelpads
YouTube video by bauhandwerk
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Interesting product out of Germany: prefabricated mortar pads for hollow clay tile walls.
I am curious how they pitch an all-mineral (plastic free) wall if there's hot glue in there... but either way, this would have less plastic in it than the average American wall.
I am curious how they pitch an all-mineral (plastic free) wall if there's hot glue in there... but either way, this would have less plastic in it than the average American wall.
How conservative were early housing reformers like Lawrence Veiller?
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
November 16, 2025 at 6:16 PM
How conservative were early housing reformers like Lawrence Veiller?
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.
When in 1926, New York State passed a law that gave 20-year exemptions to new co-ops and other limited dividend corporations, he denounced it as a "pernicious" burden on taxpayers.